Forty-one of the 100 players on this year’s list came from England’s top flight, which is bad news for the competitiveness of the European competitions
M
oney talks in all walks of life – so football is no exception. In the 2025 summer transfer window Premier League clubs spent more on players than the top flights of Spain, Germany, France and Italy put together.
According to Deloitte, the Premier League clubs shelled out more than £3bn on transfers – a record – and the division’s net spend ended up at £1.2bn, a 114% increase on the previous summer. As a comparison Serie A had a net spend of €90m (£78.7m) and La Liga’s was €40m. The Bundesliga recorded a net receipt of €180m and Ligue 1 €305m.
So it is no surprise that the Premier League has the most players on the Guardian’s 100 best male footballers in the world 2025, which was revealed this week. This year the league had 41% of the nominees, up from 33 the previous year. It is not the biggest share the Premier League has had; that came in 2022 (43). Will the self-proclaimed “best league in the world” get to having half or more than half of the entries on the list? Sadly it seems quite likely.
