Premier League clubs spent £2.44bn on 89 permanent signings for disclosed fees during transfer window; Chelsea spent a league-high £434.5m on new signings; Blues also recouped a league-high £237.3m from sales, followed by Brighton with £198.7m
Saturday 2 September 2023 11:59, UK
How much have Premier League clubs spent on transfers during the summer window? We crunch the numbers...
This article was last updated on September 2 at 1.45am. All transfer fees include potential add-ons and exclude undisclosed fees.
Premier League clubs splashed a record-breaking £2.44bn on new signings during the summer window - edging the previous high of £2.14bn set last year. Clubs also generated a record-breaking £1.36bn from player sales.
The overall net spend weighed in at £1.07bn - the second-highest figure in history, behind last season's £1.29bn.
Chelsea spent a staggering £434.5m on recruits this summer - the most spent by any club during a transfer window in Premier League history.
The figure is also more than twice the amount spent by any other Premier League club this summer and takes the Blues' spending splurge under Todd Boehly to £1.036bn since his takeover last year.
Does the so-called 'Big Six' still exist? This summer's spending chart suggests it does.
Manchester City rank second with a £216.3m outlay, followed by Tottenham (£212.3m), Arsenal (£208m), Manchester United (£183.5m) and Liverpool (£165.4m) - but Newcastle's (£130m) newfound wealth under their Saudi owners sees Eddie Howe's side shore up seventh spot.
At the other end of the scale, newly-promoted Luton were the most frugal club with just £9.5m invested in new players, while a host of clubs also registered comparatively modest totals, including Everton (£38.7m), Burnley (£48.6m), Crystal Palace (£50m), Brentford (£54m), Sheffield United (£54.2m), Wolves (£56.3m) and Fulham (£60.7m).
Defensive midfielders were all the rage again during this window, with Chelsea breaking the British transfer record to land Moises Caicedo from Brighton for £115m - smashing the Blues' previous record of £106.8m for Endo Fernandez last summer.
Declan Rice temporarily became the most expensive signing of the window after Arsenal shelled out £105m to sign the former West Ham captain, while Manchester City spent £77.6m on RB Leipzig centre-back Josko Gvardiol.
Manchester United's new frontman Rasmus Hojlund cost a cool £72m from Atalanta, while Kai Havertz (Chelsea to Arsenal for £65m), Mason Mount (Chelsea to Manchester United for £60m) and Dominik Szoboszlai (RB Leipzig to Liverpool for £60m) were the only other players to cost in excess of £60m.
Use the search bar in the interactive graphic below to filter players and clubs.
Chelsea might have spent heavily but the Blues also recouped a record-breaking £237.3m from player sales - with Havertz and Mount contributing £125m alone to that figure. Mateo Kovacic (£30m), Christian Pulisic (£18.8m), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (£18.5m), Kalidou Koulibaly (£17m), Edouard Mendy (£16m), Ethan Ampadu (£7m) and Callum Hudson-Odoi (£5m) also departed Stamford Bridge for notable sums.
Brighton registered another window in the black after raking in £198.7m from sales, most notably selling key midfielders Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister (£55m to Liverpool), and out-of-favour goalkeeper Robert Sanchez (£25m to Chelsea).
Manchester City (£147.8m), West Ham (£143.7m), Wolves (£137m) and Tottenham (£110m) all replenished their coffers by £100m or more, followed by Arsenal (£79m), Everton (£59.7m), Liverpool (£53m), Manchester United (£48m), Nottingham Forest (£47.5m), Fulham (£45m), Aston Villa (£32m), Sheffield United (£20m) and Burnley (£2m).
Five clubs failed to bring in any funds from disclosed fees: Newcastle, Bournemouth, Brentford, Crystal Palace and Luton.
So, how does all that buying and selling translate in the final net-spending chart? Unsurprisingly, Chelsea recorded a league-high £197.2m net spend - with their monstrous spree offset by their record-breaking income from sales.
Manchester United (£135.5m), Newcastle (£130m) and Arsenal (£129m) and are split by a hair's breadth down to fourth spot, while ambitious Bournemouth (£117.3m) rank fifth - ahead of Liverpool (£112.4m), Tottenham (£102.3m), Manchester City (£68.5m) and Aston Villa (£65m).
Conversely, only four clubs registered profit from transfer deals this summer - with Brighton (-£114.6m net spend) leading the way, followed closely by Wolves (-£80.7m), West Ham (-£21.2m) and Everton (-£21m).
