Premier spending tops £1bn for the first time as fear of relegation adds up
LONDON: The expenditure of English Premier League football clubs in a single season has surpassed £1bn for the first time ever, business advisory firm Deloitte has revealed.
Monday saw the close of the January transfer window, which in total saw Premier League clubs spend £175m. This figure, coupled with the £870m spent during last summer’s window, has resulted in the highest-ever total outlay by Premier League sides across one campaign.
“Premier League clubs have chosen to spend significantly in this year’s January transfer window, in what has been the biggest January window for five years,” Dan Jones, a partner in the Sport Business Group at Deloitte, said. “A total spend of £175m this window has contributed to Premier League clubs passing the £1bn threshold for spending in a season for the first time.
“Notably, this January’s spending has been driven in large part by clubs in the bottom half of the table. The promise of the new broadcast deal for Premier League clubs from next season onwards and the threat of missing out through relegation is contributing to clubs investing in an attempt to stay in the league.”
The figure of £175m is the highest amount spent in the January window in England since 2011, when £225m was spent. Five years ago, Chelsea signed Fernando Torres for £50m from Liverpool, which broke its own transfer record by bringing in Andy Carroll for £35m from Newcastle United.
Deloitte’s figures revealed that the most money was spent by sides in the bottom half of the division. Newly promoted sides Norwich City and Watford, along with Newcastle, which is currently 18th in the table, accounted for around 40 per cent of the total spending by Premier League clubs.
Italian Serie A clubs spent around 30 per cent of what their English counterparts laid out. German Bundesliga clubs spent around £35m, while the spending of clubs in the Spanish LaLiga and the French Ligue 1 totaled around £26m.
Stoke City yesterday broke its transfer record to bring in Giannelli Imbula (pictured) for £18.3m from Portuguese Primeira Liga side FC Porto. The signing was the biggest deal on deadline day.
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