Analysis from Deloitte shows record levels of spending for 2017/18 season with Liverpool and Everton spending a combined £327m before sales of players are taken into account. Tony McDonough reports
Premier League football clubs have spent a huge £1.9bn on players in the 2017/18 season – a 35% rise on last season, the latest data from Deloitte shows.
Its regular transfer window analysis shows club spent £430m in the January transfer window, smashing the previous January record of £225m set in January 2011. Deadline day alone saw total spending of £150m.
Total player sales of £340m is also the highest ever for a January window, but this still resulted in net transfer expenditure of £90m. However, Deloitte adds that the whopping £5.1bn TV rights deal means clubs are still living “well within their means”.
Liverpool and Everton spent £75m and £47m respectively during January. Liverpool bought Virgil van Dijk for £75m but sold Philippe Coutinho for an initial £106m. Everton’s spending included £20m on Theo Walcott with Ross Barkley leaving for £16m.
In the two transfer windows combined Liverpool spent £162m and Everton £165m. Total net spend was £23m and £86m respectively.
Many fans will see perceive the spending on players as spiralling out of control but with the proceeds from the current £5.1bn TV rights deal filling their coffers, Deloitte expert Dan Jones says the spending levels are manageable.
He said: “International trade has flourished, with the highest ever January gross overseas outlay in Premier League history (£260m), but also the highest amount of January receipts from abroad (£185m), with names such as Coutinho and Costa leaving the UK and Laporte and Aubameyang arriving from abroad.
“While another record-breaking season catches the eye, Premier League clubs’ expenditure continues to be well within their means in the context of revenue generated. Estimated 2017/18 net spend of £755m represents just 17% of forecast 2017/18 Premier League revenue.
“This is in line with the average over the 15 years since the first transfer window in January 2003, as clubs’ increase investment in players in proportion to the overall growth of the football business.”
Recent January windows have seen the Premier League’s bottom six clubs contribute the majority of gross expenditure, as they invest in an attempt to ensure survival.
However, the January 2018 window produced a trend more commonly associated with the summer windows, as total expenditure by clubs in the ‘big six’ came to £265m, representing 62% of total gross spending, contrasting against January 2017 when half of gross expenditure came from the relegation threatened bottom-six clubs.