Arsenal remain Europe’s biggest spenders with a week to go…
With a week to go until the deadline, here are the ten clubs to have spent the most in the summer window. All but three are Premier League-based. Given no-one has spent more, you would expect that Arsenal might not be in the mess they are….
All figures are from the wonderful transfermarkt…
10) Norwich – £54.14m
Arrivals: 9 (Milot Rashica, Angus Gunn, Ben Gibson, Dimitrios Giannoulis, Billy Gilmour, Pierre Lees-Melou, Josh Sargent, Christos Tzolis)
Amount recouped: £34.56m
Net spend: £19.58m
Norwich crack the top ten but sure, talkSPORT – let’s revoke their Premier League membership. Their spend so far certainly doesn’t suggest “they have no intention of competing” as Jamie O’Hara claims. Their defending might…
9) Leicester – £60.84m
Arrivals: 4 (Patson Daka, Boubakary Soumare, Jannik Vestergaard, Ryan Bertrand)
Amount recouped: £2.7m
Net spend: £58.14m
This has all the hallmarks of another successful window for Leicester. All they need is a winger and the Foxes are set.
8) Paris Saint-Germain – £68.40m
Arrivals: 6 (Achraf Hakimi, Danilo Pereira, Lionel Messi, Gini Wijnaldum, Sergio Ramos, Gianluigi Donnarumma)
Amount recouped: £8.10m
Net spend: £60.3m
Four of those signings were freebies, even if they are being paid a billion a week. In terms of transfer fee, the one they splurged on, Achraf Hakimi, already looks at home on the right of Mauricio Pochettino’s defence.
The transfers every Premier League club needs in the next week
7) RB Leipzig – £82.46m
Arrivals: 7 (Andre Silva, Josko Gvardiol, Angelino, Mohamed Simakan, Benjamin Henrichs, Caden Clark, Brian Brobbey)
Amount recouped: £85.50m
Net spend: £-3.04m
RB Leipzig there, cutting their cloth accordingly. Will seven new signings be enough to catch Bayern? Nope.
6) Roma – £87.98m
Arrivals: 6 (Tammy Abraham, Eldor Shomurodov, Matias Vina, Rui Patricio, Roger Ibanez, Bryan Reynolds)
Amount recouped: £2m
Net spend: £85.98m
Serie A’s only representatives on this list had to allow Jose Mourinho some indulgences in the transfer market. Tammy Abraham at £34million is certainly that, though the former Chelsea striker has already doubled the number of assists he managed at Stamford Bridge.
5) Aston Villa – £95.04m
Arrivals: 5 (Emiliano Buendía, Danny Ings, Leon Bailey, Ashley Young, Axel Tuanzebe)
Amount recouped: £114.75m
Net spend: £-19.71m
Villa look better equipped than last season, despite having lost their talisman and having made a few quid this summer. Though that profit really should go towards a midfielder before the deadline next week.
4) Chelsea – £103.5m
Arrivals: 2 (Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Bettinelli)
Amount recouped: £68.72m
Net spend: £34.79m
Chelsea made half of the Lukaku money back by selling two players – Abraham and Fikayo Tomori – that had no place in Thomas Tuchel’s thoughts for this season. If they can sell Kurt Zouma for similar money it will cost to buy Jules Kounde, that will be very smart business indeed.
3) Manchester United – £112.5m
Arrivals: 3 (Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane, Tom Heaton)
Amount recouped: –
Net spend: £112.5m
In contrast to Chelsea, United have yet to make any money from selling a player this summer. Since selling Lukaku to Inter, only Chris Smalling has left for a fee. Which is ridiculous…
2) Manchester City – £114.75m
Arrivals: 2 (Jack Grealish, Kayky)
Amount recouped: £34.92m
Net spend: £79.83m
Of course, City could thunder to the top of this list if Charlie Kane gets his way. Which he almost certainly won’t.
1) Arsenal – £132.30m
Arrivals: 5 (Ben White, Martin Odegaard, Aaron Ramsdale, Alberto Lokonga, Nuno Tavares)
Amount recouped: £26.46m
Net spend: £105.84m
How are Arsenal the biggest spenders in Europe so far this summer, yet hopelessly short of where they need to be on the pitch? What a club.