Premier League clubs ‘ease transfer spending’

The 20 clubs in the English Premier League took a more reserved approach to spending during the January transfer window, according to new Deloitte research.

The winter transfer window officially closed last night (2 February), with Chelsea’s signing of Juan Cuadrado and Crystal Palace’s decision to re-sign Wilfried Zaha getting the headlines.

Top clubs rein in spending

The latest available figures from Deloitte’s Sports Business Group have revealed:

• At the beginning of 2 February, transfers worth £80 million had been completed by Premier League clubs, down from £95 million last winter.
• The reading was also lower than the sum of £85 million spent at the same point in 2013.
• However, it was significantly higher than the £30 million outlay recorded in the winter of 2012.

The view from Deloitte’s experts

Dan Jones, partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, said that prior to the final day of the transfer window, clubs had adopted a “slightly more reserved” approach.

The weaker January/February total follows a record spending spree during the summer window.

Despite the blip, Mr Jones said 2014/15 remains “a record season for Premier League spending, with clubs having spent over £900 million, significantly ahead of the previous record of £760 million”.

Broadcast revenues boost

Looking at the current season as a whole, Mr Jones said clubs in the English top flight continue to benefit from rising broadcast revenues.

He said: “With all 20 Premier League clubs now ranked in the top 40 globally by revenue, we continue to see them use their increased resources to invest in playing talent in the January window.”

As they hurried to complete deals, Premier League clubs spent millions of additional pounds on transfer deadline day itself.

This spending will be reflected in Deloitte’s final set of figures for the January/February transfer window.

Football Money League

Last month, the business advisory firm also revealed that revenues continue to grow steadily across the world’s highest-earning football clubs.

Its latest Football Money League study found that the 20 top-earning clubs achieved combined revenues of €6.2 billion (£5.2 billion) last season, following a 14% year-on-year improvement.

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