€1.62bn in player sales – Premier League break transfer income record

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Chelsea top sales 

The English Premier League is renowned for its lavish spending as the richest league in Europe. After the transfer window closed on Friday, English top-flight clubs’ spending across the summer totaled at €2.33 billion – which represents the third highest expenditure by one league in history in a season. 

Spending was down this summer across Premier League clubs compared to the previous two seasons but the importance of balancing the books by offloading players has increased due to financial regulation. Premier League profit and sustainability rules have restricted clubs’ ability to spend freely without being punished and they are now required to sell players to avoid substantial losses. A sign of this new focus is that Premier League clubs generated more income from player sales this summer alone than any other league across one season in history.

Premier League clubs made a total of €1.62bn from player sales this summer with Chelsea generating the most transfer income with €198m. The Stamford Bridge club’s spending has been in the spotlight over the last few seasons but they only finished with a net spend of €40.5m with Ian Maatsen, Conor Gallagher and Romelu Lukaku all major departures. Five other Premier League clubs – Aston Villa, Manchester City, Wolves, Manchester United and Crystal Palace – made more than €100m from sales this summer with Julián Alvarez’s move to Atlético Madrid the most expensive departure. 

As the graphic above illustrates, Premier League clubs hold the top three spots for highest transfer income in one season but the 2024/25 campaign already sits at the top despite the winter window not arriving until January. The other two league seasons that make up the top five are La Liga in 2019/20 and Serie A last season. Atletico made €316.3m from sales in 2019/20 with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla all banking more than €100m. Atalanta, Inter Milan, Sassuolo and Napoli all made more than €100m from player sales in Serie A last season.