How Brighton’s net spend during a record breaking transfer window compared with their Premier League rivals
The Premier League set a new record for transfer spending as the window closed with a flurry of deals.
More than half of the top flight’s clubs - including Brighton - broke their transfer records in a summer window featuring four of the most expensive ever signings.
The final two days of the window pushed summer spending significantly beyond last season’s record of £3.14billion, with confirmed figures exceeding £3.3billion.
The Seagulls signed 10 players in total as £50m record signing Luka Vuskovic was joined by Promise David, Promise David, Chema Andrés, Femi Azeez, Jaouen Hadjam, Zadok Yohanna, Pascal Struijk, Costinha, Michael Svoboda and Matías Orozco (loaned out).
They did however see some players leave for big money as Carlos Baleba joined Manchester United for £70m and Jan Paul van Hecke to Tottenham for £52m. Carl Rushworth to Coventry for around £25m was another welcome boost to the Albion bank account.
Brighton net spend compared to rivals
Figures from the 2026 summer transfer window - courtesy @valuball
Liverpool - £218m
Ipswich - £193m
Hull - £161m
Tottenham - £146m
Coventry - £133m
Manchester City £127m
Brentford - £103m
Manchester United - £92m
Arsenal - £75m
Fulham - £72m
Bournemouth - £69m
Leeds - £62m
Sunderland - £43m
Newcastle - £31m
Aston Villa - £3m
Nottingham Forest - minus £8m
Brighton - minus £15m
Everton - minus £26m
Crystal Palace - minus £33m
Chelsea - minus £100m
Liverpool’s big spend
Liverpool spent an initial £106million, potentially rising to £123m, on Paris St Germain winger Bradley Barcola, then City paired Elliot Anderson with another nine-figure midfielder in former Chelsea star Enzo Fernandez – whose £125m move matched the British record set 12 months ago by Barcola’s new team-mate Alexander Isak.
Earlier in the summer, England internationals Anderson and Morgan Rogers joined Manchester City for £116m and Chelsea for £117m, respectively.
Sandro Tonali’s move from Newcastle to Tottenham has the potential to become a fifth £100m-plus deal this summer, with the initial £92.5m marking the second time Spurs had broken their club record as it came hot on the heels of Mateus Fernandes’ £85m arrival from West Ham.
De Zerbi: Transfer market ‘is crazy’
Savio’s £75m switch from City slotted in third on Spurs’ all-time list, with manager Roberto De Zerbi admitting “The transfer market is crazy” – reflecting a league-wide summer of spending.
Eleven clubs in all have broken their transfer records, six of them on more than one occasion.
Coventry have done so four times over, signing Aurele Amenda for an initial £15.4m before Loum Tchaouna became their first ever £20m signing, Rushworth made his loan move permanent for a £22.5m fee and Caleb Yirenkyi nudged the record up to £23.1m.
Three clubs broke their transfer records to sign goalkeepers, with James Trafford costing Leeds £40m while, like Rushworth, Konstantinos Tsolakis’ move to Hull was overtaken by Nobel Mendy’s £22m arrival.
Aston Villa and Ipswich are the other clubs to break their respective records twice while Mamadou Sangare (Brentford), Vuskovic (Brighton) and Liam Delap (Nottingham Forest) were all £40m-plus club-record buys.
Nine £75m-plus moves
There have been nine moves worth an initial £75m or more – a list completed by City and Arsenal midfielders Ayyoub Bouaddi and Bruno Guimaraes – plus £65m moves for Carlos Baleba to Manchester United and Nicolas Jackson to Aston Villa.
On the other side of the balance sheet, Newcastle raised over £235m from the three sales of Tonali, Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon while Villa banked £50m-plus fees for Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins in addition to Rogers’ Chelsea move.