Transfer Spending On Rise Throughout Europe

Following the close of the window on Friday night, Deloitte has revealed that spending in the summer transfer market has increased year-on-year in the Premier League, as well as France’s Ligue 1 and Germany’s 1.Bundesliga, according to analysis by the business advisory firm, although Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s Primera Division have seen spending reduced.

Deloitte said that player transfer spending by Premier League clubs was around £490 million in the 2012 summer window, an increase from the £485 million spent in summer 2011.

This year was also just short of the £500 million record set in 2008, which saw transfers including Dimitar Berbatov move from Spurs to Manchester United for 30.75m and Robinho swap Madrid for Manchester City for £32.5m on the final day of the window. 

Transfer fees to overseas clubs were around £300 million, up almost 50% on the level seen in 2011. This represented 61% of total transfer fees committed by Premier League clubs, compared with 42% in 2011.

Deloitte added that spending in Ligue 1, mainly boosted by the financial power of Paris Saint-Germain, rose to around £190 million and the 1.Bundesliga increased to around £210 million. 

PSG spent €141 million during the summer month, signing the likes of Thiago Silva, Lucas Moura, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

However, spending in Italy (around £310 million) and Spain (around £110 million) is at lower levels than the last summer window.

Commenting on Premier League spending Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said: ‘While the highest levels of spending continue to be at those clubs competing at the upper end of the Premier League and in European competition, we have also seen significant investment by the newly promoted teams, looking to establish themselves in the Premier League.’ 

‘While the new broadcast deals further demonstrate the commercial strength of the Premier League, the key challenge for Premier League clubs is how they manage their costs – notably transfer expenditure and players’ wages – so as to retain more of this increased revenue, address falling profits and, in the case of the top clubs, continue on the road to compliance with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations.’