Premier League sees blockbuster 'billion pound' transfer window despite drop in spending

Despite the Premier League clubs spending over £1 billion in the 2021/22 summer transfer window, the expenditure has still dropped for the second year in a row. Despite the lower overall spending, England's top flight has witnessed some of the best transfers in a long time. The biggest Premier League transfer was undoubtedly that of Cristiano Ronaldo's homecoming to Manchester United that pushed the league's spending past the £1 billion mark. Most of the reduced spending has been down to clubs signing players on free transfers or reduced fees as even top European clubs are struggling to keep hold of their top players due to their jaw-dropping wages.

Premier League transfer spendings

The Premier League clubs spent £1.1 billion in total during the 2021/22 transfer window, which was open from June 9 to August 31. The spending was 11% lower than the previous year's sum of £1.3 billion, which itself was 9% lower than that of the 2019 spending total. According to top financial services multinational company Deloitte, the Premier League has spent the lowest in this transfer window since 2015.

Key points on Premier League spending

• Premier League clubs’ gross spend of £1.1bn in the 2021 summer transfer window is 11% lower than the spend during summer 2020 (£1.3bn), which itself was a 9% drop compared to summer 2019 (£1.4bn);
• This is the lowest gross spend by Premier League clubs since 2015, and the first time that there has been a consecutive decline since the global financial crisis (summers 2008 to 2010);
• Deadline day activity totalled £150m, meaning Premier League clubs have spent in excess of £1bn for the sixth summer in a row;
• The volume of players acquired by Premier League clubs on free transfers has increased to 22% of all players-in during this year’s summer transfer window from 20% in summer 2020;
• Premier League clubs’ net player transfer expenditure in this year’s window as a proportion of the clubs’ estimated 2020/21 revenue was 10%, down substantially from summer 2020 (18%);
• The German Bundesliga is the only European ‘big five’ league to increase its gross spending this year, whilst also generating a net player transfer income of £35m largely driven by the sale of key players to the Premier League;
• The Premier League’s net player transfer spend of £560m in the year dwarfed that of La Liga (£55m), Serie A (£50m) and Ligue 1 (£15m), further highlighting the financial strength of the league compared to its peers.

(Inputs from Deloitte's press release)

Premier League top transfers in 2021/22 window

Most of the £1.1 billion Premier League spending in the 2021/22 transfer window is down to clubs like Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea spending big. Manchester City signed Jack Grealish for a British transfer record of £100m from Aston Villa. Meanwhile, European Champions Chelsea were not too far behind as they signed Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan for £97.5m.

While Manchester United's top signing in this transfer window was that of Cristiano Ronaldo, their biggest spending was to sign Jadon Sancho from Dortmund for £73m. Surprisingly, the biggest spenders this summer were Arsenal, who made several signings from various clubs. Arsenal spent over £140m on players like Ben White from Brighton (£50m), Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid (£30m) and Aaron Ramsdale from Sheffield United (£24m).