‘Which competition is number one in the world?’ Premier League answer FIFA’s billion dollar question

ScoreLive September 9, 2023 0

FIFA have released their figures for international transfer spending this summer – and the Premier League is still top dog.

World football’s governing body revealed that an all-time high $7.36bn (£5.89bn) was spent on deals involving players moving between leagues in different countries.

Just over 25% of that outlay – $1.98bn (£1.58bn) – came from English clubs, who signed 449 players from non-English leagues between them.

Manchester United’s £64m signing of Rasmus Hojlund from Atalanta was among the most expensive by an English club this summer (Image credit: Getty Images)

To put into some context just how extraordinary the summer expenditure from England (and primarily the Premier League) was, even the Saudi Pro League – whose push to tempt a plethora of big names from Europe to the Middle East – coughed up less than half that amount.

Nonetheless, Pro League clubs’ combined $875m (£700m) transfer splurge saw Saudi Arabia’s top flight place second on the list – above the total spend of clubs from France, followed by Germany, Italy and Spain.

The latest window saw Saudi Arabia emerge as a major player in the transfer market with the financial clout to truly shake up world football as we know it.

Neymar’s €90m move from PSG to Al Hilal, was the biggest, but the Saudi Pro League is now teeming with top talent from Europe, South America and Africa.

Meanwhile, the highest fee paid by a Premier League club to land a player from abroad this summer was the £77m Manchester City splashed out to sign Josko Gvardiol from RB Leipzig.

Two significantly higher fees were paid for transfers between Premier League clubs, however, with Chelsea and Arsenal each stumping up an initial £100m for Moises Caicedo and Declan Rice respectively.

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