The transfer window report from business advisory firm Deloitte calculates that Premier League clubs spent around £60m, a decline of 70 per cent on the record level of £225m in January 2011 (admittedly something of an aberration).
Dan Jones, a partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, saw Uefa’s financial fair play rules as a factor in the comparative restraint of clubs and a more sober level of spending among Premier League clubs.
The transfer window report from business advisory firm Deloitte calculates that Premier League clubs spent around £60m, a decline of 70 per cent on the record level of £225m in January 2011 (admittedly something of an aberration).
Dan Jones, a partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, saw Uefa’s financial fair play rules as a factor in the comparative restraint of clubs and a more sober level of spending among Premier League clubs.
He noted, ‘In the decade since the introduction of transfer windows, January has typically been a relatively quiet window with total spending driven by a few high value transfers, as certainly the case with the chain of events on last year’s deadline day. The £60m spent in January 2012 is back to a similar level as the January windows in 2004 to 2007 and still ahead of the investment in players by top division clubs in other European leagues.’
Premier League clubs concluded around £30m of transfer fees on deadline day. The equivalent deadline day figure for January 2011 was £135m, and for summer 2011 it was around £100m.
The top spenders in this window were Chelsea, Queens Park Rangers and Newcastle, together contributing over half of the total spending. Last year around 80 per cent of the total spending was concentrated across just four clubs (Chelsea, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Manchester City).
There were no single player acquisitions by a Premier League club for more than £15m in this window, compared to six such transfers in January 2011. Spending with overseas clubs accounted for £30m (50 per cent) of Premier League clubs’ transfer spending, followed by spending with Premier League clubs (£15m, 25 per cent) and with Football League clubs (£15m, 25 per cent).
Over the past decade, on average the transfer spending in January is equivalent to about one-fifth of total transfer spending in each year. There is a view that the window does not offer value and that players signed midseason, whatever their strengths, failed to make the desired impact. Dan Jones commented, ‘Whilst it’s been a relatively sparse January, we can against expect an active summer window following Euro 2012.’
Across Europe, the biggest spender was Paris Saint-Germain, majority owned by Qatar Investment Authority.