EPL Smashes A Record Ksh. 22billion On Transfer Deadline Day!

The summer transfer window has closed in England and Scotland, and new managers at some of the biggest clubs refined their squads. Premier League clubs spent more than £155m (Ksh. 22b) on transfer deadline day as the summer window outlay reached a record £1.165bn (Ksh. 165b). Teams had already spent a combined £1.005bn (Ksh.140b) as of 08:30 BST on Wednesday, shattering last year's record £870m (Ksh.120b).

According to Deloitte, the sum splashed out on players by 9am on Tuesday was £925m, already exceeding the previous peak of £870m spent during the same period last season. By 8.30am on Wednesday the figure had risen to £1bn.

Thirteen top-flight teams broke their own transfer records. The real story of the explosion of spending power in English football in 2016 is not even told by Manchester United breaking the world transfer record by signing Paul Pogba for £89.3m, as significant as that was. The real story lies in less good players, out of their early 20s, being signed by mid-table clubs for fees that few English club would have paid for anyone less than 10 years ago. This is the summer of Crystal Palace paying £27m for Christian Benteke, Everton paying £25m for Yannick Bolasie and West Ham United paying £20m for Andre Ayew.

The cashed-up English Premier League led a record-breaking raid by Europe’s top clubs with Arsenal alone paying more than 60 million euros for German defender Shkodran Mustafi and Spanish striker Lucas Perez. David Luiz’s stunning return to Chelsea from Paris Saint-Germain headlined a busy final day of the transfer window on Deadline Day. Luiz, sold for £50m to the Ligue 1 club two European summers ago, has been bought back by Chelsea for £32m as the Premier League club desperately looked to bolster their defensive stocks.

The biggest drama of Deadline Day saw Tottenham swoop late to steal Moussa Sissoko from the grasps of Everton with a late £30m bid for the Newcastle midfielder. The Frenchman, who impressed at Euro 2016, announced his five-year deal with less than 15 minutes left until the 11pm deadline in the UK.

The Premier League’s TV riches have fueled transfer inflation across the continent, with Inter Milan and Barcelona paying top dollar for Brazil’s exciting Olympic gold medal-winning striker Gabriel ‘Gabigol’ Barbosa and Valencia goal-scorer Paco Alcacer respectively.

Key Stats:

The average gross spend for a Premier League club in the 2016 summer window was about £60m.

The total of £155m spent by Premier League clubs on deadline day broke the previous record of £140m set during the summer 2013 window.

The four Premier League clubs competing in this season's Champions League - Arsenal, Leicester City, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur - had a combined gross transfer spend of about £385m - representing about a third of the aggregate gross transfer spend by Premier League clubs.

Since the introduction of the transfer window system, gross player transfer spending has exceeded £8.6bn, with more than 80% of this being spent in summer transfer windows.

Most expensive signing:

The summer’s most long-running transfer saga concluded with France midfielder Paul Pogba [Juventus - Manchester United] £89m, returning to former club United in a world-record move. According to people familiar with the process, the French midfielder was the subject of a bidding war between Spain’s Real Madrid and the English club. Allowed to leave Old Trafford in 2012 after failing to win over legendary manager Alex Ferguson, the rangy 23-year-old midfielder with the dazzling haircuts and blistering shot returned as one of the biggest names in the game.

Other Top Signings:

The clubs who broke their transfer records:

1. Manchester United, under new boss Jose Mourinho, ended what was becoming a protracted saga by signing Paul Pogba for a world-record £89m.

2. They also added Armenia midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Ivory Coast defender Eric Bailly, both at a cost of about £30m.

3. City, who also have a new manager in Pep Guardiola, brought in midfielder Leroy Sane from Schalke for £37m and then paid Everton £47.5m for defender John Stones.

The spending records of Manchester United (Paul Pogba - £89.3m), Crystal Palace (Christian Benteke - £32m), Everton (Yannick Bolasie - £30m), West Ham (Andre Ayew - £20.5m), Southampton (Sofiane Boufal - £16m), Swansea (Borja Baston - £15.5m), Bournemouth (Jordon Ibe - £15m), Sunderland (Didier N’Dong - £13.6m), Hull (Ryan Mason - £13m), Watford (Roberto Pereyra - £13m), West Brom (Nacer Chadli - £13m), Burnley (Jeff Hendrick - £10.5m).

Years Since An English Club Held The World Transer Record:
 

20 years ago, Newcastle broke the world transfer record to sign local legend Alan Shearer from Blackburn for £15m. The distinction of most expensive transfer ever now resides with Manchester United, who signed Paul Pogba from Juventus for £89.m.

The Biggest Deadline Day Deal:

Chelsea paid the most money on Deadline Day when they paid PSG £32m to re-sign David Luiz from the French champions.

The Most Spent By An EPL Club:

Despite Manchester United’s world record purchase of Pogba, it was local rivals Manchester City that topped the EPL spending chart, outlaying £177m for 10 players, including John Stones (£47.5m), Leroy Sane (£37m), Gabriel Jesus (£27m), Ilkay Gundogan (£20.3m), Claudio Bravo (£17m) and Melbourne City’s Aaron Mooy.

The Least Spent By An EPL Club:

Promoted Hull City spent the least money out of the Premier League clubs, outlaying only £17m for the likes of Tottenham’s Ryan Mason, Cardiff’s David Marshall and Manchester United pair Will Keane and James Weir.

The Average Spent By EPL Clubs:

On average, Premier League clubs spent £60m each this window.

Highest Spending By Top Flight EPL teams:

Manchester United:

1. Paul Pogba - £89m (Juventus)

2. Henrikh Mkhitaryan- £36m (Borussia Dortmund)

3. Eric Bailly- £32m (Villarreal)

Manchester City:

1. John Stones- £47m (Everton)

2. Leroy Sane - £42m (Schalke 04)

3. Ilkay Gundogan - £23m (Borussia Dortmund)

Arsenal:

1. Granit Xhaka- £38m (Borussia Monchengladbach)

2. Shkodran Mustafi- £35m (Valencia)

3. Lucas Perez - £17m (Deportivo La Coruna)

Chelsea:

1. Michy Batshuayi - £33m (Marseille)

2. N'Golo Kante - £30m (Leicester City)

The Expenditure Of England’s Champions League Clubs:

The four EPL sides that will feature in this season’s Champions League - Leicester City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City - spent a combined £385m, roughly a third of the total spent by all Premier League clubs

The Busiest Club:

Promoted Middlesbrough signed the most players with 12, acquiring former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes, Viktor Fischer from Ajax and Atalanta’s Marten de Roon among others.

The Fewest Players Bought:

Surprisingly enough, Manchester United bought the least number of players with four as Jose Mourinho prioritised quality over quantity. We’d say Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan is a pretty quality haul.

EPL Deadline Day Spending:

Combined, Premier League clubs reportedly spent £170m on players on Deadline Day alone.

Beating The Deadline:

Hull’s capture of Markus Henriksen from AZ Alkmaar was the last Premier League transfer to go through (12:05am), confirmed just after midnight, UK time.

Looking At Europe:

Taking a look at the other top divisions on the continent, the next highest spending league was Serie A, with a gross spend of £590m, followed by the Bundesliga with a spend of £460m, La Liga with £400m and Ligue 1 on£ 165m.

Top Five Clubs For Loaning Players Out:

1. Chelsea - 38

2. Manchester City - 21

3. Burnley - 13

4. Liverpool - 12

5. Swansea - 12