How much has the Premier League spent on 2022-23 transfers?
The English top flight has laid out €1.85 billion in combined transfer spending this summer, the highest figure in football history.
The Premier League has broken the all-time record for investment in a summer transfer market, splashing out €1.85 billion with over a week to go before the 2022-23 window closes on September 1.
As such, the Premier League has exceeded the previous record of €1.61 billion set in the summer of 2017, which at the time was the record spend for a single league. The English top flight occupies the top six positions historically in terms of expenditure in a single transfer window, with the next division on the list Spain’s LaLiga. In the summer of 2019, Primera División expenditure reached €1.36 billion.
Average transfer costs higher
Big money signings such Darwin Núñez to Liverpool (€100m), Casemiro to Manchester United (€82m), Richarlison to Tottenham (€70m) and the addition of Alexander Isak at Newcastle (€70m), have once again installed the Premier League as the biggest spender in the summer market.
However, it is not just the elite who have been splashing the cash. The lower and middle-tier teams in the Premier League have made a significant contribution to breaking the transfer spending record. Newly promoted Nottingham Forest have invested €148 million euros while West Ham, a club not competing in either the Champions League or the Europa League, almost €140m. Newcastle, the Premier League’s latest nouveau riche side, have also spent a considerable amount to bring in Sven Botman (€37m from Lille), Matt Targett (€17.5m from Aston Villa), England keeper Nick Pope (€11.5m from Burnley) and Isak, with those four transfers representing a club record layout of €136m.
Newcastle sign cautiously, but sign
“We want to improve the group,” Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said a few days ago when he was asked about the possible departure of Bruno Guimarães. The magpies certainly did that by acquiring Isak from Real Sociedad to bolster the attacking line.
Isak was the missing piece for Newcastle, who have been in the market for a striker all summer after failing to lure Darwin to St James’ Park. After several weeks of rumours, Newcastle’s Saudi owners sanctioned a deal worth up to €75m for the 22-year-old Sweden international.
It was a sound piece of business for Real Sociedad, who signed Isak for €15m from Borussia Dortmund in 2019, although it has left the Basque side light in attack and the reality is that Newcastle convinced the Sweden striker that its project was more ambitious. That should serve as another warning for LaLiga, which is losing more and more players with each passing transfer window as the Premier League establishes itself as the economic powerhouse among Europe’s top leagues.