£1.4 bn spent on 99 player transfers this EPL season; Man-U topped spending charts with £148 mn

The Premier League, England’s top tier football competition, had its transfer deadline on August 8, a few days before the season kicked off. The 20-team league spent a cumulative £1.4 billion on 99 players, exceeding last season’s summer spending by £158 million. This is fourth successive season that the £1 billion-mark has been breached. But does a bigger transfer budget translate into better results on the field? The Manchester teams seem to concur, with both City and United spending big on marquee players.

Harry Maguire became the world’s most expensive defender after Manchester United coughed up £80 million for his services. Maguire also drew interest from Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City after his heroics at the World Cup in Russia, and subsequently for Leicester City. Pep’s City spent big on Atletico Madrid’s Rodri (£62.5 million) and Juventus’ Jao Cancelo (£60 million). North London rivals, Arsenal and Tottenham also got out their chequebooks, acquiring the services of Nicolas Pepe and Tanguay Ndombele for upwards of £60 million each.

In terms of overall spending, Manchester United topped the chart with a total spend of £148 million on the back of expensive defensive reinforcements in the form of Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who was signed from Crystal Palace for £50 million. Daniel James, who had a dream debut on Sunday, was signed from Swansea for £18 million.

Pep Guardiola, who was upset over insinuations that his team was buying success, will have little to argue about after what has been yet another busy window at the Etihad. Manchester City continued their profligate ways, spending £134.8 million this transfer window. Rodri (£62.5 million) and Joao Cancelo (£60 million) were the marquee signings, while Angelino Jose Angel and Zackary Steffen were signed as reinforcements for £5.3 million and £7 million respectively.

Liverpool, who ran City close last year had a quite transfer window. The champions of Europe spent only £4.4 million, making them the team with the second-lowest spending this window. Newly-promoted Aston Villa punched above their weight with a total spend of £144.5 million. However, the outlay was spread across a dozen transfers – Tyrone Mings (£26.5 million), Matt Targett (£17 million), Wesley (£22 million) and Douglas Luiz (£15 million) among others.

Arsenal appeared to have set off a smokescreen by declaring at the start of the window that its board had approved a transfer budget of £45 million. The club ended up spending £138 million with many big-name signings including Nicolas Pepe, Kieran Tierney, William Saliba, Gabriel Martinelli, and former Chelsea defender David Luiz. Spanish midfielder Dani Ceballos, winner of the Golden Ball at the Under-21 Euro Championships, was signed on loan from Real Madrid.

Tottenham also made reinforcements in midfield with Ndombele, who was influential in their first game of the season. Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon was signed for £30 million on deadline day. Pochettino also secured the services of his compatriot Giovani Lo Celso, who signed on a load deal, with option to buy, from Real Betis.

Everton spent £118.5 million this window, especially on young players. The Merseyside team swooped for Alex Iwobi on deadline day, after securing the signatures of Juventus starlet Moise Kean (£27.5 million), Andre Gomes (£22 million), and Jean-Phillippe Gbamin (£25 million). Fabian Delph, a benchwarmer at Manchester City, was also signed for £9 million. Six teams spent in excess of £100 million this transfer window.

The recently concluded window also saw 183 outbound transfers from Premier League teams. The combined transfer fees from outgoing transfers were £806.5 million, a 125 per cent increase from the £806.5 million recouped last year. The major destination for the Premier League’s biggest star was Spain, with Chelsea duo Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata moving to crosstown rivals, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, for £130 million and £58.3 million respectively.

Only three teams made a net profit – Chelsea, Crystal Palace, and Liverpool. The Blues’ transfer ban meant that it clocked a negative net spend of £173.2 million. Crystal Palace did not spend big, and registered a profit on selling Wan-Bissaka to Manchester United.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp stressed on the need to maintain the core of the team that won the Champions League. Except for a couple of youngsters, no new players were signed. Liverpool recorded net profit of £24.42 million.