The transfer window for league clubs in England and Scotland has closed, with a total summer outlay by Premier League teams of more than £1.96bn.
According to data from Football Transfers,, external the Premier League spend was more than double that of its nearest rival – Italy’s Serie A.
Eight clubs from England’s top flight broke their transfer records, but where was the best business done? What were the biggest deals? And who barely spent a penny?
Well two of the most eye-catching deals were actually announced in the early hours of the day after deadline day.
After Chelsea winger Raheem Sterling joined Arsenal on a season-long loan, the Blues confirmed the signing of Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho on a similar arrangement.
Both transfers needed deal sheets – which extended the 11pm deadline by another two hours – to be signed, with fans left waiting long into the night for confirmation.
England striker Ivan Toney was also a late mover – completing a £40m move from Brentford to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli.
Before allowing Sancho to leave, Manchester United splashed out the highest fee on the day – signing Paris St-Germain and Uruguay midfielder Manuel Ugarte for an initial £42.1m, which could rise to £50.5m after add-ons.
That made it one in, one out in central midfield for United after Scotland international Scott McTominay’s move to Serie A side Napoli for £25.7m was also confirmed.
Elsewhere, forward Eddie Nketiah joined Crystal Palace from Arsenal in a deal worth in the region of £30m but Chelsea were unable to get a striker signing of their own done as a move for Napoli’s Victor Osimhen did not materialise.
Early in the day, Arsenal also sold goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale to Southampton for £25m.
Champions Manchester City had the lowest net spend of any Premier League club in the transfer window – actually turning in a £115.8m profit.
They spent £21.4m on Brazil winger Savinho, but selling players such as forward Julian Alvarez and defenders Joao Cancelo and Taylor Harwood-Bellis made it a profitable window.
In fact, none of last season’s top three featured prominently when it came to net spend.
Arsenal spent £93.9m – including £38.4m on Italy defender Riccardo Calafiori and £27.4m apiece for Spanish duo David Raya and Mikel Merino – but sold £76.8m worth of players.
Liverpool bought midfielder Federico Chiesa and goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili but selling players such as Fabio Carvalho, Sepp van den Berg and Bobby Clark meant they made a £14.4m profit.
City, of course, have won four successive Premier League titles. They face 115 charges – which they deny – of alleged breaches of the league’s financial rules.
Across the Premier League, net spend was at minus £1.05bn over the course of last summer. This year, it is little more than half of that.
These are still figures to dwarf rival leagues across Europe and the Saudi Pro League has been considerably less active this close season. Nevertheless, spending across the window being more restrained feels notable, coming as it does on the back of the first season when the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules showed their teeth.
Given the fast-spinning transfer carousel that is Chelsea’s Clearlake era, it was no surprise to see the west London outfit being the only club to have spent in excess of £200m once deadline day rolled around. The Blues have been able to supplement this with a decent number of sales, however, and their net spend differential is only the fifth highest in the division.
Leading the way are Brighton, finally able to cash in a little on years of selling stars such as Moises Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister and Ben White for big money. Ipswich and Southampton have each spent in the region of £100m on their return to the Premier League.
Manchester City and Liverpool, the two strongest sides of this era, have the lowest expenditure figures, while Arsenal spent less than the aforementioned promoted clubs. Even as Arne Slot settles into life as Jurgen Klopp’s successor, this shows the value of having settled high-quality squads at a time when the market is not at its most buoyant.
Transfer figures via Transfermarkt as of August 30, 2024; clubs listed in order of net spend
| Club | Expenditure | Income | Net spend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton | £194.7m | £28.8m | -£165.9m |
| Ipswich | £106.5m | £1.4m | -£105.1m |
| West Ham | £121.6m | £37.7m | -£83.9m |
| Tottenham | £125.4m | £42.3m | -£83.1m |
| Chelsea | £219.8m | £147.4m | -£72.4m |
| Southampton | £98.6m | £35m | -£63.6m |
| Man United | £138.5m | £86.75m | -£51.75m |
| Brentford | £77.5m | £27.4m | -£50.1m |
| Arsenal | £91.7m | £44.8m | -£46.9m |
| Leicester | £73.1m | £29.8m | -£43.3m |
| Fulham | £77.1m | £43m | -£34.1m |
| Bournemouth | £87.9m | £55.6m | -£32.3m |
| Aston Villa | £148.4m | £122.1m | -£26.3m |
| N. Forest | £81.3m | £75.2m | -£6.1m |
| Liverpool | £35.4m | £39.6m | +£4.2m |
| Newcastle | £57.4m | £64.2m | +£6.8m |
| Everton | £42.3m | £70.45m | +£28.15m |
| Crystal Palace | £40.4m | £84.8m | +£44.4m |
| Wolves | £42m | £90.5m | +£48.5m |
| Man City | £21.1 | £118.75 | +£97.65m |
| TOTAL | £1.8bn | £1.25bn | -£550m |
Chelsea’s rampant activity in terms of both incoming and outgoings gave them two of the biggest five signings in terms of initial transfer fees, with forwards Pedro Neto and Joao Feix No. 3 and No. 5 respectively.
