Premier League Clubs Set Spending Record
Premier League clubs spent a total of £130m during the January transfer window, according to analysis by the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, bringing the full 2013/14 season spending to £760m and breaking the £700m barrier for the first time – significantly beating the previous record of £670m set in 2008/09.
Between the 20 clubs, £130m was spent in the January sales, beating last year’s figure of £120m but was well short of the record level seen in January 2011 (£225m).
Dan Jones, Partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, commented: ‘It is important to put this in context; the transfer spending is supported by the record level of revenues of Premier League clubs, driven primarily by new broadcast agreements. This gives Premier League clubs the ability to continue to invest significantly in their playing talent.’
‘Spending has again been driven by a minority of clubs, with just two accounting for more than 60% of the league’s total spending. Around half of Premier League clubs chose not to spend this month.’
Some of the key findings from the analysis of the January 2014 transfer window by Deloitte include:
Premier League clubs spent £130m to acquire new players in the January 2014 transfer window (2013: £120m; 2012: £60m; 2011: £225m). A summary of Premier League clubs’ player transfer fees spending for each of the previous January transfer windows (2003-14) is set out in the chart below.
The acquisition of new players from overseas clubs accounted for £65m (50%) of Premier League clubs’ gross transfer spending, followed by acquisitions from fellow Premier League clubs (£55m, 42%), and acquisitions from Football League clubs (£10m, 8%).
Premier League clubs concluded around £35m of player transfer fees on deadline day, the same amount that was spent on deadline day in January 2013. The equivalent deadline day figure in January 2012 was £30m. Manchester United and Chelsea have been the biggest gross spenders in this window, accounting for over 60% of the total Premier League spend. These two clubs have spent nearly four times as much this month as they did in the January 2013 window.
In aggregate, Premier League clubs have now spent over £1.1 billion to acquire new players in the 12 January transfer windows (2003-14). On average, the clubs’ transfer spending in January is equivalent to around one-fifth of total transfer spending in each year.
Premier League clubs’ net transfer spend was around £35m (2013: £70m; 2012: £25m; 2011: £90m), being the net amount that flows to overseas clubs and Football League clubs. Player transfers out of the Premier League generated around £40m of receivables for the clubs, most significantly from the transfers of Yohan Cabaye to Paris Saint-Germain and Kevin De Bruyne to Wolfsburg.
Over the past decade, Premier League clubs’ January transfer spending has typically exceeded that in other European leagues. This is due in part to the Premier League’s long-established mechanism that distributes broadcasting revenues on a more equal basis compared to the top divisions of the other big five leagues.
Top division clubs in France are the second highest spenders this January, with total reported transfer spending of around 40% of the Premier League total. Total transfer spending by top division clubs in Italy was around 30% and Germany around 20% of that by Premier League clubs. Transfer spending by Spanish clubs was limited in this window and exceeded by the amounts spent by clubs in emerging markets, such as Russia and Turkey.
