adminENGLISH Premier League clubs shattered the previous summer spending record as deadline day took the total transfer window spend to 835 million pounds, according to Deloitte. Manchester United made late moves for Radamel Falcao and Daley Blind while Arsenal signed Red Devils striker Danny Welbeck on a permanent deal to top last summer’s total of 630 million pounds for the English top flight.
Deadline day spending was down 55 million to 85 million pounds compared to 2013, though United and the Gunners secured the two biggest Premier League deals of the summer earlier in the window: Louis van Gaal’s side signed Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid in a British record 59,7 million-pound move, while Arsenal took Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona for around 30 million pounds.
Deloitte estimate that United’s total spend — nearly 150 million pounds on Di Maria, Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera, Marcos Rojo, Daley Blind and Falcao — was the highest gross spend by any English club in any transfer window, with Liverpool and Chelsea following on 117 million and 91,3 million pounds respectively.
Dan Jones, partner at Deloitte, said: “We continue to see the increased resources that Premier League clubs enjoy, as a result of improved broadcast deals, translate into investment in players. Last season the average Premier League club received over 25 million pounds more in central broadcast distributions than they did in 2012-13, which has helped fuel a new record spend this summer.”
Elsewhere in Europe, Bundesliga clubs spent a total 278,9 million euros during the summer transfer period — some eight million less than in the previous year. Borussia Dortmund topped the ranking with a spend of 53,2 million euros, followed by Bayern Munich, who invested 50,1 million euros. — soccernet.
Online Reporter