Six of the 10 clubs that spent the most are from the Premier League and LaLiga’s prominence is limited to Atlético, considering that Mbappé arrived as a free agent at Real Madrid
BARCELONA –The European market closed repeating a pattern that was already evident during the summer of 2023: LaLiga has fallen to last place in terms of level of expenditure among the main continental competitions. The Premier League was once again the great dominator with a total expenditure of 2.34 billion euros (2.589 billion dollars), followed in the table by Serie A (billion), Ligue 1 (722.81), Bundesliga (600.48) and LaLiga closing with an expenditure of 555.59 million euros.
Only Atlético de Madrid, fourth in the spending rankings among clubs with an investment of 185 million euros (199 million dollars), is the protagonist of this transfer window in which six of the ten who spent the most are English, with PSG (sixth), Juventus (seventh) and Napoli (eighth) sneaking in as well as the Colchoneros.
The absolute dominance of the Premier League is demonstrated beyond these first six clubs, with another six (Ipswich Town, Southampton, Nottingham Forest, Arsenal, Bournemouth and Brentford) among the first 18 and Fulham (21), Leicester (23), Palace (28), Wolverhampton (31) or Newcastle (34) and Everton (45) following. Curiously, the two English clubs with the lowest spending are Liverpool (42 million and ranked 53rd) and Manchester City, with an expenditure of only 25 million which places them in 74th place in this table…
As for the La Liga clubs, to find the second Spanish club with the highest spending in the market you have to go to position number 36, finding a Villarreal that has spent 62 million… Although its balance is positive by around 12 million euros thanks to transfers, while Atlético’s is higher at 91 million against.
Raheem Sterling has moved from Chelsea to Arsenal. Getty Images
The loss of financial muscle in LaLiga (or greater control of spending by the management) is confirmed by reviewing this classification and finding only eight Spanish clubs… Among the top 100. And after Villarreal, Barcelona appears in 38th place with 55 million spent, Real Madrid (48th and 49 million), Real Sociedad (50th and 45.5 million), Girona (51st and 43.9 million), Betis (69th and 28 million) and Valladolid (99th and 16.5 million).
Ten years ago, during the 2014 summer transfer market, the club with the highest spending was Manchester United (195.35 million euros), but Barça was second (166.72 million), Real Madrid fourth (113), Atlético fifth (109.85) and among the top 50 clubs there were still Valencia (26th) and Sevilla (36).
THE MBAPPÉ ‘EFFECT’
Of course, this ranking, in which Real Madrid barely appears among the first 50, has its ‘trap’, given that the Merengue club does not appear in terms of names until 16th position with the 47.5 million paid to Palmeiras for Endrick, in a table led by Julián Álvarez and the 75 million invested by Atlético de Madrid. Kylian Mbappé does not appear anywhere… the star signing of the summer.
The French striker arrived at the Bernabéu as a free agent but various sources then informed ESPN that he will receive a signing bonus of 150 million euros, which will be spread over the duration of his contract.
THE TOP TEN SPENDING ON TRANSFERS
Investment club
1 Chelsea 238.50
2 Brighton 231.20
3 Manchester Utd 214.50
4 Atletico Madrid 185.00
5 Aston Villa 176.20
6 PSG 169.92
7 Juventus 162.80
8 Napoli 149.50
9 Tottenham 144.85
10 West Ham 144.40
