European Football: English FA Premier League Clubs spend £230m in the January 2020 transfer window - the second highest ever!
According to analysis by the Deloitte Sports Business Group, Clubs in the English FA Premier League (Premier League) spent a total of £230m in the January 2020 transfer window. This surpasses the January 2019 transfer window total of £180m and is the second-highest gross spending total for the winter window. The Highlights: Premier League clubs’ total gross expenditure in the January 2020 transfer window was £230m, surpassing last year’s total of £180m and is the second-highest ever; Premier League clubs spent a total of £1.6bn on transfers during the 2019/20 season, the second-highest seasonal gross transfer expenditure (record 2017/18: £1.9bn); Net transfer expenditure (player purchases less player sales) for Premier League clubs totalled £165m for the window, a record for the January transfer window; Intra Premier League sales made up just 2% of gross transfer spend, significantly less than the previous low of 11% set in January 2019, with Premier League club’s favouring talent from Europe; and Premier League clubs spent £25m on the deadline day, significantly less than the record sum of £150m set in January 2018. Furthermore, the total gross spend (i.e. before including player sales) of £1.6 billion for the 2019/20 season is the second-highest since the introduction of the transfer window in January 2003. This compares to £1.4 billion in 2018/19 and is £0.3 billion short of the all-time record of £1.9 billion set in the 2017/18 season. Premier League clubs’ restraint in transfer spending in the January 2020 transfer window may also be driven by the global value of Premier League broadcast rights for the 2019/20 – 2021/22 cycle, seeing only a slight uplift compared to the previous cycle. This transfer window follows a record-breaking summer 2019 window, which saw the ‘big five’ European leagues spend in excess of £5 billion for the first time, with four leagues setting transfer records for spending in a single window in the process. In January 2020: Serie A £180m (2019: £140m), the Bundesliga £165m (2019: £65m), La Liga £110m (2019: £65m) and Ligue 1 £100m (2019: £65m) have all increased their transfer expenditure since last season’s window. Spending across the ‘big five’ European leagues has reached record levels this season. The unprecedented level of spending by European clubs has been driven by a number of factors, including increased income from improved domestic league broadcast agreements and the participation in and subsequent financial distributions from UEFA club competitions. Additional Findings: Premier League clubs spent a total of £230m in the January 2020 transfer window, according to analysis by Deloitte’s Sports Business Group. This surpasses last year’s January window total of £180m and is the second-highest gross spending total for the winter window. Premier League clubs spent a total of £230m in the January 2020 transfer window, according to analysis by Deloitte’s Sports Business Group. This surpasses last year’s January window total of £180m and is the second-highest gross spending total for the winter window. Premier League clubs spent £230m to acquire new players in the January 2020 transferwindow, falling short of the record achieved in 2018 (2019: £180m; 2018: £430m; 2017: £215m; 2016: £175m; 2015: £130m). Premier League clubs recorded net transfer spend of £165m in January 2020 (2019: net spend of £55m; 2018: net spend of £90m; 2017: net receipts of £40m; 2016: net spend of £100m; 2015: net spend of £40m); The ‘big six’ Premier League clubs accounted for 52% of the total gross expenditure in the January 2020 transfer window, compared to 43% in January 2019; Premier League clubs have been reluctant to transfer players within the Premier League, with 2% of gross transfer spend as a result of intra Premier League sales in the January 2020 window, compared to an overall long term intra Premier League average of 29%; Premier League clubs’ deadline day expenditure totalled £25m, which represented a decrease of £125m from deadline day in January 2019; The Premier League was the highest-spending league amongst the ‘big five’ European football leagues in the 2020 January transfer window: Serie A (£180m/€215m), Bundesliga (£165m/€195m), La Liga (£110m/€130m) and Ligue 1 (£100m/€120m) all spending less; and on a seasonal basis the Premier League remains the highest-spending league amongst the ‘big five’ European football leagues, with £1.6 billion/€1.9 billion. La Liga (£1.2 billion/€1.4 billion), Serie A (£1.2 billion/€1.4 billion), Bundesliga (£785m/€930m) and Ligue 1 (£690m/€820m) clubs all spent less than Premier League clubs. Further information may be obtained at ‘www.deloitte.co.uk/sportsbusinessgroup’
