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Records "tumbled in the transfer window" as Premier League spending totaled $1.54B, financial analyst Deloitte's Sports Business Group said on Thursday, according to Ed Dove of REUTERS. The outlay represents a 34% rise on the previous highest in all windows of £870M set 12 months ago and means the overall spend by clubs in '16-17 "already represents a record for a single Premier League season." Deloitte Sports Business Group Partner Dan Jones said in a statement, "This is the fourth consecutive year the summer transfer spending record ... has been broken. At the start of the 2013-14 season the summer transfer spending record stood at 500 million pounds and the fact this record has more than doubled since then is a clear indicator of the financial growth of the league." Champion Leicester City's €30M ($33.6M) "swoop" for striker Islam Slimani from Sporting Lisbon "was one of the biggest moves on a hectic deadline day on Wednesday." Jones: "We also saw a record level of Premier League summer deadline day spending this window, with £155 million ($206M) spent in the final 24 hours" (
REUTERS, 9/1).
HECTIC DEADLINE DAY: In London, Jack de Menezes reported a number of clubs "left their transfer business until the last minute to trigger a rush of deals" and failed moves on deadline day -- "none more so than Tottenham" in its pursuit of Moussa Sissoko. After balking at Newcastle’s £30M ($40M) asking price, Tottenham "risked missing out when Everton met the valuation." However, club Chair Daniel Levy followed up the initial £16M ($21.2M) rejected bid with an "improved offer for Sissoko," and the France int'l completed his move to White Hart Lane "just in time to have the move signed off by the Premier League" (INDEPENDENT, 9/1).
TEAM-BY-TEAM: SKY SPORTS reported Man City "led the way," splashing £174M ($231M) on John Stones (£50M) ($66.3M), Leroy Sane (£37M) ($49M), Gabriel Jesus (£27M) ($35.8M), Ilkay Gundogan (£21M) ($28M), Claudio Bravo (£17.1M) ($22.7M), Nolito (£13.8M) ($18.3M), Marlos Moreno (£4.75M) ($6.3M) and Oleksandr Zinchenko (£3.4M) ($4.5M). Meanwhile, ManU was the league's next big spender, with Manager José Mourinho investing £149.55M ($198.4M) on world-record signing Paul Pogba (£93.25M) ($123.7M), Eric Bailly (£30M) and Henrikh Mkhitaryan (£26.3M) ($34.9M). In the last summer window, Arsenal only spent £10M on Petr Cech -- but Manager Arsène Wenger "reversed his frugal spending approach this term," spending £91.1M ($121M) on Shkodran Mustafi (£35M) ($46.4M), Granit Xhaka (£34M) ($45.1M), Lucas Perez (£17.1M) ($22.7M), Rob Holding (£2M) ($2.7M) and an estimated fee of £3.4M for Takuma Asano during this window. Liverpool "recouped a league-high" £84.4M ($112M) from offloading 11 players for fees, including Christian Benteke. Southampton (£64M) ($84.9M), Everton (£50M) ($66.3M), Crystal Palace (£46M) ($61M), Leicester City (£43.31M) ($57.46M), including £1.96M ($2.6M) estimated), Swansea (£41.9M) ($55.6M) and Tottenham (£40.72M) ($54M), including £5M ($6.63M) estimated) also "cashed in during the window." Only four Premier League clubs "made a net profit from transfers:" Southampton (-£20.2M) (-$26.8M), Liverpool (-£14.5M) (-$19.24M), Swansea (-£9.63M (-$12.8M), including a £5M estimate) and Everton (-£1.05M (-$1.39M), including £850,000 ($1.12M) estimated) (SKY SPORTS, 9/1).
'PERFECT STORM': In London, Ben Rumsby wrote on "the face of it, such a splurge appeared likely" the moment the Premier League secured another "staggering" 70% increase in its domestic TV deal and "inevitable" once overseas contracts took its broadcast income to £8.4B ($11.1B) over the next three years. But there were "other factors" which fueled the buying binge, according to Jones. They include "an unprecedented turnover of managers at the biggest clubs and the uncertainty sparked by Leicester City’s shock title triumph" that has made the battle for the top four -- and Champions League football -- between ManU, Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham "more intense than ever." Jones: "It’s a bit of a perfect storm." He predicted a "period of stabilisation in spending, which has more than doubled in the last five years." ManU's signing of Pogba "suggests the days of the best players in the world choosing England over Spain may be returning." Jones: "If you’re looking at the top five players and where are they, that might be a bit more balanced or skewed towards a couple of clubs in Spain. But if you’re looking at the top 100 then it’s clearly very heavily skewed towards England" (TELEGRAPH, 8/31). In London, Matt Barlow reported former ManU Manager Alex Ferguson believes "this summer's explosion of transfer fees and salaries has been inevitable" since the day the Premier League struck its £5B ($6.63B) TV deal. He said, "The TV deal struck two years ago in the Premier League created a situation where the obvious thing was transfer values and salaries were going to go up. It is quite correct in terms of players' salaries. They are the people providing the product that people want to see, in the Premier League in particular" (DAILY MAIL, 9/1).
CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD: In Nottingham, Dan Robinson reported League Championship clubs "spent a record amount on transfers during the summer window, according to new figures." Deloitte calculated that second-tier clubs had a £215M ($285M) gross spend -- "more than twice the previous record." Much of it was driven by the investment of recently relegated clubs Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Norwich City, "alongside rivals trying to reach the Premier League with big-money signings." But Nottingham Forest "contributed little," handing over less than £1.5M ($1.99M) on 11 signings. Jones: "Membership of the Premier League has never been as lucrative as it is today and as such we have seen this have knock-on effects in terms of the spending in the Championship" (NOTTINGHAM POST, 9/1).
