Premier League net spend: How transfers affect each club's finances

Premier League clubs are rarely shy in flexing their financial muscles in the transfer market.

England's top division is always the world's biggest spender come transfer season, with the Premier League's traditional 'big six' often splashing obscene amounts of money during the summer and winter windows.

Transfer fees are exponentially rising with each passing year and the deep pockets of English giants is a key contributing factor. There is no doubt that the creation of the Premier League has drastically altered the market forever.

With that in mind, let's take a look at which Premier League clubs spend biggest.

What is net spend?

The concept of net spend is quite simple. The final value is calculated by determining the difference between the transfer fees spent on new players and the amount received in transfer fees from player sales.

For example, if a club were to spend £100m on new arrivals in a transfer window but sell £150m worth of players to other clubs, they would have a net spend of +£50m.

Net spend only takes into consideration transfer fees spent or received, not wages, individual bonuses or agent fees.

What is each Premier League club's net spend?

Because of the nature of modern transfers and club finances, calculating the net spend of each top-flight team is fraught with difficulty. Fees fluctuate from each outlet that reports a specific move and therefore precise amounts are incredibly tough to decipher.

However, the activity of certain teams makes it easier to gauge which clubs are more at risk of breaching Profit & Sustainability Rules and those who are reaping the rewards of being more frugal in recent years.

Chelsea have spent enormously in recent seasons, including a -£464.7m outlay during the 2022/23 campaign. Recent £106m and £115m deals for Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo respectively have massively contributed to a rough overall -£730m net spend over five years.

To have fought in back-to-back title races has cost Arsenal a small fortune. The summer of 2023 was a particularly expensive window following the acquisitions of Kai Havertz for £65m and Declan Rice for £105m.

However, at least the Gunners have invested wisely. The same cannot be said for Manchester United, who have forked out for questionable moves for Casemiro, Jadon Sancho, Antony and Mason Mount. They have also been largely unable to recoup significant funds through players sales.

Saudi investment in Newcastle has seen their net spend skyrocket, but they still haven't parted with as much cash as Tottenham in recent years. That doesn't even include £63m Spurs flop Tanguy Ndombele.

West Ham have been surprisingly high-rollers over recent years despite big sales, while the success of Manchester City and Liverpool is even more remarkable when you consider their combined net spend over the past five years is still lower than Chelsea's. They have been good at selling young academy players for profit and sniffing out bargains.

Only two current Premier League teams have a positive net spend. They are Leicester City, who spent last year in the Championship, and the well-run Brighton. Both have recruited wisely over past seasons and sold players at a premium to Premier League giants. Both clubs have made profit in at least two seasons over the past five transfer windows (excluding 2024/25).

Selected Premier League clubs' net spend from 2014 to 2023

Figures courtesy of CIES Football Observatory

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