Transfer deadline day: Premier League clubs’ near £2 billion spend smashes previous record and dwarfs La Liga

Premier League clubs broke their transfer window record and spent more than Italian, French and Spanish sides combined.

The clubs spent almost £2 billion on players in the summer transfer window. The Premier League accounted for 49% of collective gross spend across the ‘big five’ leagues, with Serie A contributing £648m, Ligue 1 £483, La Liga £437m and the Bundesliga £418m.

Deloitte’s Sports Business Group estimates this was two-thirds higher than last year’s transfer window outlay of £1.1bn, and 34% higher than summer 2017’s £1.4bn, the previous record.

“Gross spend was so high among Premier League clubs this summer that, before this season’s January transfer window had taken place, the 2022/23 season already has the highest transfer spend since the two-window season began, exceeding the previous record by 3% (2017/18’s £1.86bn),” Deloitte said.

Raheem Sterling, Marc Cucurella, Kalidou Koulibaly and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were Chelsea’s most significant signings.

Zal Udwadia, assistant director in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, said: “What you’ve really seen this summer is you’ve got the return of fans in full force and new broadcast deals coming into play, you’ve really got clubs with high amounts of confidence and certainty going into this window.

“You’ve got a new broadcast cycle that’s starting, where the international portion of the rights have exceeded domestic rights for the first time, and that really again highlights the global appeal of the Premier League.”

Udwadia continued: “The ‘big six’ clubs (are) spending to solidify or break into those four Champions League spots, you’ve got another group spending to try and break into European football and reap the rewards that brings, and you’ve got a whole tier of clubs who are spending just to stay in the Premier League, because the cost of relegation is so high.”