EPL clubs spend big, break records
Blues sign Fernandez, Jorginho joins Arsenal
LONDON: English Premier League clubs spent a record £815 million (US$1 billion) in a frantic January transfer window — nearly double the previous highest figure, according to sports finance experts Deloitte.
Deals came thick and fast in the final hours of the window on Tuesday, with big-spending Chelsea setting a new British record in signing Argentina’s World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez from Benfica for €121 million ($132 million, £106.8 million).
The gross spend was 90 percent higher than the previous record (£430 million in 2018) and almost triple the previous January window.
Clubs from the English top flight also set a record for net transfer expenditure during a January window of £720 million.
Combined with the record £1.9 billion spend during the summer transfer window, Premier League clubs have splurged £2.8 billion during the 2022/23 season, a new all-time high.
Deadline-day expenditure by Premier League clubs of £275 million is also a new record for January, obliterating the previous mark.
Five of the top six revenue-generating clubs accounted for more than half of the total gross spend, with Chelsea responsible for more than a third of the total league expenditure.
The Premier League’s huge spending is backed by record revenues for broadcasting rights for the 2022-2025 cycle.
For the first time international TV rights sales outstripped the figure for the UK domestic market, taking the total to more than £10 billion over three years.
Premier League clubs blew their European rivals out of the water, accounting for 79 percent of total spending across Europe’s major football leagues in January — the highest proportion ever reported.
Transfer spending fell across the rest of Europe’s “big five” leagues from €396 million in the January 2022 window to €255 million.
The president of Spain’s La Liga, Javier Tebas, accused the majority of Premier League clubs of “economic doping”.
He tweeted: “We read about the strength of the Premier League but it is not like that. It is a competition built on clubs making multi-million losses.”
Tim Bridge, lead partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, said Premier League spending was “beyond anything that we’ve seen before”.
“It is a clear indication of talent acquisition being core to Premier League clubs’ business strategies,” he said.
“In securing the best available talent, clubs hope to improve results on the field, which in turn will enhance the appeal of the Premier League and further cement its position at the very top of world football.”
But Bridge warned there was a fine balance between prioritising success on the pitch and maintaining financial sustainability and also highlighted the lack of domestic business.
More than 85 percent of Premier League clubs’ gross spending was directed towards acquiring players playing outside the UK.
DEADLINE-DAY DEALS
Chelsea yesterday confirmed the signing of Fernandez from Benfica for a record British transfer fee of €121 million euros.
The 22-year-old, whose arrival at Stamford Bridge was announced in the early hours of yesterday by the Portuguese club, has agreed an eight-anda-half-year deal.
Chelsea announced on their official website: “Enzo Fernandez is a Blue! The Argentinian midfielder has completed his transfer from Benfica to Chelsea.”
The deal breaks the previous Premier League record, set by Manchester City when they signed Jack Grealish from Aston Villa for £100 million in August 2021, and takes Chelsea’s spending since the end of last season to more than half a billion pounds.
Premier League leaders Arsenal snapped up Italy midfielder Jorginho from Chelsea for a reported fee of £12 million.
Jorginho, who is understood to have signed an 18-month deal at the Emirates Stadium, told Arsenal.com: “I’m very excited for this new challenge and I just can’t wait to be on the pitch.
“Everything has happened so fast. I was a bit surprised, but I took the opportunity of this amazing challenge.”
Arsenal’s north London rivals Tottenham announced the signing of defender Pedro Porro from Sporting Lisbon minutes before the deadline.
Manchester United said they had signed Bayern Munich midfielder Marcel Sabitzer on loan.
United were forced into deadline-day action on Tuesday following an ankle injury to Christian Eriksen, which is set to rule the Denmark midfielder out until early May.