Premier League clubs broke spending records during the summer transfer window, which came to an end on Thursday, September 1, 2022.
Manchester United’s £82 million acquisition of Antony was the most expensive deadline-day signing in history.
By surpassing the previous record of £1.4 billion set in 2017 and dwarfing the rest of Europe, that deal helped the Premier League clubs to set a new spending record of approximately £1.9 billion.
Following two seasons of declining spending due to Covid, nine of the 20 top-flight clubs spent more than £100 million each this summer.
Clubs in the Premier League spend more than all of Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A, and Spain’s La Liga combined.
Chelsea made the most purchases in a single Premier League season than any other team.
Manchester United broke their summer spending record while Nottingham Forest was the first British team to ever recruit the most players in a single summer.
The sum of the 20 teams’ expenditures during the window, which was open from 10 June to 1 September 2022, exceeded the previous summer’s total of £1.1 billion by 67%.
The 2022–23 season has already seen the greatest transfer spending since the two–window season began, surpassing the previous record of £1.86 billion, established in 2017–18, by 3%, according to financial services company Deloitte. And that is before the start of the January transfer window.
Other significant information gleaned by Deloitte from the window includes:
- Gross spending grew by 52% to £3.88 billion across all of Europe’s “big five” leagues, including the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1.
- The greatest percentage since summer 2008 and over three times that of the second-highest spenders in Serie A (£646m) came from Premier League teams, who were responsible for 49% of that spending.
- For the first time, Premier League teams’ net transfer spending exceeded $1 billion.
- Clubs in the Premier League added 169 players this summer, up from 148 in 2021 and 132 in 2020.
- From 45% in summer 2021, the percentage of players signed for a fee rose to 66% in summer 2022.
- Although gross spending by Championship clubs more than doubled from the previous summer to £86 million (2017-19 three-year average: £169.4 million), it was still much below pre-Covid levels.
“The record level of spending during this transfer window is a clear indication of Premier League clubs’ confidence, as fans return to stadia and a new broadcast cycle begins,” Lead partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, Tim Bridge confirmed.
“It’s now become part and parcel of the Premier League that clubs are willing to pay significant sums to maximise performance. This season, the desire to acquire playing talent has reached new levels as the pressure for clubs to stay in the competition is higher than ever.”
What were the signings on the deadline day?
On deadline day, at least one new signing was made by 14 of the 20 Premier League clubs. Highlights consist of:
Manuel Akanji, a Swiss international, joined Manchester City on a five-year contract from Borussia Dortmund, strengthening their defense.
Along with acquiring Antony, Manchester United also agreed to Martin Dubravka’s season-long loan from Newcastle.
Idrissa Gueye, a midfielder for Senegal, returned to the Toffees from Paris Saint-Germain, and James Garner moved from Manchester United to Everton.
Arthur Melo, a Brazilian international who formerly played for Juventus, joined Liverpool on a season-long loan.
Wesley Fofana, who joined Chelsea on Wednesday for roughly £70 million, was replaced by Belgium center-back Wout Faes, who Leicester acquired from French club Reims on a five-year agreement.
This summer, Nottingham Forest added 21 new faces with the signing of three players, with defender Loic Bade being the final to come and coming on loan from Rennes.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who joined Chelsea from Barcelona on a two-year agreement, and Switzerland midfielder Denis Zakaria, who joined on a one-year loan from Juventus, are the night’s final two signings.
Failed Premier League Transfers
Even though spending in the Premier League hit records, a handful of transactions fell through.
Only a year after joining Manchester United from Juventus, Cristiano Ronaldo wanted to leave this summer, but he decided to stay at Old Trafford.
Frenkie de Jong was also the subject of a £63.5 million deal between the Red Devils and Barcelona, but the move fell through due to a disagreement between the Spanish team and the Netherlands midfielder.
Chelsea made a £45 million deal for Everton winger Anthony Gordon, but the Toffees ultimately managed to keep hold of the England Under-21 international.
Douglas Luiz of Aston Villa was the target of a last-minute move by Arsenal, but the Midlands club rejected two approaches, the most recent of which was for £23 million.
Bamba Dieng, however, was arguably the most peculiar non-transfer tale of deadline day.
Andrea Radrizzani, chairman of Leeds, stated that the team was prepared to “welcome” the Marseille forward to Elland Road because they were so convinced they would sign him.
But Nice, a Ligue 1 rival of Marseille, intervened to hijack the agreement as the 22-year-old was about to leave for the UK from France.
