CEM REPORT | The transfer window has closed for one of the most popular leagues in Europe – the English Premier League, club owners can keep their cheque books and mend the holes in them while managers focus on the team and prove investment to be worthwhile.
The just closed transfer window saw top flight English sides shelling out around £2 billion on new recruits.
Chelsea’s new owner Todd Boehly spent the highest, releasing a whooping €281.99m to bring in new talents to strengthen and bring the club to the top flight and compete strongly against Manchester City and Liverpool who made era-defining buys in the shape of strikers Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez.
While, Manchester United’s new manager Erik ten Hag, who has the responsibility to return the club to Champions League football came in late into the market but also made critical signings to strengthen the club.
However, with many clubs exiting the window with deficit account balances only Manchester City, Leicester, and Brighton closed with a positive balance.
Let’s look at each Club and how much they slashed on the window.
- Leicester City
Spent £15.3m
Received: £73.26m
Net spend: +£57.96m
With Brendan Rodgers not being able to spend much during the window, this is undoubtedly the club’s toughest summer since their return to the top flight, made worse by the £70m sale of Wesley Fofana to Chelsea.
The manager recently admitted the club aren’t in a financial position to spend this summer, and that could end up in a worryingly low finish.
- Bournemouth
Spent: £24.21m
Received: £0
Net spend: -£24.21m
Scott Parker’s decision to call the Cherries ‘under equipped’ for the Premier League may have resulted in his sacking, but the 9-0 loss to Liverpool certainly didn’t help.
The Bournemouth hierarchy clearly disagreed with his assessment, giving him cash to spend on Marcos Sensi and Marcus Tavernier.
- Crystal Palace
Spent: £31.14m
Received: £4.91
Net spend: -£26m
Patrick Vieira’s complete squad restructure has worked miracles.
Palace boss Vieira appeared to prioritise youth and technique in the market, with Chris Richards from Bayern.
The Arsenal legend allowed seven of his starting XI to leave for nothing and brought in a flood of new young talent, so this summer has just been about refining that.
Cheick Doucoure and Chris Richards, both 22, have continued the pattern and should help Vieira continue to impress.
- Brighton
Spent: £43m
Received: £102.51
Net spend: +£59.49m
With the second largest profit this summer just behind Leicester you’d fully expect Brighton to struggle after losing key men Marc Cucurella, Yves Bissouma and Neal Maupay, but instead manager Graham Potter has got his side off to a fine start.
A few interesting names have been brought in, and if Potter can continue making players, they may soon be turned into an even bigger profit.
- Brentford
Spent: £45m
Received: £3m
Net spend: -£42m
Much like Palace, it’s been about stability for the Bees in their second season, but some interesting names have come in nonetheless.
After a relatively quiet summer last year upon promotion, Brentford have upped their spending with the highly-rated Championship star Keane Lewis-Potter, as well as Danish international Mikkel Damsgaard who was a stand-out talent at the Euros.
- Fulham
Spent: £55.26m
Received: £18.81m
Net spend: -£36.45m
Fulham opted for quality over quantity. The Cottagers got plenty of stick for their £100m spend on 12 players in 2018 but this year they’ve landed a huge coup in Joao Palhinha, while Issa Diop, Bernd Leno and Andreas Pereira are expected to become important players. Former Chelsea and Arsenal winger Willian signed for the club on deadline day.
- Southampton
Spent: £50.7m
Received: £0
Net spend: -£50.7m
The Saints have taken an interesting approach in signing top talent from Man City, and it’s already paying off with Gavin Bazunu and Romeo Lavia impressing early on.
- Aston Villa
Spent: £63m
Received: £37.8m
Net spend: -£25m
After a big spend last summer, Steven Gerrard was backed in January and has been able to add more this summer with Philippe Coutinho signing permanently for £18m, and the impressive signing of Diego Carlos from Sevilla despite plenty of competition. There was also a deadline day move for Leander Dendoncker from Wolves and Jan Bednarek from Southampton.
Unfortunately for Villa fans, though, Carlos looks like he will be out for the majority of the season, and Coutinho is yet to make the desired impact.
- Everton
Spent: £78.48m
Received: £52.2m
Net spend: -£26.28m
A hefty £60m for Richarlison from Tottenham has allowed manager Frank Lampard to strengthen in areas of need, with Amadou Onana, Dwight McNeil, and James Garner on a four-year deal and beat off competition from Fulham and Forest to sign Neal Maupay
- Liverpool
Spent: £81.2m
Received: £72.6m
Net spend: -£8.64m
The signing of Darwin Nunez from Benfica could still be a game changer for Jurgen Klopp despite his early red card.
