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Newly enriched Manchester City FC headed the list for transfer spending in season 2009/10, forking out a hefty £131 million on new players and recouping £33 million on player sales. The most parsimonious club was Blackburn Rovers who spent nothing – but sold nobody neither. Aston Villa profited the most – netting £12.7 million (Bought £8.7m – Sold £21.4m)
Andriy Shevchenko’s move from AC Milan to Chelsea, at an estimated £30 million, headed the list of the top ten most expensive player transfers in English football – up to August 2006. Next came Rio Ferdinand’s transfer from Leeds to Manchester United (£29.1m), and third was Juan Sebastian Veron (28.1m Lazio to Man U).
Of the top ten transfers all were to Chelsea or Manchester United.
List of the twenty Premier League clubs in 2004 comparing amounts spent during 2004 vs 2003. Figures are in £ million.
Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea spent almost double their nearest competitor, Manchester United, and three-times that of the next ranked club, Liverpool, while the two clubs at the bottom of the list did not break £1 million.
Football Transfer fees rose by over 400 per cent in the 12 year period covered by this table. The substantial fall recorded in 2003 was reversed in 2004 with gross spending of over £400m – largely driven by Chelsea FC.
In 2004, the amount of transfer fees leaving the English game to overseas football clubs and agents was a record at £263m.