"Hello there. I have a lot of money."
Thank you, Transfermarkt.co.uk, for compiling all the summer’s transfer data into some nifty charts.
Using their hard work, we can see just who spent what this transfer window, as well as extrapolating this to the various European and World leagues on the whole.
Wonder who’s number one?
Of course, it’s Manchester City, but they’ve done well with their money. Spending £130m+ this summer has strengthened their squad like never before, and you can bet they’re not bothered with sales totaling just €32.8m on the other side of the ledger.
(It’s obviously worth noting that these figures are not 100% confirmed as of yet, with plenty of “undisclosed” fees clogging things up)
In second place: Real Madrid, who welcomed Jose Mourinho with a stack of blank checks with which to acquire Mesut Oezil, Sami Khedira, Angel di Maria, Ricardo Carvalho, Pedro Leon, and Sergio Canales (whose deal was agreed upon back in January but not completed until July 1) for the princely sum of £72.9m.
Behind that, Barcelona, who brought in just three players for £64.3m (Adriano, Javier Mascherano, and David Villa) while offloading a slew of players with gas still left in the tank: Alex Hleb’s off on loan, Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez both emigrated to New York City, Dimitro Chygrynskiy went back to the Ukraine, and Yaya Toure and Zlatan Ibrahimovic went to Man Citeh and Milan respectively.
The Top 5 Big-Spending Teams in full:
1: Manchester City – £130m
2: Real Madrid – £72.9m
3: Barcelona – £64.3m
4: Juventus – £50.8m
5: Rubin Kazan – £38.97m
Looking at leagues is about what you’d expect: the EPL tops the charts with a whopping £390.9m spent on transfers (including some £20.7 by Arsenal, £26.7m by Liverpool, £17.6m by Birmingham City, £34.2m by Chelsea, and £20.4m by Sunderland), with the rest trailing in their wake.
However, when you look at revenue generated from the transfer market, the full story of lop-sided spending becomes clear.
In short, the EPL makes comfortably less than 1/2 of its transfer expenditures back. Maybe it’s because they sell less or the players they’re selling are often at a loss, or maybe it’s because few clubs on the continent actively covet players from England knowing full well that they come at such an absurdly high price compared to those found around mainland Europe.
The EPL better hope that its TV revenues remain astronomical, and that its three or four best teams continue to do well in European competition, for it wouldn’t take much for the league’s top-heavy spending to topple the house of cards altogether.
Furthermore, we see the leagues that tend to be the most fertile trading grounds come transfer time. Spain, Italy and France all give fairly good value for money (see: Yaya Toure for a surprisingly reasonable £22m, Asamoah Gyan for less than £14m, and Rafael van der Vaart for £8m after a disappointing World Cup) and thus tend to be the first ports of call for most teams.
The French league, though not a feeder for others (I’d never say that lest NYK disembowel me during our next drinking session), has always been good at buying low/selling high, as exemplified by Lyon’s Jean-Michel Aulas and his remarkable use of the transfer market to keep his team winning league titles on a modest budget.
Oh, and not a single league comes close to the imbalance of the EPL when it comes to expenditure v. revenue. That might be symptomatic of EPL clubs being forced to reorganize squads ahead of the homegrown rules, though that wouldn’t make sense as very few good English players play abroad.
The Top 5 Big-Spending Leagues in full:
1: English Premier League – £390.9m
2: Serie A – £273m
3: La Liga Primera Division – £236.94m
4: Bundesliga I – £140.9m
5: Ligue I – £125.946m
Top 5 Big-Selling Leagues in full:
1: Serie A – £237.7m
2: La Liga Primera Division – £234.69m
3: English Premier League – £168.16m
4: Ligue I – £157.99m
5: Bundeliga I – £126.9m
Difference:
EPL: -222.74m
Serie A: -£35.24m
La Liga: -£2.250m
Bundesliga I: -£14.04m
Ligue I: +£32.04m
No wonder Michel Platini wants to see clubs spending more responsibly and organizing their debts before allowing them to partake in European competition! The excuse for a lot of over-spending has been predicated upon by guarantees of lucre down the line.
Look at Leeds United: they spent like drunk WAGs for years, perching precariously on the edge before missing CL qualification one year and torpedoing down the league ladder as a result. Not a direct result, mind you, but without that UEFA windfall, they couldn’t continue their charade. I fear similar things at Anfield if recent events become a trend.
And so, the EPL continues to lead Europe/the world in soccer expenditure. Better hope Platini can’t get his financial fair play rules implemented with any degree of haste…
The best part is where Mourinho promptly tells Madridistas he’s just a manager, not a magician. Bwomp bwomp.
Nice post, JT. I’d like to see this site’s data in a spreadsheet and for the past 10 years.
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My guess is the mid- and lower-table EPL teams do okay, by and large, on recouping value. I’d say that the nouveau riche and the perennial CL teams care less about maximizing sell-side value and those clubs skew it, dollar-wise, for the entire league.
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For example, City alone almost outspent the Bundesliga and did outspend Ligue Uhhhhnn. City’s net out was almost half the net out for the entire EPL (just less than triple the Bundesliga and 6 times Ligue 1). Tough to draw a definitive conclusion about the entire EPL with that kind of outlier gumming up the works.
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That said, on net, Spurs, Brum and Stoke are within spitting distance of Chelsea this window, with Wolves and the Baggies not far behind.
That site is reporting 9 for both VdV and Sandro. All the Sandro numbers I’ve seen are closer 5 million, and the VdV deal was rumored around 8. So I don’t know where this site gets it’s numbers from, but it’s either way more accurate than the rumors floating around, or kind of off.
Teams outside of the EPL don’t pay that well for players from that league, because although talented, perspective buyers know those players have been ‘rode hard and hung up wet’. Who wants to buy a used, beaten workhorse? I’d rather buy a new horse and beat him myself. (/know it sounds bad and I don’t care)
@LE
All reports were £5 for Sandro and £8 for VdV.
@Tno: I know that’s what I was saying. But this supposedly comprehensive transfer data site says 9 mil for each of them.
Is there any relation to the wages of players in the EPL (suck it Barclays) and the tax rate in England? I thought I remembered reading something about La Liga players being given a lower tax rate in Spain. Also, when Arshavin moved to Arsenal, wasn’t there some complaint from his agent about the wages and the higher taxation in England, with the claim being Arshavin was netting less than he was in Russia?
@LE
I was agreeing with you, ducks fly together!
@tno: FLYING V!!!
@LE @OM
Like I said, the numbers aren’t confirmed, but even taken as general or ballpark figures, they make for compelling reading. Don’t think the big picture is affected too much by a couple of mill on top of Sandro’s price.
@JT
I have come to expect excellence from this site, so yes.
*so yes it makes a difference.
/there’s a compliment in there somewhere.
I have come to expect excellence from this site
Well, that was your first mistake. We’re a third-rate blog, dammit!