EPL breaks transfer record after clubs spent nearly $3 billion

The Premier League has once again broken its own record for spending during the summer transfer window.

As lavish deals for Josko Gvardiol, Sandro Tonali and Rasmus Hojlund were all completed, the league continued is alarming spending.

According to a report by Deloitte, the 20 top-tiered English clubs combined to spend about $2.97 billion on players this summer. This astronomical number was a significant increase on last year’s total of around $2.48 billion.

The aforementioned report claims that the Premier League was essentially responsible for nearly half of all spending among Europe’s top five leagues. This includes Spain’s LaLiga, Italy’s Serie A, Germany’s Bundesliga, and France’s Ligue 1.

As total spending by the league increased, so did the average fee paid per player. The Financial Times is reporting that Premier League clubs spent an average of $30 million on each player transfer. This was up slightly from $23.6 million compared to last season and $17.6 million from 2018.

“A second successive summer of record spending by Premier League clubs suggests that year-on-year revenue growth could return following the pandemic,” Deloitte’s Tim Bridge said in a statement regarding the league’s spending.

“Nearly three-quarters of Premier League clubs [14] spent more this summer than the last, reflecting the increased intensity of competition.”

Chelsea broke British transfer record during spending spree

Chelsea once again topped the English league’s spending chart. The Blues shelled out $500 million on a plethora of new players. This comes after the club spent a similar amount of money last year as well. Moises Caicedo’s $144 million move from Brighton broke a British transfer record in August. Chelsea also spent big money on Romeo Lavia, Christopher Nkunku, Cole Palmer, Axel Disasi, and Nicolas Jackson as well.

Along with Caicedo, deals for Declan Rice (Arsenal), Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City), Kai Havertz (Arsenal again), and Rasmus Hojlund (Manchester United) rounded out the Premier League’s top five transfers of the summer.

Saudi Pro League also rising among top spenders

While Premier League clubs spent incredible amounts of money, they also sold well, too. In fact, the 20 top English teams earned around $692 million throughout the transfer window. Although some of the transfers occurred between British clubs, the Saudi Pro League accounted for a large chunk of this number.

Saudi teams have splashed the cash for a multitude of former Premier League players this summer. According to the aforementioned report, these Middle Eastern clubs have spent about $869 million on new players so far. The Saudi transfer window is still open at the moment and will not shut until September 7th.

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