In this summer’s European soccer transfer window, which closed Tuesday, it was again clubs in the English Premier League that flashed the cash. The league’s 20 teams spent a combined $4.7 billion in transfer fees on 315 new players. That was more than the total spent by clubs in Italy ($1.39 billion), Germany ($939 million), Spain ($877 million), and France ($670 million) combined.
This is becoming a familiar story, but the numbers remain striking. Across the five leagues, there were 13 clubs with a net spend (transfer fees paid minus fees received) of more than 100 million euros. Nine of those teams were in the Premier League. The average team in the other four leagues, which include giants such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Paris Saint-Germain, spent around $46 million on new players. The average Premier League team spent $238 million.
Put differently, 38 players moved clubs over the summer for a transfer fee of 50 million euros or more, and 32 of those deals had a Premier League team either buying or selling.
The big theme of the transfer window was an intensification of trading between Premier League clubs. The three biggest deals of the European summer—Enzo Fernández moving from Chelsea to Manchester City ($168 million), Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa to Chelsea ($160 million), and Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest to Manchester City ($156 million)—were all between Premier League clubs. Even a decade ago, these sorts of deals used to be a rarity. The biggest Premier League teams would buy the best players from the competition’s smaller sides, and teams across the league would look abroad for talent. But big-name players moving between established teams in their prime was rare. Clubs and fans were territorial. Even inquiring about another team’s stars was considered an aggressive move.
