English clubs are still as immune to the virus of financial depression. The winter transfer window has demonstrated this once more this year. Premier League clubs spent 353 million euros in January, the second highest amount ever during the winter transfer window, thanks to a wave of late signings.
The arrivals of Luis Diaz (Porto), Bruno Guimarães (Lyon) and Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus Turin) in the last days of the month have notably increased the expenses of the English championship, according to figures published on Tuesday by the financial company Deloitte .
The January 2018 record (€515 million) still stands, but this year’s spending is more than four times that of €83 million last year, when the Covid-19 had affected club budgets.
Net spending by English top-flight teams (the ratio of player purchases to sales) – totaling €215m is the highest since the January transfer window was introduced in 2003.
And it is logically the clubs in difficulty in the classification which have opened their wallets the most widely. The last five in the championship have spent around 180 million euros, more than 50% of the total.
Among the big moves, Liverpool, current 2nd, therefore signed Colombian winger from Porto, Luis Diaz, for a sum of up to 60 million euros with the bonuses, while Newcastle, 18th, paid an amount 42 million for the Brazilian midfielder from Lyon, Bruno Guimarães.
Struggling to stay, the Magpies, boosted by funds from their new Saudi owner, also paid Burnley €30m for New Zealand international striker Chris Wood and signed England defender Kieran Trippier for €14m. euros from Atletico Madrid.
“This transfer window indicates that the financial pressures of Covid-19 on Premier League clubs are easing, with spending firmly back to pre-pandemic levels and remarkably among the highest we have seen in January.” , underlined Dan Jones, who heads the sports sector of Deloitte.
Total gross spend across Europe’s top five leagues (the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1) reached €735 million, surpassing the January 2021 total of €460 million.
English clubs were by far the biggest spenders in January with “nearly 180 million euros more than the Serie A clubs, their closest competitor”, indicated Dan Jones.
