by Staff Writer
Thursday, 4th September 2025
West Ham United were the 12th highest net spenders in the Premier League during the summer transfer window, committing £48million to player acquisitions.
Graham Potter introduced seven new players to his first team squad during the window, which ran from mid-June to last Monday - ranging from zero fee arrivals Kyle Walker-Peters and Callum Wilson to the £38million paid to Southampton for the club's most expensive recruit, 21-year-old Mateus Fernandes.
The club were also required to pay £35million to Nice for Jean-Clair Todibo, whose loan contract last season included an obligation to make the deal permanent this summer.
West Ham's total expenditure was £122million, with a further £8.5million due in add-ons fees should certain targets be met. However player sales ensured £74million was clawed back, due to the sale of Mohammed Kudus (£55million, Tottenham), Nayef Aguerd (£18million, Marseille) and Emerson (£1million, also Marseille) - with £2million in add-ons also agreed.
Prior to those sales the club had also greatly reduced its annual wage bill through the departure of former first team squad members Aaron Cresswell, Lukasz Fabianski, Vladimir Coufal, Danny Ings, Michail Antonio and Kurt Zouma, whose contracts ended last season - while Edson Alvarez and Maxwel Cornet departed on loan ahead of the transfer window deadline to further reduce salary demands.
However the Hammers were outspent by all three promoted clubs - Sunderland (£118million), Leeds United (£92million) and Burnley (£86million) - plus eight other established clubs. Only Fulham (£24million) recorded a lower net spend than West Ham, while the remaining seven clubs - including Chelsea - recorded a net profit from player recruitment.
Altogether, the 20 Premier League members spent a record £3.1billion in transfer fees, more than three times as much as its closest competitor amongst Europe's big five leagues, Italy's Serie A (£1billion). The figure represented the highest ever outlay by top flight clubs during a summer transfer window, eclipsing the previous record of £2.4billion spent by Premier League teams during the 2023/24 window.
The summer transfer net spending league* - that's the cost of player purchases minus sales - was as follows:
£245m: Arsenal
£201m: Liverpool
£153m: Manchester United
£147m: Tottenham
£118m: Sunderland
£105m: Manchester City
£102m: Everton
£96m: Nottingham Forest
£92m: Leeds United
£89m: Newcastle United
£86m: Burnley
£48m: West Ham United
£24m: Fulham
-£10m: Chelsea
-£13m: Aston Villa
-£15m: Wolverhampton Wanderers
-£16m: Crystal Palace
-£52m: Brentford
-£65m: Brighton & Hove Albion
-£86m: AFC Bournemouth
* Source: Swiss Ramble
* Something to say about this story? Please visit the KUMB Forum to leave a comment.