A new era of transfer window shopping has emerged in football

It feels strange to talk about the

closing of the transfer window on Sept 1

when there is a very real possibility that the business has not actually concluded.

Most windows in Europe coincide their closures but 2023 sees a fresh challenge with the Saudi Pro League closing their window only after-the-fact, and English Premier League (EPL) clubs in particular huddling around their most “irreplaceable” players to protect them from unwanted late bids.

In Europe though, it was once again the EPL’s summer at the expense of everyone else. With Barcelona still encumbered by Uefa’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, Real Madrid pulled off a coup with the

signing of Jude Bellingham

but La Liga’s total spending will probably end up at just 15 per cent or so of the EPL’s.

Bayern led the Bundesliga challenge with the headline

capture of Harry Kane,

but again, it was still just a fraction of the English expenditure.

It was left to Serie A – while only at about a third of the EPL spending – to be the most aggressive runner-up, with AC Milan spending over €110 million (S$160.6 million). Most noticeably though, Serie A as a whole made a net profit during the window on the back of the sale of stars like Sandro Tonali and

Rasmus Hojlund.

And so it was that the EPL single-handedly made the summer window spectacular in Europe again, with

an estimated £2.45 billion (S$4.18 billion) spent on new signings

that went far beyond 2022’s record of £2.14 billion. No danger of a net profit here – although a record-breaking £1.36 billion in sales was recorded with the help of the government-backed Saudi League.

The biggest EPL spenders were still the so-called Big Six – Chelsea first (over £435 million this summer alone, taking their spending over the £1 billion mark since the club were taken over last year), Man City in second (£216 million), Tottenham in third (£212 million) and followed by Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle in that order.

At the other end of the league, Luton took a cautious approach to spend only around £10 million – perhaps with one eye on balancing the books in the event of a swift

return to the Championship

– and Everton’s financial woes saw them in 19th on the expenditure table.

This window saw two players signed by English clubs for more than £100 million for the first time – Moses Caicedo and Declan Rice, both defensive midfielders – and a further departure in the £100 million bracket as Harry Kane left the EPL.

But who balanced the books? Well, Chelsea were buoyed by the Saudi League spending to recover over £235 million to offset their summer splurge – no doubt grateful to Man United and Arsenal for their perhaps overpriced purchases of Mason Mount and Kai Havertz respectively.

Brighton famously recouped nearly £200 million from the sales of Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister and Robert Sanchez and Man City, West Ham, Wolves and Spurs all received at least £110 million in fees. 

Interestingly, it seems that five clubs didn’t record any sales – another first for the EPL in this window. Bournemouth, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Luton and Newcastle have all not recorded any received fees at the time of writing.

All of this contributed to a new global transfer window record being set with 48 hours still left in the window, with over £6.5 billion spent already by Aug 30 – but that owed as much to the emergence of the Saudi Public Investment Fund-backed clubs as it did the traditional powers.

The Saudi league surpassed the traditional big ones like Serie A, La Liga and the Bundesliga to be the second-highest spending in the world – with their window still open for several days more.

Now that the other windows have closed, everyone wants to grade the winners and losers. The season ahead will provide the proof of the pudding, but Brighton, Spurs and West Ham initially look to have done comparatively good business, and Aston Villa and Liverpool will also feel confident.

Arsenal and Man United’s early window buys had led to optimism but injuries have tempered that somewhat, and as for Chelsea… who knows?

Ultimately, the biggest winners are the agents and the players and the emergence of the Saudi opportunity has only reinforced that by offering a new route to riches. For now, the EPL will still be the dominant financial league worldwide for the foreseeable future.

But there’s a new spender in town, with deep pockets – and the rich are about to get richer, perhaps whether they like it or not.