The infographic below presents information about the levels of transfer spending reported by European football leagues in the summer transfer window of 2017. Recently, UEFA revealed that European football clubs’ transfer spending reached record-high levels over the above-mentioned period.
The following infographic is set to cast light on the transfer spending in the 2017 summer overlap, the expenditures of the top 5 European football leagues, as well as to the highest-value transfers in the 2017 summer transfer window.
Only a few weeks ago, UEFA released its ninth club licensing benchmarking report focused on European club football, revealing that transfer spending of European football clubs reached a record high over the 2017 summer transfer window. According to the data provided by UEFA in its report, a total amount of €5.6 billion was spent on transfers in summer 2017.
The UEFA report further revealed that five European leagues represented 80% of global transfer spending during the latest summer window. The five leagues which featured the largest spending on football transfers were the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, France Ligue 1, La Liga in Spain and Germany’s Bundesliga. In addition, summer 2017 saw six of the largest 20 transfer fees of all time, as well as ten transfers estimated to €50 million and more.
Top 10 EU Leagues Spent €1.5 Billion in 2017 Summer Overlap
An interesting fact is that the big five European leagues mentioned above saw almost all of the 96 major transfers in summer 2017, except for the ones of four players who went to clubs in other leagues. Of course, the timing in which transfer windows were opened, considerably differs in the 55 member associations of UEFA. The first country to see its summer transfer window opened was Luxembourg, on May 25th 2017, while Portugal was the last one, with its summer transfer window opened on July 3rd 2017.
Summer transfers were permitted for the longest period of 83 days in 22 countries across Europe. On the other hand, the shortest summer transfer windows for 2017 were the ones of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Estonia, with them lasting for 50 and 52 days, respectively.
On the other hand, according to data revealed in the latest UEFA report, European football clubs spent about 25% of their total transfer spending over the 2017 summer transfer window after their domestic season started. Portugal is the country with the longest period between the season opener and the ending of the transfer window, a total of 47 days. In comparison, Italian Serie A clubs had an overlap of only 12 days in the summer of 2017.
When it comes to transfer expenditures, the total amount spent by the top 10 European football leagues in the overlap between their domestic season opener and the ending of their summer transfer window in 2017 was estimated to €1.565 billion. The English Premier League was saw €552 million spent during the 2017 summer transfer overlap, followed by French League 1 with €306 million and the Spanish La Liga with €236 million.
Record 2017 Summer Transfer Spending by the Top 5 Leagues
As mentioned above, the UEFA latest benchmarking report showed that transfer spending of European football clubs reached record levels of approximately €5.6 billion in the 2017 summer transfer window. This amount has been driven to such a level by the big 5 leagues, namely the Premier League (UK), Serie A (Italy), Ligue 1 (France), La Liga (Spain) and the Bundesliga (Germany). In addition, UEFA revealed that the European football clubs spent almost €1 billion over the winter transfer window, which boosts the total amount spent for the 2017/2018 season to between €6 and €7 billion. The summer window spending of the top 5 football leagues equalled to 28% of the projected total club revenue for the past financial year, especially considering the fact that the value is bigger than the highest value over the last decade.
The lowest summer transfer spending for the top 5 European leagues over the past decade amounted to €2.0 billion and was registered in 2010. At the time, this amount equalled to 16% of the overall club revenue for the 2010 financial year.
As far as transfer spending by league is concerned, the English Premier League football clubs were the ones with the higher transfer spending in summer 2017. The Premier League held a 29% share from the total transfer spending in the top 5 European football leagues, with this value being 3% lower than the one registered in 2016.
Italy’s Serie A was second, generating 15% of the total spending. Most of the 3% difference in the Premier League spending has been absorbed by the French Ligue 1, which transfer spending rose from 5% to 15% of overall spending. The fourth largest transfer spending in the 2017 summer transfer window was La Liga in Spain, which holds 11% of the overall transfer spending in the period, followed by Germany’s Bundesliga with a 10% share.
The rest of the European football leagues which are not part of the above-mentioned top 5, accounted for a 20% share in the total spending in the 2017 summer transfer window. The English Championship has the largest share of their spending, which amounts to 4%.
Number of High-Value Transfers Increases in Summer 2017
High-value transfers have always been an integral part of the European football clubs’ history and are closely related to the clubs’ revenue. So, given the increase in clubs’ revenues, it is no surprise that European football has seen a number of high-value 2017 summer transfers.
The summer of 2017 saw a total of 96 high-value transfers, with French players seem to have been among the most-demanded ones. According to the latest UEFA benchmark report, 11 French players were involved in some of the largest transfers over the summer transfer window, followed by 8 Spanish and 7 Italian, English and Argentinian players.
