£3.5bn spent on summer deals

The total spend of international transfers from the summer transfer window has been revealed at a sports law conference in Edinburgh – £3.56 billion, up 24 per cent from £2.87bn last year.

Kimberly Morris, general manager at Fifa TMS (Transfer matching system), revealed the figure, which includes Neymar’s world record £198 million transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saintgermain, in the city’s Signet Library.

Neymar’s lawyer, who

handed the cheque to Barcelona that triggered the Brazilian striker’s release clause last month, was present at the conference yesterday.

Marcos Motta flew to Edinburghfrombrazilhavingjust over four weeks ago visited the Barcelona club offices to make the payment of €222m for the “unilateral termination” of Neymar’s contract.

Also in the audience were Hearts owner Ann Budge and Hibs chief executive Leeann Dempster.

Asmuchas47percentofthe £3.56bn figure was accrued from just 50 deals – including Neymar’s controversial move and also Ousmane Dembele’s £98m switch from Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona.

The figures include only cross-border transfers.

Only 1,454 of the 7,307 international summer transfers recorded by Fifa involved a transfer fee being paid.

Unsurprisingly, English clubs spent the most, followed by those in Spain, France, Germany and Italy.

Highlighting the continued role of “intermediaries” in these transfers, 98 per cent of all commissions were paid by clubs in these big five European leagues. Nearly £58m was paid by English clubs to agents – or intermediaries.

Canadian Morris, who has worked at Fifa TMS since 2012, delivered a talk on integrity issues in player transfers.

“Before TMS, in 2010, it could take weeks to complete a transfer,” she said of the online system, available 24/7 for clubs. “Now a light has been shone on the market.”

A more detailed study of the summer window will be published on 12 September at https://www.fifatms.com.