The Premier League’s ten biggest spenders of the summer transfer window - including Liverpool, Chelsea & Newcastle.
Once again, Premier League clubs have shattered their own spending record over the summer transfer window. Precise estimates of the 20 clubs’ total spending vary slightly in the age of the undisclosed fee, but The Athletic are among the outlets quoting a combined total expenditure of just over £3.1bn. It’s a hell of a lot of money, whatever the final tally.
A few clubs, such as Fulham and Aston Villa, kept the purse strings relatively tight and did a lot of their business in the form of loan deals, but there were plenty of sides who decided to stretch their PSR position to the limit – from established top four teams down to newly-promoted sides looking to make a name for themselves. Here are the ten biggest-spending clubs of the summer and the amount that they splashed out:
Newly-promoted Sunderland and struggling West Ham among big spenders
10.West Ham United (£124m) - An unexpected 3-0 win away to Nottingham Forest notwithstanding, West Ham went into deadline day looking like a team that needed several new faces – and emerged with only one when Brighton defender Igor joined on loan. The prior arrival of youthful midfielders Mateus Fernandes and Soungoutou Magassa for a combined £53m should help but despite spending plenty, one wonders whether the Hammers have done enough to help Graham Potter out.
9.Sunderland (£160m) - The biggest spenders of the three teams to earn promotion to the Premier League this year, Sunderland seemed set on signing just about every player they laid eyes on – they made 15 new signings in total (although one, Marc Guiu, is already gone), most of them young and with plenty of potential resale value if things don’t work out. Midfielders Habib Diarra (£27m) and Noah Sadiki (£15m) could prove to be inspired purchases, but they’ve taken quite a gamble on deadline-day buy Brian Brobbey (£17m) on the back of a very difficult season with Ajax. One big worry is that a lot of the new arrivals will be off to the Africa Cup of Nations this winter.
8.Manchester City (£179m) - Pep Guardiola made selling players the priority this summer as he pushed for a smaller, younger squad, but he still found room to spend around £53m on two new goalkeepers (a development that James Trafford is surely thrilled with) and nearly £50m again on new midfielder Tijjani Reijnders. None of which has helped one of the Premier League’s wealthiest teams to avoid consecutive defeats in the early stages of the season. This is a rebuild which hasn’t been without its teething troubles.
7.Tottenham Hotspur (£185m) - While Spurs didn’t sign all of the players they wanted – Savinho and Eberechi Eze were among those who slipped away – it’s hard to criticise Daniel Levy’s spending habits this time around as they added the likes of Randal Kolo Muani (loan) and Mohammed Kudus (£55m) to a squad which now seems to be packed with attacking talent. Throw in a sudden gazumping when they signed Xavi Simons from under Chelsea’s nose for another £55m or so and you have to feel like Thomas Frank’s team have done some decent business.
6. Nottingham Forest (£205m) - Just a couple of weeks before deadline day, manager Nuno Espirito Santo was complaining publicly and rather bitterly about the lack of transfer activity taking place at the City Ground – and that seemed to spur Forest into action. They ended up with 13 new faces and strengthened every part of the squad. £36m winger Daniel Ndoye has made an instant impact while James McAtee (£22m) could prove to be a bargain.
Liverpool & Chelsea lead the way after deadline day
5.Manchester United (£217m) - Having spent a year or so throwing around P45s like confetti and increasing the cost of disabled parking, Ineos decided that they’d scraped enough cash together to undergo one of the most expensive attacking overhauls in Premier League history. Mateus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Šeško cost around £195m between them but despite breaking the bank, United still have a squad that can’t beat Grimsby Town away. The failure to sign a new midfielder, a position of desperate need, remains deeply surprising.
4.Newcastle United (£250m) - Newcastle’s transfer window was a rollercoaster of emotions – the caustic Alexander Isak saga and a seemingly endless string of gazumpings by other teams created quite a cloud over St. James’ Park, but the late additions of Yoane Wissa (£55m) and Nick Woltemade (£69m) has helped to change the mood. Whether they will score enough goals to make up for the loss of Isak is another question, of course.
3.Arsenal (£254m) - The Gunners have spent the last few seasons as the bridesmaids but have thrown a lot of money at a big white dress this summer as they work to build a squad capable of winning a long-awaited title. Much of the success of this window will hinge on whether Viktor Gyökeres (£63.5m) scores as frequently as he did for Sporting, but the £60m signings of Eberechi Eze and Martin Zubímendi look like good business regardless.
2. Chelsea (£284m) - Despite being the second-highest spenders of the summer, Chelsea actually turned a net profit thanks to a huge clear-out, although that really only ameliorates several years of misguided overspending – still, Enzo Maresca now has a very young and very expensive squad to work with, albeit one which still doesn’t seem to have enough strikers or attacking midfielders. A late loan for Facundo Buonanotte and the return of Guiu suggest that Blues are still more chaotic in the transfer market than they need to be to catch up to Liverpool.
1. Liverpool (£420m) - That’s a task made rather harder after Liverpool broke the British transfer record twice to sign first Florian Wirtz and then Isak, on top of splashing out £100m on a pair of new full-backs in the form of Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez. FSG have gone all-in on building a squad which can win the Premier League for several years in a row and arguably made that the minimum requirement after one of the most expensive transfer windows in the history of the game. It would have been even more if they’d managed to sign Marc Guéhi – how much damage will that late collapse of that deal do given how thin Liverpool now look at the back? We’ll find out come May…
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