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Premier League tops La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 in transfer window spending

Raheem Sterling gave his shirt to a City supporter after completing his debut for the club
Image: Manchester City spent £44m on Raheem Sterling this summer

In a record-breaking transfer window, the Premier League once again came out on top of the other major leagues in Europe in terms of spending.

Almost 3 billion euros were spent on new players in Europe's top five leagues – the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1. That's a 31 per cent increase on last summer's figures, which were themselves a new record.

Euro leagues

The bulk of that figure – £864m or €1.15billion – came from Premier League clubs, a 12 per cent increase on the summer of 2014, with Serie A (€575m/£422m), La Liga (€503m/£370m), Bundersliga (€393m/£289m) and Ligue 1 (€303m/£223m) next on the list.

Euro transfers

"We keep talking about the record highs and we've seen a record high in all the top leagues," Esteve Calzada, Barcelona Marketing Executive between 2002-07 told Sky Sports News HQ.

"There's clear dominance from the Premier League, which is getting this fantastic TV rights income, which then flows into the game. The Premier League net spend is five times bigger than La Liga, Serie A, and that seems to be the case for the future. There's no indication this is going to change."

Player Sales Euro leagues

Premier League players also fetched a higher value than their counterparts in Europe's other leading leagues, with €534m (£392m) spent on England's top-flight talent. That figure was actually five per cent down on last summer, while in the Bundesliga there was a dramatic rise in the total price of players sold. German clubs saw a 243 per cent increase in sales to €466m (£342m).

Euro transfers

However, when it comes to net spending, there is one clear league that is outlaying far more than any other: the Premier League. While transfer dealings in Bundesliga and Ligue 1 saw more money made from sales than spent on purchases, the Premier League net spend equated to €619m (£455m) - more than five times the net spend of second on the list La Liga.

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Spending ranking clubs

Manchester City led the way in Europe with an enormous outlay of €197m (£145m), followed by neighbours Manchester United and Atletico Madrid (both €140m/£103m), while Juventus (€125m/£92m) and PSG (€116m/£85m) completed a top five covering four divisions.

Top spending PL clubs

Within the Premier League, Liverpool (€112m/£82m), Chelsea (€83m/£61m) and Tottenham (€72m/£52m) joined the Manchester clubs in the top-five – but their figures were some way down on the top two.

Most expensive players

City's huge outlay included three of the six most expensive transfers in Europe, with Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Otamendi heading to the Etihad. Angel di Maria's switch to PSG and Martial's move to Manchester United were also blockbuster transfers this summer.

League growth

Increase in money spent

Each of the five top leagues saw a growth in transfer spending this summer. Here Calzada assesses the numbers in Europe.

La Liga up by 1 per cent

"We have to take into account that Barcelona had the FIFA ban but they still managed to sign two players who will only be able to start playing as of January, and still it's one per cent up and a record high ever. We get too used to seeing increases and increases but that's good news in Spain, especially as now other teams are investing heavily, it's not only Barcelona and Real Madrid. We see Atletico and Valencia investing heavily, because they sell well and they have new shareholders form Asia. It's getting La Liga more evenly distributed and more exciting also."

Serie A up 90 per cent

"We've seen a renovation of the most important clubs in Italy, namely Inter, AC Milan and Juventus – who also sold for a high value. Their net spending is around €100m (£74m), much less than their investment. AC Milan has a new shareholder, too. We should see Serie A coming up quickly, with new stadiums and to do good things for the game."

Bundesliga up 43 per cent

"We also have to consider the spending as a result of what's sold. We've seen Man City sign Kevin de Bruyne from Wolfsburg and right after Wolfsburg bought Draxler from Schalke. Just because of that deal we've seen a significant increase. The beauty of the Bundesliga is it is normally very sound investment, because they generate revenue in parallel to that."

Ligue 1 – 228 per cent increase

"They invested much more than last year but still not the record high they had two years ago. We've seen PSG released from the FFP ban which allowed them to go and sign Di Maria but still it's the fifth league and more importantly sales are higher than purchases of players. So, in my opinion, France is more of a player supply link than a heavy investing league." 

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