Sunderland have spent lavishly since returning to the Premier League, but how does their transfer activity compare to the rest of the top-flight?
The January transfer window is now closed, and it turned out to be a surprisingly busy end to the market for Sunderland.
Simon Adingra was allowed to leave on loan for AS Monaco, who hold an option to buy the winger, despite him only joining from Brighton in the summer. However, the Black Cats moved quickly to replace him, landing Ecuador international Nilson Angulo from Belgian giants Anderlecht.
There were also fears that Lutsharel Geertruida could cut his loan from RB Leipzig short in favour of a temporary move to Liverpool, but Sunderland shut down any notion of that happening. But where did all of that leave Sunderland in terms of net spend in 2025/26 compared to their Premier League rivals?
Sunderland 2025/26 net spend compared to Premier League rivals
Arsenal - €280.30m
Liverpool - €263.40m
Manchester City - €199.52m
Tottenham Hotspur - €183.10m
Manchester United - €176.50m
Sunderland - €160.69m
Everton - €117.15m
Nottingham Forest - €111.58m
Leeds United - €104.70m
Newcastle United - €102.85m
Burnley - €93.65m
Fulham - €56.40m
West Ham United - €53.10m
Crystal Palace - €47.85m
Aston Villa - €12.65m
Chelsea - €4.90m
Wolves - +€38.10m
Brentford - +€50.06m
Brighton - +€66.15m
Bournemouth - +€130.31m
While January was a reactive window, Sunderland made no fewer than 15 signings in the summer, bringing the likes of Granit Xhaka, Robin Roefs, Habib Diarra and Nordi Mukiele to the club in order to prepare for their return to the Premier League.
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That lavish outlay has fuelled Sunderland’s rise to sixth in the net spend table for 2025/26 at €160.69m, according to Transfermarkt. That’s only marginally behind the likes of Manchester United (€176.50m), Tottenham Hotspur (€183.10m) and Manchester City (€199.52m), with Liverpool (€263.40m) and Arsenal (€280.30m) the only clubs to break the €200m mark.
Sunderland’s spend is almost €58m more than Newcastle United, who endured a silent January transfer window, while their host of summer signings were largely offset by the British record sale of Alexander Isak to Liverpool. Incredibly, Chelsea have the lowest loss of any Premier League side in the red at just €4.90m. The Blues have spent huge sums on the likes of Joao Pedro, Jamie Gittens, Alejandro Garnacho and Estevao. However, the likes of Noni Madueke, Christopher Nkunku, Joao Felix and many more were sold for very healthy fees, resulting in almost perfectly balanced books at Stamford Bridge.
Four clubs have posted a profit this season, the biggest of which are Bournemouth at €130.31m, with Antoine Semenyo, Ilya Zabarnyi, Dean Huijsen, Milos Kerkez and Dango Ouattara all sold for fees in excess of €40m.
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