Premier League clubs splash the cash in US$2.2 billion spending spree, as Man United blow US$95 million on Antony
- Deadline day signing takes United’s total spend to US$240 million, while Chelsea spent US$280 million
- English clubs spent about the same on players as those in the top leagues in Spain, Italy, Germany and France combined
A record spending spree by Premier League clubs in the summer transfer market passed the US$2.2 billion mark before the window closed on Thursday with Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and — belatedly — Chelsea all signing players to conclude the reshaping of their squads.
The headline transfer on a typically frantic final day of trading was the arrival of Brazil winger Antony at United from Ajax for US$95 million, making him the fourth most expensive player in the league’s history and football’s most expensive deadline-day signing.
That took United’s total spend in this wildest of transfer windows to about US$240 million — a figure only topped in the whole of Europe by Chelsea, which finally signed an out-and-out striker in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Barcelona. In the club’s first transfer window in the post-Roman Abramovich era, Chelsea spent a staggering US$280 million.
Ten Hag says United lifted attitude to beat Liverpool – and Ronaldo has role
Man City’s signing of Switzerland centre-back Manuel Akanji for US$17.5 million felt low-key by comparison, while Liverpool’s only move — the loan signing of Brazil international Arthur Melo from Juventus — was still significant as it strengthened the team’s injury-hit midfield.
Fuelled by income from huge global broadcasting deals worth about £10 billion (US$11.8 billion) over three seasons, Premier League clubs have reverted to pre-pandemic levels of spending — and then some — to leave the rest of Europe in its wake.
England’s top-flight clubs spent about the same on players as those in the top leagues in Spain (US$500 million), Italy (US$750 million), Germany (US$485 million) and France (US$540 million) combined, according to calculations by the Transfermarkt website.
The net spend of the Premier League teams was US$1.35 billion, compared with Italy (US$8 million) and Spain (US$64 million). In France and Germany, the leagues actually made a profit according to Transfermarkt.
Summing up the outrageous splurge by English clubs was the business conducted by Nottingham Forest since securing a return to the Premier League for the first time since 1999.
Forest signed three players on deadline day to take its total number of signings across the window to a remarkable 21, at a cost of US$160 million.
The future of Cristiano Ronaldo has been a hot topic since the end of last season — the Portugal star has pushed to leave United because the team are not in the Champions League — but the five-time world player of the year will be staying at Old Trafford, at least until January anyway.
Ronaldo was a second-half substitute for United in its 1-0 win over Leicester in the Premier League on Thursday, and manager Erik ten Hag reiterated after the match that he is counting on the 37-year-old striker this season.
Antony’s arrival, however, adds further competition to the attacking spots, with Ronaldo having only started one of United’s five league games.
The United rebuild under Ten Hag was wrapped up with the signing of Slovakia goalkeeper Martin Dubravka on a season-long loan from Newcastle, as a backup to David De Gea.
Fulham had a busy end to the window, bringing in three attackers and a defender on deadline day.
Former Brazil winger Willian is back in the league after previous spells at Arsenal and Chelsea, while former United winger Daniel James arrived on loan from Leeds.
Brazilian striker Carlos Vinicius joined from Benfica, while Fulham brought in left back Layvin Kurzawa on loan from Paris Saint-Germain.
PSG trimmed its squad further by selling Senegal midfielder Idrissa Gueye to former club Everton, who also signed young striker James Garner from United.
A deadline-day spree by Southampton also resulted in four transfers — including Croatia defender Duje Caleta-Car, who left Champions League qualifiers Marseilles for a team which will do well to finish in the top half of the Premier League.
Aston Villa signed Belgium midfielder Leander Dendoncker from Wolverhampton.
Leicester chose the final day of the window to make their first and only outfield signing of the summer, Wout Faes from French club Reims. Faes filled the vacancy left by Wesley Fofana, who joined Chelsea on Wednesday for £75 million.
Leicester’s miserly approach this summer made the club very much an outlier in the Premier League and manager Brendan Rodgers grumbled after Thursday’s loss to United — which left his team in last place and without a win — about the club’s failure to strengthen the squad in the summer transfer.
“With the greatest respect,” Rodgers said, “we have not had the help in the market this team needed.”
The Premier League’s record for spending in a single season — covering both summer and winter transfers windows — previously stood at £1.86 billion (US$2.18 billion) in 2017-18.
That figure was surpassed in this transfer window alone.
