LONDON —
Premier League clubs splashed out nearly £300 million in January — the second-highest
amount ever spent in the winter transfer window — boosted by a flurry of late
big-money moves.
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The arrivals of
Luis Diaz,
Bruno Guimaraes and
Rodrigo Bentancur in the last few days of the month lifted
the league's gross spending to £295 million ($398 million) according to figures
from finance company Deloitte.
January 2018's figure of
£430 million remains the record but this year's outlay is more than four times
higher than last year's figure of £70 million, when the coronavirus crisis hit
budgets.
The clubs' net expenditure —
player purchases less player sales — of £180 million is the highest since the
January transfer window was introduced in 2003.
The five clubs currently at
the bottom of the Premier League spent around £150 million, more than 50
percent of the total.
Among the big moves,
Liverpool signed Porto's Colombia winger Diaz for a reported initial fee of
£37.5 million while Newcastle paid an initial £35 million for Lyon's Brazilian
midfielder Guimaraes.
Newly wealthy Newcastle also
paid Burnley £25 million for New Zealand international striker Chris Wood and
signed England defender Kieran Trippier for £12 million from Atletico Madrid.
Dan Jones, head of
Deloitte's sports business group, said: "This transfer window indicates
that the financial pressures of COVID-19 on Premier League clubs are easing,
with spending firmly back to pre-pandemic levels and remarkably among the
highest we've ever seen in January.”
"The Premier League
continues to lead the way globally, retaining its status as the world's biggest
domestic football league in financial terms, once again supported by full
stadia and securing strong overseas broadcast deals,” he added.
"Other large
European leagues are also edging back to higher spending, but it is Premier League clubs
that have notched up the largest total spend in this transfer window, spending
almost £150 million more than Serie A clubs, the closest competitor."
Total gross spending across
Europe's "big five" leagues (the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A,
Bundesliga and Ligue 1) reached 735 million euros ($828 million), exceeding
last January's total by 460 million euros.
"In stark contrast to
January 2021, the wider European transfer market appears buoyant," said
Calum Ross, assistant director at the sports business group.
"Many clubs are
starting to bounce back from significant COVID-induced reductions, with rising
revenues re-activating activity within the transfer market."
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