How much money was spent in Europe’s top five leagues in the summer transfer window?
What an eventful summer transfer window it was in 2022, with plenty of records being shattered when it comes to spending in the market. Premier League clubs flexed their muscles yet again as they spent nearly as much money as all other top four leagues across Europe did in total.
But exactly how much money was spent in the summer transfer window across Europe’s top five leagues?
As per a report by Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, the recent window saw Premier League clubs’ gross spending sky-rocket to £1.9bn, which is the highest ever sum recorded that was lavished in a single window, overtaking the previous margin by £487.8m.
The previous best was in 2017 when English clubs forked out £1.4bn. Last year’s summer window saw £1.1bn being lavished by Premier League sides.
Records shattered by spending in the 2022-23 season across Europe
Even before the start of the January transfer window, the 2022-23 season will go down in history as the most lucrative one yet, ever since the two-window system was introduced with the previous best of £1.86bn in 2017/18, being surpassed already after the summer window (£1.92bn).
As per a Deloitte report, the gross spend across Europe’s big five leagues stands at €4.5bn for the recently concluded summer window. This figure has increased 52%, €1.6bn to be precise, since the previous year’s summer window, when the big five spent a combined €3.0bn.
Despite these mouth-watering figures, the spending across Europe has still drastically fallen down since Covid-19, as the three-year average spent across Europe’s top five leagues from 2017-19 stood at €4.7bn.
How much did the ‘big five’ spend?
Talking about exactly how much money was shelled out in the summer, English clubs’ gross spend of €2.2bn, is nearly three times that of their closes rivals Serie A, as Italian clubs splashed €749.2m. Just how much difference television revenue, marketing revenue and other sources can make becomes all the more evident when we compare the Premier League to the Bundesliga.
In terms of the money spent during the recently concluded window, German clubs’ spending of €484.1m, is four times less than what the English sides spent.
Elsewhere, Ligue 1 clubs’ combined spending stands at €558.0m, while La Liga clubs shelled out €505.7m during the summer window.
Most notable marquee signings across the Big 5 leagues
Antony was the most-expensive signing of the summer transfer window at €95m
Premier League: Naturally, being the most lucrative league in the world, English clubs had the power to attract some of the biggest talents from all over the globe. Antony became Manchester United’s second-highest outlay for a reported figure of €95m, while Darwin Nunez’s switch to Liverpool also stands out for €75m.
Erling Haaland’s move to Manchester City is already looking like a huge bargain at €60m, and Chelsea’s capture of Wesley Fofana for €80m, followed by Manchester United’s signing of Casemiro for €70m are also mouth-watering figures.
Then there was West Ham with their €164m spending, newly promoted Nottingham Forest splashed €155m, Saudi Arabia-backed Newcastle invested €136m, whereas Tottenham also made a significant outlay of €131m.
Serie A: Juventus continued their rebuild with the capture of Gleison Bremer which cost them €41m. AC Milan’s Charles De Ketelaere was the second most expensive purchase in Italy with an investment of €32m.
Atalanta’s signing of Ederson also raised eyebrows for €21m, while Hassane Kamara’s switch to Udinese cost them €19m. Min-Jae Kim joined Napoli for €18m, while Rasmus Hojlund’s move to Atalanta from Strum Graz saw them spend €17m.
Ligue 1: It comes as little surprise that Paris Saint-Germain leads the way with some of the most notable signings in the summer, namely Nordi Mukiele, Vitinha, Fabian Ruiz, Carlos Soler, and Renato Sanches.
Elsewhere, Marseille captured Alexis Sanchez, Nuno Tavares, and Eric Bailly to add to their loan moves for Pau Lopez, Matteo Guendouzi, and Cengiz Under. Monaco’s acquisition of Taki Minamino and Breel Embolo stands out, while Rennes made significant investments in Amine Gouiri and Arnaud Kalimuendo.
La Liga: Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid accounted for half of the money outlay overall that was spent by the Spanish clubs. Kudos to those at Camp Nou for masterminding the signings of Robert Lewandowski, Jules Kounde, Raphinha, and Andreas Christensen along with Franck Kessie and Hector Bellerin.
Robert Lewandowski is enjoying his first spell in the La Liga with Barcelona
Real Madrid had just the two marquee signings, Aurelien Tchouameni and Antonio Rudiger after Kylian Mbappe passed up the chance to join the Santiago Bernabeu.
Over to the other half of the Spanish capital and Atletico Madrid also had a quiet summer, adding two players Axel Witsel and Nahuel Molina, whereas Sevilla as usual pulled off some amazing moves for Alex Telles, Isco, and Tanguy Nianzou.
Bundesliga: Bayern Munich added considerable firepower to their already impressive roster with the signs of Mathys Tel for €20m, Matthijs de Ligt at €67m, Sadio Mane for €32m, Ryan Gravenberch, €18.5m, and Noussair Mazraoui for free.
Borussia Dortmund were on a spending spree as they added Anthony Modeste (€5m), Sebastien Haller (€31m), Karim Adeyemi, (€30m) and Niklas Sule (free) to their arsenal.
RB Leipzig brought back their prodigal son Timo Werner for €20m, while also landing David Raum (€26m) and Xaver Schlager (€12m). Bayer Leverkusen also made a couple of decent acquisitions such as Callum Hudson-Odoi on loan from Chelsea, and Adam Hlozek for €13m from Sparta Prague.
