Premier League spends more than Serie A, Ligue 1 and La Liga PUT TOGETHER!
Stuart Telford
- 2 Sept 2022 08:00 BST
- 3 min read
The Premier League smashed its spending record for a transfer window this summer, dropping more than €2.2 billion on new players.
It is more than the €1.66b that was spend in the summer 2017 window, more than the €1.67b spent in the entirety of last season and, incredibly, more than the next three highest-spending leagues put together.
Italy's Serie A, France's Ligue 1 and Spain's La Liga were the next three biggest spenders, with outlays of €742.2 million, €558m and €505.7m respectively, for a total of €1.8bn.
Manuel Akanji is a maths genius 🧠pic.twitter.com/yOc0wJiDBz
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) September 1, 2022
Germany's Bundesliga spent €484.1m, meaning that the rest of Europe's top five leagues per UEFA coefficient put together only outdid the Premier League by €72.6m - a margin smaller than the total fee paid for three Premier League arrivals.
Chelsea were the biggest spenders in the summer window, their deadline deal for Barcelona's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang taking their total to just shy of €300m. They were joined on that particular podium by Barcelona, and, incredibly, Nottingham Forest, who signed no fewer than 20 players following their promotion to the English top flight.
Antony leads the way
Antony was the player whose signature required the biggest outlay, the Brazil winger joining Manchester United from Ajax for €99.3m at the end of the window. Marginally behind that deal was Liverpool's acquisition of Benfica striker Darwin Nunez earlier in the summer for a total €98.6m package.
Chelsea's €87m acquisition of Leicester's Wesley Fofana was the third-biggest deal in England, making the France under-21 centre-back the most expensive defender in history in the process.
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"The record levels of spending that we've seen in this summer transfer window so far provides a sign that the business models of Premier League clubs are rebounding post-Covid," Chris Wood, assistant director in Deloitte's Sports Business Group, told the Guardian recently.
"Whilst this is encouraging, the importance of clubs establishing responsible and sustainable spending policies cannot be overstated. Clubs must balance their desire to be competitive on-pitch with the need to protect long-term financial and operational viability."
