A record EPL $plurge
English clubs spend RM7.7bil in transfer window
LONDON: English football clubs splurged on the final day of the transfer window, laying out 210mil (RM1.2bil) to take total gross spending to a record-high 1.4bil (RM7.7bil) as the Premier League again flexed its unrivalled financial muscles.
Figures from Deloitte’s Sports Business Group showed a 23% rise from the previous record, set last summer. The spending would have been even higher had several proposed transfers gone through as expected on Thursday.
Even so, Premier League clubs are not breaking the bank, thanks to lucrative domestic and overseas broadcast deals.
“Importantly, and when analysed in the context of generating record broadcast, commercial and matchday revenues, Premier League clubs are spending well within their means,” Dan Jones, a partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, said. “For the last 15 years, annual transfer spending has remained within the range of between a fifth and a third, and averaged at around a quarter, of total revenues.”
Based on income estimates for the Premier League’s 20 clubs this £ season, the 1.4bil of new signings represent an average of 31% of total revenue per club, down from 200809, when the figure peaked at 34%.
£ Watford’s net spending of 41mil (RM226mil) was the highest compared with income at 44%.
Premier League spending during the window dwarfed that of other top European leagues. Serie A’s total £ of 735mil (RM4.05bil) was the next highest figure, followed by Ligue 1 £ at 590mil ( RM3.3bil), the £ Bundesliga at 510mil (RM2.8bil) and La Liga, where the window £ closes on Friday, at 500mil (RM2.76bil).
Spain’s top three clubs – Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid – all made a profit in the window, according to figures from Bonus Code Bets. Germany’s Borussia Dortmund earned the biggest profit as a share of revenue (30%), while Italy’s AC Milan spend-ing left it with a deficit of 162mil RM823mil), representing 76% of their total income.
Manchester City were England’s biggest spenders, even though their
£ late 50mil (RM276mil)-plus bid for Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez came to nothing as the Chilean stayed put.
£ The club spent 215mil (RM1.2bil) on the likes of fullbacks Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker and playmaker Bernardo Silva.
Chelsea’s deadline-day signings of Torino’s Davide Zappacosta and Leicester midfielder Danny Drinkwater put them in second place on £ 180mil (RM992mil), ahead of Manchester United and Everton, both of £ whom spent 145mil (RM799mil).
Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur were two of only five clubs who made a net transfer profit in the latest window. Swansea, Burnley and Stoke were the others.
While the head-turning deals were signed by England’s biggest clubs, the Premier League’s current
£ 5.13bil (RM28bil) domestic broadcasting deal meant even the lesser lights had big money to spend.
Promoted clubs Brighton, Huddersfield and Newcastle spent a £ combined 101.7mil (RM560mil), nearly five times more than last season’s new boys.
“While the transfer record for a single player has again been broken by a major European club (Paris St Germain for Neymar), the Premier League’s clubs enjoy an unrivalled depth of purchasing power,” Jones said. “This is as a result of the league’s relatively equal – and transparent – distribution of broadcast revenues.”
While the largest sums were spent on acquiring players from £ overseas clubs, the 545mil (RM3bil) of inter-Premier League trading also represented a record. £ Romelu Lukaku’s 90mil (RM496mil) move from Everton to Manchester United was the largest deal between English clubs. Other big ones included Kyle Walker’s £ 50mil (RM276mil) switch to Manchester City from Tottenham Hotspur and Gylfi Sigurdsson’s transfer from Swansea to Everton £ for 45mil (RM248mil).