London (AFP)
The English Premier League clubs broke their record of spending on contracts during the summer transfer market, according to Deloitte, the financial auditing company, Football Money League.
According to the study conducted by Deloitte, the total spending by 20 teams in the “Premier League” amounted to 1.5 billion pounds “1.7 billion dollars”, to strengthen its ranks with new players until today “Thursday”, compared to 1.43 billion pounds in 2017, which was a figure a previous record of spending.
The current figure, which has been spent since June 10, the official opening date of the summer transfer market, exceeded what was spent during Mercato, both summer and winter last season, which amounted to 1.44 billion pounds.
With only a week to go until the summer transfer window closes on September 1, it is only during this period that English clubs might break the absolute record for spending in an entire season, £1.86 billion, set in the 2017-18 season.
“The record levels of spending that we’ve seen in this summer transfer window so far provide a sign that the business models of Premier League clubs are recovering following Covid,” said Chris Wood, Associate Director of Deloitte Sports Business Group.
He continued, “While this is encouraging, the importance of clubs to establish responsible and sustainable spending policies cannot be overstated,” stressing that “clubs must balance their desire to be competitive on the field, with the need to protect financial viability and a long process. term.”
And the “Premier League” clubs signed 135 players this summer, breaking previous records in the summer transfer market in 2019 and 2020, while contracting with 148 players in the summer of 2021.
Clubs paid transfer fees in two-thirds of these signings, including 14 separate players who moved for a reported fee of more than £30m.
Top of that list was the transfer of Uruguayan striker Darwin Nunez from Benfica to Liverpool, which amounted to 85.5 million pounds.
Chelsea spent 60 million to sign Spaniard Marc Kokorea, 47.5 million to bring in Raheem Sterling from Manchester City, and 34 million for Senegalese Kalidou Coulibaly.
For his part, Manchester United allocated 60 million to buy the Brazilian Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro, while Manchester City paid 50 million to the Norwegian Erling Halland, the former German striker Borussia Dortmund. In turn, Arsenal spent 77 million to obtain the services of Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus and Ukrainian defender Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City.
Tottenham spent 60 million to buy Brazilian striker Richarlison from Everton, while West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton clubs were also active in the transfer market by making large contracts.
