English Premier League clubs spend £230m in January transfer window

Portuguese midfielder Bruno Fernandes has been signed from Sporting Lisbon. Photo: @Man_Utd on twitter

Portuguese midfielder Bruno Fernandes has been signed from Sporting Lisbon. Photo: @Man_Utd on twitter

Published Feb 1, 2020

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Premier League clubs spent £230m on January transfers, the second-highest total for the mid-season window, the Sports Business Group at Deloitte said in a report.

The total gross spend for the 2019-20 season, including the close-season window, has been £1.6bn - second only to the record £1.9bn set in the 2017-18 campaign.

But only £25m of that was spent on Friday's deadline day, as short-term loan deals dominated the headlines.

None of the top four clubs entered the market on the final day, while fifth-placed Manchester United made a surprise addition to their squad by bringing in Nigerian striker Odion Ighalo on loan from Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua.

After a record January shopping spree worth £430m in 2018, clubs appear to have tweaked their mid-season recruitment strategy.

"Clubs are focused on long-term financial stability and are therefore less willing to spend in excess of pre-defined transfer budgets in pursuit of short term success," said Tim Bridge, director in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.

"This is further evidenced by the prominence of more agile transfer strategies, such as utilising loan transfers often with an option to buy, as well as focusing attention towards the promotion of young talent from club academies in recent years."

The January window saw the total expenditure by the big six clubs - Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea - account for 52% of the league's total spending in the month.

All of Europe's top five leagues spent more this January than last year.

Italian Serie A clubs spent £180m, German Bundesliga clubs paid out £165m, Spain's La Liga made transfer deals worth £110m and the French Ligue 1 spent £100m, Deloitte said.

Reuters

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