Where has all the money gone? Research shows the Premier League lost over £600m on transfer fees in the summer – and joined FIVE other top world leagues in ending the window with a negative net spend
New research has revealed that a number of major leagues made a loss on transfers last summer, with the Premier League coming out on top as the league with the biggest spend.
The summer period was another busy one for competitions around the world, with hundreds of millions of pounds spent globally once again.
There were several significant fees paid, from Julian Alvarez leaving Manchester City for £81m to Dominic Solanke swapping Bournemouth for Tottenham for £65m.
However, it wasn’t just the Premier League that was spending money, with clubs such as the Saudi Pro League, Serie A and Ligue 1 also investing heavily in reinforcements for their squads.
And recent research conducted by Football Benchmark has shown that six major leagues worldwide made a total loss on transfer fees, while two other divisions made profits from player sales.
Research has revealed that the Premier League was one of the major leagues to lose money on transfer fees this summer.
Chelsea were the biggest spenders in the division, spending more than £200m on new players
Brighton, meanwhile, were loss-making, losing £154m in transfer fees during the summer transfer window.
According to the report, six of the eight leagues ended the summer transfer window last summer with a positive balance in terms of transfer fees.
This year, however, there were six with a negative balance: the Premier League, the Saudi Pro League, Serie A, Ligue 1, the Bundesliga and LaLiga.
The Premier League is estimated to have spent just under £2 billion in total, of which £1,966,319,080 was on new players for its 20 clubs.
Besides Solanke, other major deals included Leny Yoro’s £52m transfer to Manchester United, Joao Felix’s permanent move to Chelsea and Manuel Ugarte’s £51m transfer to United.
The league also made a lot of money, however. Players like Alvarez, Moussa Diaby and Michael Olise all left for large sums, but those fees were not enough to make the top division profitable in the summer.
The report found that clubs earned an average of £66.9 million per club, but spent an average of £98.3 million per club.
Fourteen of the league’s twenty clubs ended the summer with a negative balance compared to the start of the summer in terms of transfer fees, with Chelsea accounting for the largest expenditure (201 million) and Brighton making the total loss (154 million).
Leicester, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Newcastle, Everton, Fulham and Manchester City were the six teams to make a profit at the end of the summer.
In total, the Premier League lost around £604 million in transfer fees, which equates to an average of over £30 million per club.
Manchester City made the most money overall, with Julian Alvarez’s £81m move to Atletico Madrid proving useful
Other leagues also spent big, with Michael Olise swapping Crystal Palace for Bayern Munich
The Saudi Pro League also continued to spend money, including on Moussa Diaby (left) and Ivan Toney (right).
The English top division, along with five other top leagues, was the biggest loser financially.
The closest league to the previous year was the Saudi Pro League, which spent over £406 million in total, while taking in just £83.7 million – the lowest of all eight leagues analysed.
They lost a total of £323.1m – almost half the Premier League – as they continued to spend heavily, with the likes of Diaby, Ivan Toney and Marcos Leonardo all moving to the Middle East.
Elsewhere, a net total of £252m was spent in Serie A, £106m in Ligue 1, £61m in the Bundesliga and £11m in LaLiga.
The Eredivisie and Liga Portugal generated £91 million and £157 million net respectively.
Although the league still spent just under £2 billion on its 20 clubs, the Premier League has still saved more than £463 million this summer compared to last year.
Last year, only three teams had a positive spending balance: Wolves, Everton and Sheffield United.
And it was Manchester City who had the highest balance this year, with almost £98m. The sale of Alvarez accounted for almost all of the money earned, while the departures of Joao Cancelo and Taylor Harwood-Bellis also helped balance the books.
Only two players were signed: Savinho arrived for £21 million and Ilkay Gundogan returned on a free transfer.
The research does not take into account wages paid, as Kylian Mbappe joins Real Madrid on a free transfer but is expected to earn more than £1m a week
What is important to note, however, is that salaries were not included in the research. Kylian Mbappe joined Real Madrid on a free transfer from PSG, but is said to earn over £1m a week at his new club.
Victor Osimhen was also loaned to Galatasaray from Napoli. These two players are considered to have the highest market value of all players who left in the summer.
However, the Premier League is still the biggest spending league, even though spending in the summer was lower than the year before.