As far as the transfers’ value is concerned, there were 10 out of the overall 96 summer transfers which value exceeded the amount of €50 million. A total of 21 transfers were valued between €31 and €50 million, while the rest 65 deals were priced in the range from €15 million to €30 million. The most significant increase in high-value transfers concerns the category of transfers valued at more than €50 million, with their number being twice as high as the ones completed in the summer transfer window in 2016.
Top 10 Clubs by Transfer Spending in Summer 2017
During the 2017 summer transfer window, there were only two clubs out of the top 10 European football clubs which managed to balance their transfer activity. These were FC Barcelona and AS Monaco, with total net spend of €34 million and €256 million, respectively. On the other hand, four out of the 10 ten clubs had a net spend which was considerably higher than the one of the rest of the clubs. These were the clubs of Paris Saint-Germain (-€353 million), AC Milan (-€203 million), Manchester United FC (-€153 million) and Manchester City FC (-€153 million).
According to data, provided in the latest UEFA report, there were three clubs which did not manage to rank among the top 10 spenders during the 2017 summer transfer window. These were the clubs of Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal FC and Inter Milan, which reportedly spend more than €100 million in total over the summer of 2016. Real Madrid CF failed to get to the top 10 spenders ranking in 2015 and 2016.
Over the last five years, there were three English football clubs that make it to the top 5 of transfer spenders. These are Manchester City FC, ranked 1st, Manchester United FC, ranked 3rd, and Chelsea, ranked 4th. The other two European football clubs which made it to the top 5 spenders ranking over the last five years, are Paris Saint-Germain, ranked 2nd, and FC Barcelona, ranked at the 5th position.
When it comes to transfer earnings generated over the same period of time, Juventus, AS Roma, SL Benfica, Chelsea and AS Monaco are the top 5 squads in descending order.
Largest Transfers in Europe Top 5 Leagues in Summer 2017
Expectedly, the top 5 leagues in European football saw the largest transfers over the summer transfer window of 2017.
The largest acquisition made in the summer, was the one of Neymar who went from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain at the price of €222 million. Then, it is the acquisition of Ousmane Dembélé from FC Barcelona, estimated to €105 million. The third largest player acquisition in the 2017 summer transfer window was the one of Romelu Lukaku, who went from Everton to Manchester United at the price of €85 million.
The domestic league which was reported as the largest spender on transfers in summer 2017, was the English Premier League, which generated net spend of -€772 million, after spending almost €1.7 billion and earning more than €900 million in the period. The Portuguese domestic league was the one that had the largest positive net result, amounting to €231 million.
The French Ligue 1 reported a 331% growth in comparison to its last summers transfer spending. For the time being, this was the highest growth of the top 10 European leagues.
The Netherlands was left outside the top 10 football leagues in Europe, despite the fact it managed to increase its transfer spending to €67 million in summer 2017. The three countries which saw the largest proportional growth in comparison to their spending on money transfers a year ago, were Sweden, Norway and Ukraine.
Premier League Transfers over 2017 Summer Transfer Window
Despite French Ligue saw the largest player transfer over the 2017 summer transfer window, the Premier League clubs were reported to have spent a record amount of money on new players at the same period. The Premier League was both the largest money spender and the largest earner in summer 2017, with thirteen clubs breaking their transfer records at the time.
The Premier League football clubs spent a total of €1.682 billion and earned €911 million from transfer deals over the summer transfer window of 2017, taking its net expenditures to the highest in Europe, amounting to -€772 million.
Some of the largest and oldest clubs in the Premier League made multi-million transfers, with total transfer spend of the entire league amounting to -£571.3 million, excluding on-loan transfers, add-ons and agents’ fees. The transfer earnings within the Premier League amounted to £264 million, while the overall net expenditures were estimated to £2.0 million, with add-ons, agents’ fees and on-loan transfers excluded.
The top spenders in the Premier League over the 2017 summer transfer window were the squads of Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal FC, Liverpool FC and Huddersfield Town.
Undoubtedly, one of the largest transfers for the current number 2 in the Premier League was the centre-forward Romelu Lukaku, which Manchester United bought from Everton at the prize of €84.70 million. The team of manager José Mourinho also bought the defensive midfielder Nemanja Matic for €44.70 million and the centre-back Victor Lindelöf for €35 million in the summer of 2017.
The squad of Manchester City also carried out a number of high-value transfers, with the one of Benjamin Mendy being estimated to €57.50 million. The transfers of Kyle Walker and Bernando Silva were also among the largest ones for the team, with them being estimated to €51 million and €50 million, respectively.
Over the 2017 summer transfer window, the centre-forward Alexandre Lacazette was bought by Arsenal FC from Olympique Lyon at the price of €53 million. Liverpool FC also carried out a couple of high-value transfers, with Mohamed Salah and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain bought for €42 million and €38 million, respectively.
- Author
Daniel Williams
