Wesley Fofana, Cristiano Ronaldo and Antony could help push up record spending even more...CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
Premier League clubs have already spent a record £1.6bn on players this summer going into Thursday’s deadline day – and that amount is set to rise even further.
The previous record for summer spending had been the £1.43bn spent in 2017.
The increase in spending comes after two consecutive summers shadowed by the Covid pandemic’s impact on clubs’ income, in which the total fees had dipped to £1.1bn last year.
Deloitte’s Sports Business Group’s Chris Wood said the level of spending was a sign that “the business models of Premier League clubs are rebounding post-Covid”.
In fact more has been spent this summer than in the last season’s January and summer windows combined (£1.44bn).
Sixteen players have so far been signed by Premier League clubs – each of them for a reported fee of more than £30m, which compares to just eight during the 2021 summer transfer window.
The deadline for English Premier League and Football League teams is 23:00 BST on Thursday, 1 September. Scotland’s deadline is an hour later.
In Spain – where Barcelona’s spending spree has drawn most of the headlines – it is 23:00, in France it is 22:00, Italy’s window shuts at 19:00 and Germany’s deadline is 17:00 – all times BST.
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This year’s Premier League summer spending has reached £1.6bn at the time of publicationWill it be a busy day?Is Antony’s move going to go through on deadline day?
Premier League clubs passed the record spending summer of 2017 with more than a week left of the window.
English top-flight clubs have made 141 signings this summer – already more than the total figures in the summer of 2019 (128) and 2020 (132). It will almost certainly pass last year’s 148.
There were just 14 Premier League deadline-day signings last year – one of the lowest totals in recent years – so will we see more deals completed this time?
Manchester United have reached an agreement with Ajax to sign Brazil winger Antony, 22.
That will be an initial fee of £81.3m – the fourth most expensive signing in Premier League history – when it goes through.
Chelsea could yet spend well in excess of £100m on deadline day. They are interested in £70m Leicester defender Wesley Fofana and £60m Everton forward Anthony Gordon, plus Barcelona striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo is still thought to be keen to find a club playing in this season’s Champions League – with a loan move most likely.
Manchester City are trying to sign Borussia Dortmund defender Manuel Akanji, who is likely to cost about £15m.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said he would like his team to “risk more” in the transfer market as they consider midfielder reinforcements.
Will Leicester finally sign a first-team player? Alex Smithies is their only recruit so far, on a free transfer to be their third-choice goalkeeper.
Match of the Day 2 – How to spend big to rebuild a squadHow can I follow across BBC Sport?
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What deals have already been done this summer?
Once the Antony signing goes through, Manchester United will have spent more than £210m in this transfer window to back new boss Erik ten Hag – including Feyenoord defender Tyrell Malacia, Ajax defender Lisandro Martinez and Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro – plus free agent Christian Eriksen.
Respected football website Transfermarktexternal-link says Manchester City, Chelsea, West Ham, Tottenham, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle, Arsenal, Manchester City and Wolves have all spent over £100m this summer – nine of the top 11 spenders in Europe.
At least seven Premier League clubs have broken their transfer record – or could if certain clauses are met.
Liverpool signed Benfica striker Darwin Nunez for a £64m fee which could rise to £85m, while Newcastle brought in Real Sociedad forward Alexander Isak for £60m.
Tottenham Hotspur signed Brazil forward Richarlison from Everton for about £60m.
Wolves landed Sporting Lisbon midfielder Matheus Nunes for £38m.
Brentford and Nottingham Forest are reported to have broken their transfer fee record multiple times.
The Bees signed Bologna left-back Aaron Hickey for a fee which could rise to £17m, and then Hull forward Keane Lewis-Potter for up to £20m.
Forest brought in Union Berlin striker Taiwo Awoniyi for a reported £17m, then Watford striker Emmanuel Dennis for up to £20m – followed by Wolves winger Morgan Gibbs-White for a fee of between £25m and £42m. They have made a total of 18 summer signings.
West Ham signed Lyon and Brazil midfielder Lucas Paqueta for £36.5m – but that could rise to a record £50m.
Leeds United signed Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Brenden Aaronson for an undisclosed fee thought to be a similar amount to £26m record signing Rodrigo.
There were plenty of huge non-record fees too. Chelsea brought in Brighton left-back Marc Cucurella for £60m and Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling for up to £50m.
Manchester City signed Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund for £51.2m and Leeds midfielder Kalvin Phillips for £45m.
Arsenal signed Brazil forward Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City for £45m.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.
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