Premier League clubs spent around £130m in the January transfer window, according to analysis by the Sports Business Group at Deloitte. This figure is above the amount spent in January 2013 (£120m), but less than the record level seen in January 2011 (£225m).
Premier League clubs spent around £130m in the January transfer window, according to analysis by the Sports Business Group at Deloitte. This figure is above the amount spent in January 2013 (£120m), but less than the record level seen in January 2011 (£225m).
Dan Jones, Partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, commented: “This January window has seen Premier League clubs spend a total of £130m. Despite this being short of the record, the 2013/14 season as a whole is a new record. Premier League clubs have spent a total of £760m, breaking the £700m barrier for the first time. This is significantly higher than the previous record of £670m in 2008/09.
“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.”
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. This finding rather contradicts the media view that it was a rather dull finale which we referred to in an earlier report.
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.
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.