Premier League clubs spent a total of £295m (€354 million) in the January transfer window that closed last night, more than quadrupling last year’s total of £70m, and marking the second-highest January transfer spend ever according to analysis by Deloitte’s Sports Business Group.
Republic of Ireland internationals Jeff Hendrick to QPR and Jamie McGrath to Wigan were the headline moves from here but neither was to the Premier League.
The bounce back from Covid is even deeper with this years figure a full 20 per cent ahead of the five year average spent between 2016 and 2020.
Premier League clubs recruited 36 players overall in the window, down in comparison to an average of 42 in the Jan 2018-20 windows, but up by 16 in comparison to 2021 (20).
Furthermore, Premier League clubs’ net expenditure, the amount they spent over what they recouped in the sale of players during the window, of £180m, is the highest ever since the January transfer window was introduced in 2003.
Premier League spending accounted for nearly 50 per cent of the gross expenditure across Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues.
“This transfer window indicates that the financial pressures of COVID on Premier League clubs are easing, with spending firmly back to pre-pandemic levels and remarkably among the highest we’ve ever seen in January,” said Dan Jones of deloitte.
“The Premier League continues to lead the way globally, retaining its status as the world’s biggest domestic football league in financial terms, once again supported by full stadia and securing strong overseas broadcast deals.”
“Other large European leagues are also edging back to higher spending, but it is Premier League clubs that have notched up the largest total spend in this transfer window, spending almost £150m more than Serie A clubs, the closest competitor.”
Newcastle United was responsible for the highest proportion (c.£85m) of Premier League clubs’ overall spend and over half of the bottom five clubs’ gross transfer expenditure.
