Arsenal’s £112m gross spend was their lowest since the 2018/19 season, which was not overly surprising, given that they had splashed out around half a billion pounds in the previous two seasons.
The Gunners also sold well, as their £92m was the highest
the club has made from player sales since 2017/18, including two Academy
products, Emile Smith Rowe to Fulham and Eddie Nketiah to Crystal Palace, plus
Aaron Ramsdale to Southampton.
Their net spend was only £19m, which was firmly in the
bottom half of the Premier League. You have to go back as far as 2012/13 for
the last time it was this low.
Aston Villa
Villa spent big this summer, but also recouped a lot of
money via player sales.The £183m gross spend was their second highest ever,
only surpassed by £204m in 2021/22, and the fourth highest in the Premier
League this summer.
However, they set a new club record for sales with £172m,
which was much more than the previous peak of £103m in 2021/22 that included the
mega sale of Jack Grealish to Manchester City. Also the second highest in the
Premier League this summer.
They were the masters of the mutually beneficial two way
deals in June, whereby clubs did not swap players (definitely not), but did
just happen to buy and sell at the same time in separate agreements. Villa had
such arrangements with Juventus, Chelsea and Everton.
Brentford
Brentford had gross spend of £100m for the first time in the
club’s history, but this was largely After two years when they made big money
from player sales, Brighton really went for it this summer, splashing out £235m
on player purchases. They only generated £49m from player sales, so their net
spend was a substantial £186m, which was not only the highest in the Premier
League, but also the highest worldwide.
As would be expected, the Bees have ramped up their spending
in the transfer market since promotion to the top flight, especially in the
last three years, when their outlay added up to £260m. However, this was still
firmly in the bottom half of the Premier League.
Brighton and Hove
Albion
After two years when they made big money from player sales,
Brighton really went for it this summer, splashing out £235m on player
purchases. They only generated £49m from player sales, so their net spend was a
substantial £186m, which was not only the highest in the Premier League, but
also the highest worldwide.
Although Brighton were the big spenders this summer, their
net spend over the last three years was only £20m, as they posted large net
sales in each of the previous two seasons (£82m in 2022/23 and £84m in
2023/24). In fact, only four clubs in the Premier League had lower net spend
(or net sales) in this period.
Chelsea
Once again, Chelsea had the highest gross spend in the
Premier League with £265m, though they also had the highest sales of £210m. The
Blues have topped both of these rankings three years in a row.
As always, they sold well, making good money from Ian
Maatsen to Aston Villa, Conor Gallagher to Atlético Madrid, Lewis Hall to
Newcastle United, Romelu Lukaku to Napoli and Omari Hutchinson to Ipswich Town.
They also sold Angelo to Al-Nassr after the end of the Premier League deadline,
as the Saudi transfer window only closed on 2nd September.
Everton
Everton’s transfer spend over the last few years helps explain
why they have had issues with the Premier League’s Profitability and
Sustainability Regulations (PSR), but also the impact on their activity since
then.
In the four years between 2017/18 and 2020/21, they splashed
out a sizeable £555m, but this has more than halved in the subsequent four
seasons to £240m. In that period, they have had net sales on three occasions,
including this summer’s £34m.
Everton’s £48m net sales over the last three years are the
highest in the Premier League, while they are the only club in England’s top
flight to have had net sales over the last five years.
Liverpool
Liverpool only spent £43m, which is their lowest since
2019/20 and was the second smallest in the Premier League this summer. They ame
£60m of sales, so ended up with net sales of £17m.
This was in contrast to the previous two seasons, when they
spent £133m in 2022/23 and £179m in 2023/24. Neverthelss, their £369m outlay in
the last three years was only 13th highest in the Premier League, while the top
five places were filled by the other five members of the Big Six.
Manchester City
Manchester City only spent £25m this summer, bringing in
Savinho from Troyes, part of the City Football Group portfolio, while they had
the third highest sales in the Premier League with £168m.
This resulted in £143m net sales, the highest in England’s
top flight. This was the first time that City have had net sales for 19 years.
Over the last five years, City have spent £860m, which was
the fourth highest in the Premier League. However, in the same period, they
also made £680m sales, which was the second highest in England. As a result,
their £180m net spend was only 12th highest.
Manchester United
Manchester United spent £219m on player purchases, which was
the third highest in the Premier League this summer. This was partly offset by
£106m sales, but this still led to £113m net sales, again the third highest in
England.
United have splashed out more than £200m three years in a row,
adding up to £678m, which is only second to Chelsea’s unprecedented spending
spree. It’s the same story over the last five years, as United’s outlay was a
hefty £945m, again only below Chelsea.
Newcastle United
After three years when their player purchases were more than
£150m, Newcastle United only spent £70m this summer, entirely offset by £77m of
sales to give £7m net sales.
This was partly due to the PSR challenges that the club has
built up with its previous high outlay, but that did not prevent the lengthy
pursuit of Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi, though that ultimately proved
fruitless.
Newcastle’s issues with PSR have not been helped by making
very little money from player sales in the three years between 2020/21 and
2022/23, which contributed to a relatively high net spend of £438m in the last
five years. This was the fifth highest in the Premier League, ahead of both
Liverpool and Manchester City.
Nottingham Forest
Having spent less than £80m in their last ten years in the
Championship, Forest had to spend a lot following promotion, so they have
splashed out a total of £420m in their three years in the top flight, which is
actually the seventh highest in the Premier League in this period.
They have had more than £100m of player purchases each year,
though this peaked at £170m in 2022/23, falling to £137 last season, then to
£113m this summer. However, this was still in the Premier League’s top ten.
Forest offset that outlay with £91m of sales, which is a new
club record, just above last season’s £86m, so their net spend was only £23m.
Tottenham Hotspur
Daniel Levy is famous for running a tight ship, but the
reality is that Tottenham have spent a lot of money in the transfer market,
splashing out more than £100m in each of the last six seasons in an attempt to
win some elusive silverware.
This summer’s £147m gross spend was the fifth highest in the
Premier League, as was their £87m net spend (net of £60m sales). However, this
was only around half of the huge £284m outlay last season.
In the last five years, Spurs have spent £853m, which was
the fifth highest in the Premier League, almost exactly the same amount as
Manchester City. Their £588m net spend was actually fourth highest.
West Ham
It might have gone unnoticed, but West Ham have quietly
ramped up their transfer activity, spending well over £100m in each of the last
three seasons. In fact, the Hammers have the sixth highest gross spend in
England over that period with £482m.
This summer’s outlay was £147m with only £46m sales, leading
to a substantial £101m net spend, the fourth highest in the Premier League.
This was in contrast to last season’s £27m net sales, which was driven by the
massive sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal.
Despite the huge sums invested in the transfer market, there
is not always a great correlation with success on the pitch, otherwise Chelsea
and Manchester United would be mounting strong challenges in the Champions
League, but in fact neither of them managed to qualify for this season’s
competition.
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