Which Premier League clubs do the most business together?

Analysis

FT Desk

More so than ever before, Premier League clubs are conducting business with each other.

The incessant desire for clubs to buy players who already have experience playing in England's top flight has led to an influx of inter-Premier League deals. In fact, at the time of writing, 52% of transfers that have been conducted in this top-flight summer window have involved one Premier League team buying from another.

That amount comes to around €1.70bn.

It's not just experience that is a factor, however. Due to the financial might of Premier League clubs, it makes sense that a selling club would want to maximise a potential transfer fee and England is where the money is. Although selling to a top-flight rival may be frowned upon by some supporters, it remains the best way of gaining the highest fee unless the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain are interested in your player.

Since the start of 2022, the two Premier League clubs that have conducted the most business together are Chelsea and Aston Villa and Chelsea and Brighton.

Chelsea and Villa have been at it a lot this summer, including the biggest deal anywhere this summer - Morgan Rogers' record €136m transfer to Stamford Bridge.

Alejandro Garnacho has also left for Villa on loan and he was joined by Nicolas Jackson for €75m, while Emiliano Martinez very recently went in the opposite direction, signing for Chelsea for around €10m.

UEFA introduced rules designed to prevent clubs from using two-way player transfers close together to artificially improve their financial figures. Under the rule, when two clubs complete transfers in opposite directions within 45 days, UEFA can treat those transactions as being economically linked, rather than viewing them as two completely independent transfers

In Chelsea and Villa's case, that could mean UEFA looking at the Rogers sale alongside the Garnacho deal, which is why the Argentine was sent out on loan with an obligation to buy next year instead of an immediate permanent purchase.

Since 2022, Chelsea have paid Aston Villa €190m for players. Villa have spent €120m on Chelsea players. There is an undoubted positive working partnership between the two clubs and Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali and Villa owner Nassef Sawiris are said to have developed a close working relationship.

There's no relationship in the opinion of Villa coach Unai Emery, however, who says it's all based on finances.

"Good relations?" he said. "They want to kill us and we want to kill them!

"We have good players and we can sign one player off them, it's not a good relationship - it's a deal for money and a deal for players.

"I am happy for Emiliano Martinez and Morgan Rogers and I know I am not happy for Chelsea."

Whether Emery wants to admit it or not, that "good relationship' is there for all to see as Chelsea and Villa have exchanged eight players since the beginning of 2022 which is when BlueCo took ownership at Stamford Bridge.

There are PSR benefits to some of these deals, too, such as Chelsea's bizarre acquisition of Omari Kellyman for €22m when he had just two Premier League appearances under his belt for Villa. In that same window, Ian Maatsen went to Villa Park for €32m.

As for Brighton, they have received hundreds of millions from Chelsea over the last few years. Joao Pedro, Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella and Robert Sanchez are among the players to move to the Blues, while Billy Gilmour notably went to Brighton.

Chelsea also poached manager Graham Potter and a number of his backroom staff when he was appointed in 2022.

Out of the 10 pairings that have conducted the most business together, Chelsea appear in six. In addition to dealings with Aston Villa and Brighton, there have been five players exchanged with Arsenal, four with Crystal Palace, four with Manchester United and four with Manchester City

Expect the Man City number to reach four when Enzo Fernandez completes his expected reunion with Enzo Maresca at the Etihad.