Newcastle 4th, Barca 2nd – Which clubs have historically spent the most money in January?

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Top 20 ranked 

©TM/IMAGO

The January transfer window is often seen as a period of immense disruption to most clubs and their fans, but for some sides it can offer an opportunity to hit the “reset” button and rebuild their squads in the hope of turning around a poor start to the season. And, as a result, it also happens to be a month in which some of the biggest clubs in European football look to spend an immense amount of money. When we then consider how many giants around Europe’s top leagues are languishing in their domestic top-flights or struggling to come to terms with UEFA’s revamped Champions League, it seems as though this coming transfer window could be one of the busiest periods of business ever. 

However, before we get too excited about what may be in store next month, let’s take a moment to look back at which clubs have made the most of the previous January windows. And, in particular, chart which clubs around Europe have spent the most money on new players over the course of the last 10 winter transfer windows. Not only does it make for interesting reading, but it may also hint at which clubs can be expected to open their cheque books and splash the cash in just a few weeks time. Using Transfermarkt’s data, we’ve ranked the top 20 European clubs based on their total spending on transfer fees over the course of the last 10 January transfer windows. 

The above graphic showcases the biggest spenders in the January transfer windows over the last ten seasons. Excluding clubs outside of UEFA due to the nature of transfer windows outside of Europe taking place at different times of the year, Chelsea leads the chart with an astonishing expenditure of €490.7m on players, significantly outspending second-placed Barcelona, who have spent €272.6m. This highlights Chelsea’s aggressive approach in mid-season transfer activity, especially in recent years, with the club laying claim to two of the five most expensive January signings of all time in Mykhaylo Mudryk’s €70m move and Enzo Fernández’s €135m move in 2023. Barcelona, Juventus, and Newcastle follow in second, third, and fourth places, respectively. Barcelona’s €272.6m highlights their ongoing quest to regain their standing in both domestic and European competitions. Juventus’ tally, at €226.2m, is mostly made up of Dušan Vlahović’s €83.5m move from Fiorentina in 2022 and the club’s regular attempts to win Serie A. Newcastle’s €223m expenditure reflects their transformation under new ownership, with Bruno Guimarães’ €42.1m move in 2021 heralding a new chapter in the club’s career. 

Paris Saint-Germain (€211m) and Manchester City (€201.9m) occupy fifth and sixth positions. Both clubs are known for their financial muscle and have often used January transfer windows to secure key signings, such as Gonçalo Ramos’ €65m move to the French capital last January, or Aymeric Laporte’s €65m move to Man City in 2018. Arsenal and Liverpool, both tied at €198.7m, perhaps illustrates how both clubs are a little more resistant to splash the cash in comparison to other English clubs, but still outweigh a number of the biggest clubs in Europe when it comes to January signings. Interestingly enough, Virgil van Dijk’s €84.7m move from Southampton to the Anfield club still ranks as the third highest January transfer of all time. French duo Monaco and Lyon round up the top 10 with almost identical spending totals of €169.5m and €168.3m respectively. 

When it comes to the clubs ranked 11th to 20th, we can undoubtedly note the financial muscle of the Premier League as it makes up six of the ten remaining places. Aston Villa and Tottenham come in twelfth and fourteenth respectively, having made major January signings in recent years, such as Lucas Digne’s €30m move to Villa Park in 2022 and Steven Bergwijn’s ill-advised move to North London in 2020 for €30m. Manchester United, rather curiously, only rank sixteenth on the list, despite laying claim to two of the top 20 January signings of all time: Bruno Fernandes’ €65m move to Old Trafford in 2020 is the seventh highest, while Juan Mata’s move from Chelsea in 2014 or €44.7m comes in eighteenth.

However, the interesting inclusions on this list are undoubtedly a number of clubs that typically linger in the bottom half of the Premier League. Everton sit thirteenth, Crystal Palace sit seventeenth and Bournemouth sit above Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in nineteenth. Although none of these three English clubs can lay claim to a single big transfer within the top 75 most expensive January signings of all time, their total sums undoubtedly point to the sheer volume of players that are routinely signed in the January window, as each of these clubs has desperately thrown money at their cause to stay in the English top-flight over the course of the last 10 years. And since all three remain Premier League clubs for now, some may argue that it is a transfer policy that has worked for all three.