English clubs spent almost $1bn (£652m) in the summer transfer window – more than twice as much as any of Europe’s top five leagues – according to official figures released by Fifa’s transfer matching system.
But despite the arrival of more than 360 new players to the top English leagues, the statistics show that the clubs’ spending was down 2% on the same period last year.
Manchester City were the summer’s big spenders, shelling out more than £160m including the initial £44m paid to Liverpool for Raheem Sterling and the £54m fee for Wolfsburg’s Kevin De Bruyne. These helped take the Premier League’s spending $996m , according to Fifa’s TMS report.
Spain was the next highest total at $495m (£324m), a decrease of 23% on last year, with Italy ($389m; £254m) third, France fourth ($270m; £176m) and Germany fifth with $248m (£162m).
The transfer window analysis also included a special report disclosing the official salary figures for all worldwide transfers. The findings revealed that since 2013 player salaries have constituted 57% of the funds circulated in the international transfer market. Transfer fees accounted for 41% and agent payments the remaining 2%.
The report also reveals that 80% of the total amount of salaries committed in the context of international transfers since 2013 can be attributed to European clubs.
“Most of the transfers discussed in the media involve large transfer fees but in reality only 13% of all worldwide transfers involve the payment of a fee. Salaries, though, are part of every single contract,” said the TMS general manager, Mark Goddard.