Midfield looked like the bigger issue for the Reds’ boss, but that was eased with the loan signing of Arthur Melo on deadline day from Juventus
- Leeds
Spent: £99.13m
Received: £97.38m
Net spend: -£1.75m
The Jesse Marsch revolution is in full swing at Elland Road, but it wouldn’t be possible without the big money sales of Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips bringing in close to £100m.
That money has gone straight back out on a pair of US stars in Brenden Aaronson and Tyler Adams who are already impressing, along with several other buys.
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- Arsenal
Spent: £118.86m
Received: £21.42m
Net spend: -£97.44m
With several Mikel Arteta’s 2021 signings hitting the mark, the Spaniard has been backed again and the early signs are looking very positive thanks to City recruits Jesus and Zinchenko.
- Newcastle
Spent: £122m
Received: £0
Net spend: -£122m
The Magpies’ spending has been reasonably restrained since their takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, but the most recent signing of Alexander Isak could be a game changer.
The £60m striker should go right into the starting eleven alongside Sven Botman and Nick Pope, and it’s hard to argue that any of those are bad value in today’s market.
- Wolves
Spent: £122.9m
Received: £51.39m
Net spend: -£71.5m
Wolves have had by far their biggest summer in the transfer market, signing several Champions League-level talents who have been looked at by the Premier League’s elite.
Matheus Nunes, Goncalo Guedes and Sasa Kalajdzic have all proved themselves worthy of the top of the table, so boss Bruno Lage will be delighted to have them in his stable.
- Manchester City
Spent: £125.55m
Received: £143.91
Net spend +£18.36m
Erling Haaland’s bargain release clause at Borussia Dortmund means City are in the green this summer despite signing a generational striker.
Kalvin Phillips was added to the £51m Norwegian as has Sergio Gomez, Julian Alvarez and Manuel Akanji, while key players Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko have all gone.
Manuel AKanji put pen to paper on a five-year deal at the Etihad on deadline day
- Nottingham Forest
Spent: £145.76m
Received: £6.30m
Net spend: -£139.46m
Forest have gone all out upon their return to the Premier League with 21 signings adding up to almost £150m spent. It was almost 22 new players, but a deal for Michy Batshuayi fell through.
Incomings were a necessity with several starting eleven players either leaving or seeing their contracts expire, but it will be fascinating to see what manager Steve Cooper does with essentially a brand new team.
- Tottenham
Spent: £152.91m
Received: £34.88m
Net spend: -£118m
Chairman Daniel Levy backed his manager this time by signing Richarlison and Yves Bissouma to aid the club’s Champions League return.
This shows how much faith Spurs’ owners have in Conte that they were willing to spend big on a forward despite having one of the best front threes in the league
- West Ham
Spent: £163.8m
Received: £16.2
Net spend -£147.7m
The Hammers haven’t got off to the best start to the season, but it’s not for the want of trying, with David Moyes clearly desperate to avoid any complacency after an incredible season last time out.
To do that he’s spent huge money, most recently managing to land Brazil regular Lucas Paqueta for a fee that could be as much as £51m.
Paqueta has long been linked with Arsenal but West Ham instead got the Brazil regular
- Manchester United
Spent: £214m
Received: £10.35m
Net spend -£203.8m
It came across as rather uncontrolled and unplanned, but ultimately, Ten Hag can’t have too many complaints about his summer window.
Antony and Casemiro were added late for big money, but in addition to Lisandro Martinez, Tyrell Malacia and Christian Eriksen, they seem to have a spine that could help them challenge.
It took a while but Ten Hag has been reunited with Antony after making him the third most expensive player in league history
CHELSEA
Aubameyang, once of Arsenal, has joined Chelsea
- Chelsea
Spent: £251.9m
Received: £49.32m
Net spend: -£201.77m
The Blue’s most recent £70m signing of Leicester’s Wesley Fofana takes them over the top as Europe’s top spenders this summer and Chelsea fans will be delighted to regain their prestige as the side who get big deals done.
It hasn’t been without necessity either, with a disruptive 2022 seeing them lose starting defenders Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen before Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner said their farewells.
Sterling and Cucurella have joined Fofana along with Kalidou Koulibaly, Aubameyang and Denis Zakaria and with none of them coming cheap, manager Thomas Tuchel may have to get things clicking rather quickly.
With the World Cup, a few months ahead players may not get the chance to sync with their new clubs before travelling for international duties.
The European Champions League will miss Ronald who could not get a championship league club to sign before the close 9f the window.
