English Premier League spending hit a new record of £835 million ($1.384 billion) during the 2014 summer transfer window, which closed at 11pm on September 1, easily beating the previous record set in the summer of last year (£630 million), according to a Deloitte analysis.
Total spending in the Premier League was nearly double what was spent in Spain’s La Liga during the same period.
Below is a list of total spending during the Summer 2014 transfer window by Europe’s main football (soccer) leagues:
- English Premier League: ₤835m.
- La Liga (Spain): ₤425m.
- Serie A (Italy): ₤260m.
- Bundesliga (Germany): ₤250m.
- Ligue 1 (France): ₤100m.
The English Premier League, Scottish leagues and English Football league all have the same September 1 transfer window closing date.
Deloitte *says £530 million of that money has gone abroad, £240 million went to Premier League clubs, and the other £65 million to teams in the Football League. (*The Deloitte hyperlink is from a press release one week before the summer window was closed.)
Partner at Deloitte’s Sport Business Group, Dan Jones, said:
“In a summer where the world’s best players were on show at the World Cup we have again seen how Premier League clubs are able to successfully compete on a global stage in terms of attracting talent. We continue to see the increased resources that Premier League clubs enjoy, as a result of improved broadcast deals, translate into investment in players.”
Despite being suspended for biting another player in during the World Cup, Suarez was sold for the most money.
Most clubs spent more
The average Premier League club was paid more than £25 million extra in central broadcasting distributions in the year ending summer 2014, Mr. Jones said, this helped push summer spending to record levels.
Below is a list of how much the Premier League clubs spent, received and their balances for the summer window:
- Man Utd: Spent: ₤153.1m. Received: ₤31.2m. Net spend: ₤122.0m.
- Liverpool: Spent ₤116.8m. Received: ₤81.1m. Net spend: ₤35.7m.
Gareth Bale’s record transfer fee to Real Madrid for an undisclosed sum (probably about €100m) in 2013 still stands.
- Chelsea: Spent: ₤87.7m. Received: ₤88.5m. Net spend: ₤-0.8m.
- Arsenal: Spent: ₤78.2m. Received: ₤31.8m. Net spend: ₤46.4m.
- Southampton: Spent: ₤57.9m. Received: ₤88.6m. Net spend: $-30.7m.
- Man City: Spent: ₤54.5m. Received: ₤22.5m. Net spend: ₤32m.
- Hull: Spent: ₤39.4m. Received: ₤15m. Net spend: ₤24.4m.
- Newcastle: Spent: ₤37.8m. Received: ₤12.9m. Net spend: ₤24.9m.
- QPR: Spent: ₤36.5m. Received: ₤15.5m. Net spend: ₤21m.
- West Ham: Spent: ₤34.5m. Received: ₤3.5m. Net spend: ₤31m.
- Tottenham: Spent: ₤34.2m. Received: ₤40.7m. Net spend: ₤-6.5m.
- Everton: Spent: ₤32.8m. Received: ₤0.0m. Net spend: ₤32.8m.
- Swansea: Spent: ₤25.1m. Received: ₤23.8m. Net spend: ₤1.3m.
- West Brom: Spent: ₤15.6m. Received: ₤2m. Net spend: ₤13.6m.
- C. Palace: Spent: 12.4₤m. Received: ₤1.4m. Net spend: ₤11m.
- Sunderland: Spent: ₤12m. Received: ₤2.5m. Net spend: ₤9.5m.
- Leicester: Spent: ₤11m. Received: ₤1m. Net spend: ₤10m.
- Burnley: Spent: ₤8m. Received: ₤0m. Net spend: ₤8m.
- Aston Villa: Spent: ₤6.9m. Received: ₤1m. Net spend: ₤5.9m.
- Stoke: Spent: ₤3.4m. Received: ₤3m. Net spend: ₤0.4m.
Deloitte reported in June that the Premier League’s revenue reached a record £2,525m in the last season. For England’s top 92 clubs, revenue totaled £3.2million.