Premier League Spend Reaches Record High

01 Sep 2015 | tshego

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Player transfer spending by Premier League clubs in the summer transfer window reached a new record, according to analysis by the business advisory firm Deloitte, while spending across the calendar year reached £1bn for the first time.

Gross spending totalled £870m, 4% up on the previous record of £835m set last summer.

Manchester City paid the two biggest fees, £55m and £49m for Wolfsburg’s Kevin De Bruyne and Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling, respectively, while Manchester United’s £36m signing of Monaco teenager Anthony Martial was the biggest deadline-day move.

The Premier League leaders, who broke their club record twice this summer, had restrictions on their transfer spending lifted after meeting their Financial Fair Play target. City’s spending in 2014 was capped at £49m and they were also fined £16.3m for breaching UEFA rules.

Since the introduction of the transfer window system in 2002, gross transfer spending has exceeded £7.3bn, with over 80% of this being spent in summer transfer windows, according to Deloitte.

The four Premier League clubs competing in this season’s Champions League – City, United, Chelsea and Arsenal – had a combined gross transfer spend of around £340m, representing around 40% of the aggregate gross transfer spend by Premier League clubs.

Total transfer fees paid to overseas clubs were £585m, about 10% higher than in the summer of 2014 and 67% of the aggregate gross transfer spend by Premier League clubs.

Starting from next season, the Premier League TV rights deal increases from £3.018bn to £5.136bn for three seasons. The bottom club will pocket £99m per season with the champions earning more than £150m in prize money, even before extra money is paid for featuring in a TV match.

Alex Thorpe, senior manager in the Sports Business Group at analysts Deloitte, said: “With all 20 of the Premier League clubs now ranked in the top 40 globally by revenue, we have seen clubs across the league compete successfully in the market for international talent. Premier League clubs’ gross spending on players from overseas clubs this summer totalled more than half a billion pounds.

“Looking across Europe, Premier League clubs’ gross and net spending this summer is more than double that of any other European league. The driving force behind this is the growth and distribution mechanism of the league’s broadcast rights.

“Earlier this year we reported the remarkable rebalancing of revenues and costs, such that Premier League clubs collectively generated pre-tax profitability for the first time since 1999, with clubs set to enjoy a further revenue boost when the next broadcast deals start in 2016.

“Therefore, despite a new record level of player transfer spending this year, collectively Premier League clubs have a chance to invest in playing talent whilst remaining profitable in a way that was previously not the case.”