Tottenham Hotspur was the "only top-flight club to make a profit from their transfer dealings over the last two windows," according to Simon Burnton of the London GUARDIAN. Manager Mauricio Pochettino managed to bank £6.7M ($9.8M) while "taking his team to third place in the Premier League and automatic Champions League qualification." A "string of sales last summer" was led by Paulinho’s £9.9M ($14.5M) move to Guangzhou Evergrande. Lewis Holtby, Étienne Capoue, Roberto Soldado, Vlad Chiriches, Aaron Lennon and Benjamin Stambouli also left the club, "while there was only a modest outlay on players such as Toby Alderweireld and Son Heung-min." Man City, whose signings included Raheem Sterling, Nicolás Otamendi and Kevin De Bruyne, was "by some margin the biggest net spenders." Man City's outlay of £124.4M ($181.6M) "comfortably exceeded the combined total of the rest of the Premier League’s top nine" but the club finished the season in fourth, two places worse off than last year, with 13 fewer points. Leicester City’s £28.9M ($42.2M) spend "was less than six other top-flight teams, with those high spenders including three of the bottom four." Eight of the 10 bottom-half sides spent more than second-placed Arsenal whose recruitment drive cost £15.6M ($23M) and "sparked supporter discontent." The figures show there is "no correlation between spending on transfers and sporting achievement." Newcastle "proved it was possible to spend a lot of money and go down" while Aston Villa -- net spend £9.3M ($13.6M) -- demonstrated the "less surprising feat of getting relegated on the cheap" (GUARDIAN, 5/18).
