England’s transfer splurge passes €741m
New owners at Premier League clubs combined with the increase in broadcast payments to clubs for the 2007/08 season, are key drivers of the unprecedented rise in spending.
Paul Rawnsley, director in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, commented: “This summer’s transfer spending by English clubs has beaten all previous records, but as Premier League clubs will receive around €445m of extra broadcast payments during the 2007/08 season, the increase in transfer spending is not a surprise.
“On a net transfer basis, Premier League clubs spent around €207m more in 2007 than 2006, well below the increase in broadcast payments they will receive this season. We expect total player wages to also increase but by a much lower proportion than the circa 80% rise in gross transfer spending this summer.”
Clubs in the top four English divisions spent more than €741m on transfers during summer 2007, up by around two thirds from around €445m in summer 2006. Total spending on transfers by Premier League clubs in 2007 (January and summer windows) exceeded €1.1bn.
The increase in transfer payments is a result of both higher average transfer fees and an increased number of transfers. The average transfer fee paid by Premier League clubs increased from around €5.1m in summer 2006 to €5.9m in summer 2007, whilst the number of transfers for a fee exceeded 100 for the first time in a transfer window (up from around 80 in summer 2006) .
The English clubs which invested the most in new players in 2007 were Manchester United (€75.5m), Liverpool (€74m), Tottenham Hotspur (€59m) and newly-promoted
Sunderland (€51m). Twelve Premier League clubs spent more than €29m on transfers in summer 2007, up from three (Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur) in summer 2006.
This may point towards greater competitive balance within the Premier League as a result of the rise in broadcast payments to all clubs in 2007/08.
Net transfer spending by Premier League clubs increased to around €622m in 2007, up €207m from around €415m in 2006.
Football League clubs received around €163m in transfer receipts from Premier League clubs in 2007, almost double the previous high of around €89m in 2006.
Overseas clubs continue to benefit most from Premier League clubs’ transfer spending, with around half of disclosed transfer spending (€370m) in summer 2007 going outside England.
In Europe, we have also seen high levels of transfer spending, particularly in Spain. Real Madrid were Europe’s top spenders, with around €118m invested on new players in summer 2007, including the acquisition of Heinze and Robben from Manchester United and Chelsea respectively.
Thierry Henry’s transfer from Arsenal helped push Barcelona’s transfer spending up towards €74m, with Atletico Madrid also spending around €74m.
Spain’s Primera Liga was the next highest spending league in summer 2007, with total transfer spending around half that spent by Premier League clubs.
Clubs in the Big Five European Leagues spent around €1.4 billion on transfers in summer 2007.
