Fifa report shows big rise in January spending by Italian clubs
LONDON: Spending by Italian clubs in the January transfer window soared by 459 per cent compared to the same period last year but English clubs remain the most prolific when it comes to splashing the cash.
According to a report published by Fifa on Thursday, Italian clubs spent US$144.6 million (RM590 million) on international transfer fees during January compared to only US$25.9 million last year, with only US$39.3 million being collected in receipts.
AC Milan led the way with striker Krzysztof Piatek arriving from Genoa in a deal reported by Italian media to be worth €35 million euros (RM161 million) and Brazilian Lucas Paqueta signing from Flamengo for a similar fee.
English clubs spent US$178.2 million on 155 incoming transfers — a decrease of 65 per cent on last January.
Germany’s clubs were the third-highest spenders (US$112.5 million) with 97 per cent of that total going on players aged 21 or under. Spanish clubs spent US$112 million with France, the last of the so-called “Big Five” totalling US$95.4 million.
The window was once again dominated by the Big Five countries with 591 international transfers between them — a 10 per cent rise on 12 months ago — although only 28.6 per cent of those deals involved a fee.
Combined overall spending by clubs from the Big Five totalled US$642.8 million, a dip of 37.5 per cent on 2018.
Any suggestion that clubs are beginning to tighten their budgets should be taken with a “pinch of salt“, however, according to Fifa’s analysis.
“Rather than an inversion of the long-term trend, the decrease in spending from January 2018 seems to be a consequence of exceptionally high spending that occurred last year, which was mostly due to the presence of a small number of big transfers,” the report states.
Once again the majority of the Big Five’s spending came from clubs in England’s Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, Spain’s La Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga and Ligue 1 with 94 per cent of the outlay coming from clubs in those competitions.
Outside the Big Five, Mexican clubs were the highest spenders with US$58.5 million being paid out in January, followed by Saudi Arabia (US$49.2 million) and Turkey (US$34.2 million).
Throughout the world US$1.09 billion was spent on 3,716 international transfers in January, according to FIFA, with 59 per cent of that total being spent by clubs in England, Italy, Spain, France and Germany.
While 19.4 per cent lower than in 2018 it was only the second time since the introduction of the International Transfer Matching System (ITMS) in 2010 that the total spending for January topped US$1 billion.