Man City 1st, Chelsea 2nd: Which clubs spent the most in the 2026 summer window?

Analysis

Suraj Radia | Editor

Manchester City spent the most money of any team in world football during the summer and became the first club in history to ever splash out more than €500 million in a single transfer window.

City’s €145m move for Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez on deadline day – which made the midfielder the joint-record signing in Premier League history – took their total outlay in the summer to €526.2m, eclipsing the €483m spent by Liverpool in the window last year.

Along with Fernandez, City signed Iliman Ndiaye from Everton on deadline day for €70m, adding to the arrivals of Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest for €135m and the €95m purchase of Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille earlier in the window.

Allan (€37.5m), Mathys Detourbet (€25m) and Jeremy Monga (€11.7m) also arrived as well as goalkeepers Geronimo Rulli and Pierce Charles for €3.5m each, while City also brought in €337m in sales.

The second highest spenders of the window were Chelsea with €406.7m, having brought in 11 players, the most expensive being the club record signing of Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa for €138m.

Tottenham were the third-biggest spenders, with the majority of their €366.3m outlay spent on the trio of Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes and Savio for a combined €295m, as well as the €60m signing of Jan Paul van Hecke.

Newcastle spent the fourth-most amount of money of any team in the world in a transformative summer which saw many key players leave and eight new stars join, the most expensive being the €60m deadline day capture of Matias Fernandez-Pardo from Lille.

Aston Villa also had a transitionary window, bringing in 11 players for a combined total of €300m, headlined by the €60m arrival of Johan Manzambi as well as Nicolas Jackson and Ibrahim Mbaye for €55m each.

Last year’s record spenders Liverpool only splashed out €264.4m this time round, the majority of which was on Bradley Barcola for €125m, in addition to Jeremy Jacquet (€60m), Victor Munoz (€40m) and teenage goalkeeper Lucca Brughmans for €33m.

Premier League champions Arsenal spent €227.1m on five players, the most expensive being Bruno Guimaraes for €87.5m and Ezri Konsa for €60m, as well as Piero Hincapie and Christos Tzolis for €40m each.

Real Madrid are the first non-Premier League club to crack the top ten, with Jose Mourinho spending €225m on six new additions, the pick being the long-coveted Yan Diomande for €125m from RB Leipzig, while Marc Cucurella also joined from Chelsea for €55m.

Newly-promoted Ipswich Town bolstered their Premier League squad with 14 new faces for a total of €220.6m, the biggest being the €30m capture of Julio Enciso from Strasbourg and the €28m signing of Emerson from Toulouse.

Al-Hilal wrap up the top ten as the only team outside of Europe, having spent €205.9m on nine players including the Premier League arrivals of Gabriel Martinelli, Crysencio Summerville and Ollie Watkins.

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The Premier League just provided the most senseless and stupid transfer window in history