Erik ten Hag refitted his defence after signing an extended contract at Manchester United, with Leny Yoro and Matthijs de Ligt coming in at significant expense. The new footballing operation at Old Trafford will hope they prove to be excellent business in the long term.
The most expensive signing in the Premier League this summer was Dominic Solanke, who moved to Tottenham from Bournemouth tasked with the considerable undertaking of filling Harry Kane’s shoes. Manchester City’s very healthy net spend calculation was largely accounted for by Julian Alvarez joining Atletico Madrid and becoming the club’s record sale.
Atletico, Juventus and Bayern Munich (twice) account for four of the top 10 sales by Premier League clubs. Bayern, with their purchase of Kane, were the only European club responsible for top 10 outgoing last year. Whether this is an outlier or the start of the PSR era bringing the Premier League back into the pack remains to be seen.
All figures are initial transfer fees via Transfermarkt as of August 30, 2023.
| Player | From | To | Transfer fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dominic Solanke | Bournemouth | Tottenham | £55m |
| Leny Yoro | Lille | Man United | £52m |
| Pedro Neto | Wolves | Chelsea | £51.4m |
| Amadou Onana | Everton | Aston Villa | £50m |
| Joao Felix | Atletico Madrid | Chelsea | £42m |
| Max Kilman | Wolves | West Ham | £40m |
| Georginio Rutter | Leeds United | Brighton | £39.3m |
| Matthijs de Ligt | Bayern Munich | Man United | £38.6m |
| Riccardo Calfiori | Bologna | Arsenal | £37.9m |
| Ian Maatsen | Chelsea | Aston Villa | £37.5m |
All figures are initial transfer fees via Transfermarkt as of August 30, 2024.
| Player | From | To | Transfer fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Julian Alvarez | Man City | Atletico Madrid | £64m |
| Dominic Solanke | Bournemouth | Tottenham | £55m |
| Moussa Diaby | Aston Villa | Al Ittihad | £51.9m |
| Pedro Neto | Wolves | Chelsea | £51.4m |
| Amadou Onana | Everton | Aston Villa | £50m |
| Michael Olise | Crystal Palace | Bayern Munich | £44.6m |
| Douglas Luiz | Aston Villa | Juventus | £43.36m |
| Joao Palhinha | Fulham | Bayern Munich | £43.1m |
| Max Kilman | Wolves | West Ham | £40m |
| Ian Maatsen | Chelsea | Aston Villa | £37.5m |
This was another action-packed transfer window for Chelsea, whose total outlay since Todd Boehly became owner in May 2022 has risen to more than £1.3bn.
They did offload more players (12) than they bought (10) but in spending more than £203m they finished with a net spend of £46.5m – more than 12 other Premier League clubs.
Among their sales were a £35.6m deal for Conor Gallagher with Atletico Madrid, Ian Maatsen’s £38m move to Aston Villa and Romelu Lukaku joining Napoli for £28.2m.
The figures do not include Belgian goalkeeper Mike Penders, who will join Chelsea next summer for a fee in the region of £17m, or £29m Brazilian Estevao Willian, who also join next season.
Overall spending broke through the £2 billion barrier this time last year. As the clock ticked down on deadline day, clubs had a combined outlay of £1.8 billion, although the most significant difference was in terms of net spend.
Brighton had the highest net spend in the Premier League – £153.6m from an outlay of £195.7m.
They paid a club record £39.9m for Leeds’ Georginio Rutter, £29.9m for Newcastle’s Yankuba Minteh, and more than £25m for each of Ferdi Kadioglu, Brajan Gruda, Mats Wieffer and Ibrahim Osman.
Selling Billy Gilmour for £12m on deadline day, as well as Denis Undav for £22m earlier in the window, brought some money in.
Newly promoted Ipswich had the next highest net spend – £107.6m.
Brighton were not the only club to break their transfer record, either.
Bournemouth recruited striker Evanilson for an initial £31.7m, Brentford signed Igor Thiago for £30m and Fulham brought in Arsenal’s Emile Smith Rowe for an initial £27m.
Aston Villa, Ipswich, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham also broke their records.
The three promoted teams all splashed some of their Premier League cash to try to improve their chances of staying up.
Ipswich and Southampton have both spent more than £100m, while Leicester paid out more than £75m.
Ipswich spent £109m on 10 players – seven of whom are from Premier League clubs including Chelsea’s Omari Hutchinson, who joined for £20m after a successful loan.
Southampton’s signings, which included the deadline-day arrival of Ramsdale, were from a wider variety of divisions.
Leicester, meanwhile, recruited exclusively from top divisions – with four of their seven signings from the Premier League and one from each of the Italian, Portuguese and Belgian leagues.
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