Darwin Núñez, with Benfica, fights for a ball with Gerard Piqué in a Champions League match. /
financial potential
The English league exhibits economic power, invests more than 1,000 million euros again and triples the spending on transfers of the Spanish, which has so far spent 355
Even in times of crisis, the Premier League exhibits one more year of economic power and has been in charge of breaking the market again, which closes in a month, with an investment of more than 1,000 million euros for the ninth consecutive summer, tripling the spending on transfers from the Spanish League. While the Premier, which is at another financial level, has so far disbursed close to 1,200 million thanks, above all, to Arsenal, Manchester City and Leeds, the League has ‘only’ invested 355, which would be more than 400 with the variables included in the signings of the azulgranas Lewandowski (45+15 per goal), Raphinha (58+7) and Koundé (50+10) and the Real Madrid player Tchouaméni (80+20).
The Premier returns to the top, for the eleventh year in a row, in the investment classification of the five major leagues, ahead of the Italian Serie A, the German Bundesliga and La Liga, which surpasses the French Ligue 1, given that Paris Saint -Germain has put the brakes on after so many millions of petrodollars spent in previous seasons. In Spain it is now Barça that after being almost bankrupt and resorting to the famous ‘levers’ for their salvation and to be able to sign, at the cost of mortgaging their future, the one that has risen to the leadership of European clubs, ahead of Bayern Munich, Arsenal, City, Leeds, Tottenham, Chelsea and PSG, according to Transfermarkt.
With the high-profile signings of Darwin Núñez, who has cost Liverpool 75 million (plus 25 in variables), and Erling Haaland (City has paid 60 fixed for the Norwegian), among many other highlights in the British market, the English league has once again displayed its economic superiority in the Old Continent. For the League, the summer of 2019 is already a long way off, when the Spanish competition rubbed shoulders with the Premier, with a global expenditure of the First Division clubs of 1,500 million. Now, for Spanish football, the 355 million is the lowest figure in investment in transfers since the summer of the 2012-2013 season, when the additions totaled only 167 million.
The figures of the European leagues
Spending on transfers for
the 2022-2023 season
CLUBS THAT HAVE INVESTED THE MOST
Evolution of the classification of
the last five seasons
Source: Own elaboration with data from the federations.
The figures of the European leagues
Spending on transfers for
the 2022-2023 season
CLUBS THAT HAVE INVESTED THE MOST
Evolution of the classification of
the last five seasons
Source: Own elaboration with data from the federations.
The figures of the European leagues
Spending on transfers for
the 2022-2023 season
CLUBS THAT HAVE INVESTED THE MOST
Evolution of the ranking of the last five seasons
Source: Own elaboration with data from the federations.
Premier
The reinforcements make City, current Premier champion, and Liverpool, the two main candidates to win the title for yet another season. This same Saturday both will dispute the first trophy of the season, the Community Shield. Less favorites are Chelsea, who have managed to acquire the services of Sterling for 56.2 million, and Arsenal, who have signed Gabriel Jesus for 52 million, also from City. Regarding possible sales abroad, at the moment Cristiano Ronaldo is still at Manchester United, after Enrique Cerezo closed the door definitively to the Portuguese on Friday.
A league
In Italy it has been Juventus and Inter who have starred in some of the main movements. In a still delicate economic situation, the zero-cost transfer policy continues to gain strength, with the Bianconeros having obtained footballers such as Pogba or Di María for free once their contracts with Manchester United and PSG, respectively, have ended. Inter has achieved the transfer of Lukaku a year after his mega-transfer to Chelsea for 113 million euros, incorporating the Armenian Mkhitaryan after his time at Roma, to where the Argentine Dybala has moved, also free of charge, after his time in Turin.
Bundesliga
Bayern has obtained Sadio Mané, one of Liverpool’s references until last season, for 32 million, but the Senegalese has not been the only great move in the German league or in the Bavarian club. Bayern have lost their great goalscorer, Lewandowski, but have signed Dutch centre-back De Ligt from Juventus for 67 million. At Borussia Dortmund, after the end of Haaland’s stage, he arrived from Ajax as a replacement for the Norwegian Sebastian Haller, for 31 million, but the Ivorian has been diagnosed with a testicular tumor in the middle of the preseason.
Ligue 1
Less flashy this summer is the transfer market in Ligue 1, where PSG, great dominator of the French championship and always favorite, has been characterized by large outlays since the arrival of the Emir of Qatar to the Parisian club. Far away are the 222 million paid years ago by Neymar or the incorporation last summer of Leo Messi himself, who months later would win his seventh Ballon d’Or. Although PSG have not yet made a great signing, the renewal is not minor of Mbappé, who slammed the door on Florentino Pérez’s dream aspiration.
