There is still more than a month to go before the transfer window closes in most top leagues, but it is clear that English clubs will continue to dominate when it comes to signing players. The question is whether they will break the record of last summer, when they spent 2.25 billion euros on reinforcements.
So far, and transfers take place daily, the 20 clubs that make up the English Premier League have already spent a total of €1.08 billion. To give you an idea, it’s almost the same amount that the other major European leagues (Spain, Italy, Germany and France) have spent so far together.
The most-spent emblem across Europe is Arsenal, runners-up in the Premier League last season, who look set to fight again against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City dominance (it has won five of the last six championships). The London club has so far spent 231.6 million euros on acquisitions.
The gunners are also responsible for the most expensive signing in the market to date, with the £116.6 million paid to West Ham to secure the services of defensive midfielder Declan Rice. The team trained by Mikel Arteta also paid 75 million for Kai Havertz to Chelsea and 40 million to Ajax for Jurrien Timber.
Still in England, Tottenham is the second most spending club, spending in the order of £136.30 million. Of this pie, €46.30 million went to James Maddison’s transfer to Leicester, and then another €40 million was paid to Sporting for Pedro Porro, €30 million to Juventus for Kulusevski and €20 million for goalkeeper Vicario to Empoli, from Italy .
Closing the stage of the clubs that have already wasted the most money on signings appear Liverpool and Chelsea, both with £112m already spent. Among the red wines, the reinforcement Dominik Szoboszlai stands out, for whom Liverpool paid 70 million euros to Leipzig. And in the blues, record holders in spending last year, Nkunku was the most expensive player ever to be recruited to date, with 60 million in RB Leipzig’s coffers.
However, Manchester United are poised to move up to second place in this ranking of the most spenders as the signing of goalkeeper Onana, formerly of Inter Milan, for €55 million will soon be official, which will boost spending to €120 million. The 64.20 million euros already spent went to the purchase of Mason Mount, Chelsea’s attacking midfielder.
Unlike other years, champions Manchester City are quite calm in terms of market movements and have so far spent just £29m on the acquisition of Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea.
Italy at 416 million
In the Big 5, the Italian league ranks second among the countries that have spent the most money to strengthen their respective teams so far, spending around €416 million. Juventus invested the most, totaling €77.60 million – Manuel Locatelli (ex-Sassuolo) and Moise Kean (ex-Everton) cost €60 million.
The French league follows, with 376.85 million euros, much at the expense of the millionaire PSG, who have already paid 155.5 million euros in reinforcements – the most expensive was Manuel Ugarte, for whom the Parisians paid 60 million to Sporting.
In fourth place are the German emblems, with an investment of 350 million euros, with RB Leipzig leading the squad with almost half of this value, 126 million euros – the club’s most expensive acquisition owned by Red Bull was striker Loïs Openda, who joined from Lens for €43 million.
And finally the Spanish league, with 225.80 million. Real Madrid has already spent almost half of this amount (128.50 million euros), with almost all of the money invested in English midfielder Jude Bellingham, who forced the payment of 103 million euros to Borussia Dortmund.
But attention! It doesn’t seem very likely that this will happen, but the Spanish league could make a jump in this ranking if Real Madrid signed Kyllian Mbappé. The French forward is in his last year of contract with PSG and the club owner has already said he will be traded if he does not extend. And in the case of Mbappé, a transfer, even a year before the end of the contract, would never take place below 100 million euros.
The Portuguese league remains far from the amounts spent on signings in the Big 5, with an investment of €101.36 million to date. Benfica leads expenses with €39 million, followed by Sporting (€27 million) and Sp. Braga (€17.80 million). For the Reds, the most expensive transfer was Turkish midfielder Kökçü, signed for €25 million. Sporting already broke its record, with the 20 million paid out by Swedish striker Viktor Gyökeres (€20 million).
Source: DN
