-
News
- 16 minutes ago
Transfer market state of play: Premier League flexes financial muscle again as Serie A spends big too
Updated: 31 Aug 2026 03:17 CDT |
6 min read
News
The summer transfer window slams shut this week and most clubs in Europe have just two days left to add to their respective squads.
The spending has already been off the scale, particularly in England, and with clubs scrambling to get deals over the line on or just before deadline day, there could still be some massive transfers to come.
Here's how the main leagues across Europe compare in spending so far...
Premier League
Total Spend: €3.237 Bn
Biggest Deal: Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa -> Chelsea) €137m
The Premier League spending will almost certainly surpass the record of €3.62 Bn achieved last summer, as the Premier League dominance over the transfer market shows no signs of slowing. Deals for the likes of Enzo Fernandez to Manchester City have still to through coupled with the predictable last-minute spending.
What’s also notable is the €1.70 Bn - or 52% - of deals taking place involving English clubs. This is a record high amount and does suggest the PL looking closer to home to conduct their business. To put that into perspective, deals involving only English clubs means the spend is still 37% higher than the collective total of the next closest league, Serie A.
But some of the deals this summer have warranted a collective gasp from onlookers who might cynically suggest that the circular nature of a few - Aston Villa and Chelsea - might be done for the purpose of the accountants as much as anything else.
Serie A
Total Spend: €1.082 Bn
Biggest Deal: Goncalo Ramos (PSG -> Milan) €77m
Whether the Italian clubs have the money to spend or not, the stature of a number of sides - namely Juventus, Inter, Milan, Roma, Napoli and the new boys Como - demand a level of spending that perhaps isn’t expected in other leagues.
As such these six have spent 64% of the total in this window securing Serie A’s position as comfortably the biggest spending league outside of England. Some interesting deals have been struck - not least Ramos, who will hope he performs better than the last few ill-fated Milan forwards (we’re looking at you, Christophe Nkunku and Santiano Gimenez).
It’s certainly to be more exciting than some of the other closed shops like Germany and France, but Inter remain a formidable yardstick and have spent €101.8m themselves on some - on paper - smart deals from England, leading the Italian press to brand them ‘Inter fish-and-chips’. That name probably needs some work.
La Liga
Total Spend: €719.5m
Biggest Deal: Yan Diomande (RB Leipzig -> Real Madrid) €124m
Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid make up over 73% of the entire total of the spending in a league where the smaller teams are losing talent and not really replacing it. Villarreal and Betis have Champions League football ahead and yet have spent just €46.8m between them this summer and their net spend is just €16.37m.
Barcelona and Real Madrid have flexed - again - as Atletico grimly try to cling onto them at the top, but the manner in which the big two have activated commercially and have developed their stadiums means that the revenue gulf will only go in one direction.
Smaller La Liga teams simply have no means of building competitive teams beyond producing their own talent, and that always moves through waves based on who comes through. If the Premier League doesn’t spend here - as they haven’t this summer - then the number effectively spent also decreases.
Bundesliga
Total Spend: €666.9m
Biggest Deal: Ismael Saibari (PSV -> Bayern) €53m
Bundesliga’s spend looks to have fallen back to the mean after spending more than normal last summer, fuelled by some blockbuster sales (Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and Benjamin Sesko, among others). A relatively low-key Bayern did their business early and not much else has followed suit beyond Dortmund looking to strengthen.
RB Leipzig have landed the big sale of the summer with Diomande headed to Real Madrid and haven’t looked to spend much of it - yet. Their business might be still to come. Indeed like the Bundesliga as a whole, they remain massively in profit for the summer.
But there’s no massive deals happening outside of Bayern, with most of the deals in the €23m-€€29m range. The Bundesliga often does good business at these numbers and is able to sell at a profit in future - but if the Premier League is looking closer to home, is there still a market to move on those players?
Ligue 1
Total Spend: €552.2m
Biggest Deal: Maghnes Akliouche (Monaco -> PSG) €53m
Ligue 1 teams are hurting. The pivot to a DTC model for TV rights simply isn’t allowing the numbers to add up and chairmen across the division have been forced into sales in order to make ends meet. To say that some of these teams are in survival mode is no understatement; there was a summit held just last week to discuss the future of TV broadcasting, with many desperate to get Canal+ - the principal channel wronged by a series of disastrous decisions - back onside in order to stem the bleeding.
As for PSG, they are of course the biggest spenders, but their net for the window is +€2.34m, perhaps a broader indication of the market conditions, but also that Luis Enrique is particularly content with the young team he has built. An expected deal for Bradley Barcola to Liverpool will push even the league’s dominant force into massively positive figures for the summer business.
Elsewhere it’s difficult to see where the challenge comes from other than from PSG’s desire to rotate for the goal of further Champions League success. It’s dark times for the league, and the TV situation needs to be resolved sooner rather than later.
Saudi Pro League
Total Spend: €322.9m
Biggest Deal: Crysencio Summerville (West Ham -> Al Hilal) €68m
All things considered, the Saudi league has refused to spend as wildly as they did when they made their presence felt in 2023. As it stands spending is down 70% from 2023’s peak, as the nation looks to smarten up in their transfer business and start to avoid players desperate for one final payday.
That being said, the window isn’t done yet. Deals are circling for Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa and Gabriel Martinelli from Arsenal, which should move the spending up considerably. And given the Saudi teams operate perennially at a net loss in the market (another thing they will look to change), they don’t have the incoming transfer money to spend really big themselves.
Some late deals are of course expected, but this isn’t the Saudi project where anyone, even Kylian Mbappe, was a target. It’s something else altogether.
Turkish Super Lig
Total Spend: €373.2m
Biggest Deal: Mason Greenwood (Marseille -> Fenerbahce) €40m
Much hype has surrounded the active nature of the big three - Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas in this window, plus Trabzonspor’s high-profile free transfer for Mo Salah.
But in reality their aggressive spending began last summer and it has extended into this season; Premier League offcuts some of them, yes, but also players who would have had options deciding to decamp to the Bosphorus.
Big money is being offered, and being closer to Europe both in terms of distance and also culture clearly makes Turkey an attractive prospect for players. Rafael Leao from Milan is the latest arrival at Galatasaray, a player who just two years ago was linked with a €105m to the likes of Barcelona. The Turkish fans will hope the players arriving have the competitive spirit and aren’t just arriving for the fun of the paycheck.
