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Premier League transfer business analysed: spending falls as shorter summer window comes into effect

Transfer window round-up
Transfer window round-up

The 2018 transfer window has now closed in England with Premier League clubs spending a total of £1.26bn, slightly less than the £1.4bn that was paid out last summer.

Although the total spend wasn't as high as in previous seasons there have been some significant signings, with the record transfer fee for a goalkeeper being broken twice in the past two months.

This is the first year in which the transfer window has closed earlier for clubs in England than for those in the rest of Europe and this has impacted the amount of business that has been done.

In total 282 deals for player arrivals and departures have taken place in this transfer window, down significantly from the 384 last season.

While arrivals are down, it is the number of players leaving Premier League clubs that has taken the more significant hit so far with 160 departures this summer compared to 248 last summer.

Premier League spending embed Transfer Tracker

Just 19 Premier League players have been purchased permanently, as opposed to loan deals, by clubs abroad so far this summer, down from 37 last year.

Given that English clubs can still sell players after the transfer window has shut, this could be a sign that foreign clubs have waited to pounce on Premier League talent until their own players are safe from being enticed the other way.

Whether any Premier Leagues clubs will actually sanction big name departures in the remainder of the month remains to be seen.

Premier League summer spending dipped for the first time since 2010

Wolves feel the Mendes effect, Tottenham get nothing

Wolves' link with global super agent Jorge Mendes has been widely documented. The degree to which he is involved in their transfer dealings is uncertain, but Wolves have certainly been very active this summer.

Wolves have signed 11 players in total according to Transfermarkt with the marque name being Adama Traore from Middlesbrough for a fee of £18m. They've also seen 11 players leave as the club prepares for life in the Premier League.  

Brighton, however, saw the most additions with 14 new players through the door as well as having 15 departures.

Meanwhile at Tottenham there has been no incoming activity at all. Daniel Levy is notorious for eking out value for money in the transfer market and this year he appears to have been content with the talent already at the club.

This is the first time since the transfer window has been in effect that a Premier League team has failed to make any summer signings at all.

Liverpool's early business was enough to see them emerge as comfortably the biggest spenders while Chelsea were second and Fulham's late activity put them third overall.

Transfer activity by club

More spent on keepers than strikers for the first time

This window has seen the Premier League break the bank for shot-stoppers as Telegraph Sport's Adam Hurrey has analysed in depth.

Following Lorius Karius' travails at Liverpool last season, Jurgen Klopp splashed out a world record fee on Brazil's Allison after the World Cup.

This record didn't stand for long, however, with Chelsea splashing out £71.6m on Kepa to replace Thibaut Courtois, who went missing while agitating for his transfer to Real Madrid.

More than £200m has been spent on bringing keepers to the Premier League this summer - the highest for any summer window - and the first time that more money has been spent on goalkeepers than on strikers.

Premier League spending on goalkeepers has exploded in recent years

Very little business done outside of Europe

Of the 122 players signed to Premier League clubs this summer, 43 came from UK clubs while just five came from leagues outside of Europe.

This includes Daniel Arzani, a 19 year old winger who signed for Manchester City from Australia's Melbourne City for an undisclosed fee, and Fabian Balbuena, a 26 year old Paraguayan centre back who transfered from Corinthians  to West Ham.

The rest came from a range of European leagues with Spain accounting for the highest number. A total of 18 players were signed from Spanish clubs, including Chelsea's world record goalkeeper Kepa.

The next most fertile ground for Premier League clubs was Germany (15 signings), followed by France (13) and Italy (seven).

Incoming Premier League players by location of selling club

Does spending lots lead to success?

Every club's fans wants money spent on new signings. 'Sign someone', plead supporters on Twitter, with the idea that somebody is better than nobody: a new signing has the potential to be better than what is already there so why not just spend some money?

Well, spending for the sake of spending doesn't necessarily bring success on the pitch.

Premier League summer spending by team

This time last year, Everton were thought to have had a positive transfer window by splashing out on players like Gylfi Sigurdsson, Davy Klaassen and Michael Keane. That theory was swiftly crushed by a terrible run of results that soon saw Ronald Koeman sacked, with their season only saved by the heroics of one Sam Allardyce. Everton were the third-highest spending club last summer but ended the season eighth. 

Indeed, since the transfer window was introduced in its current guise in 2002, the biggest-spending club has tended not to win the title. Of the 16 teams to spend the most in a summer transfer window, only five have gone on to win the Premier League.

Glory has, however, been brought about by sustained outlay at the highest level. That is, Chelsea were the Premier League's big spenders in the summer of 2003, but didn't win the league at the end of that season, then outspent everyone else in 2004, 2005 and 2006 as well, winning back-to-back Premier League titles.

Manchester City were England's biggest spenders in the summers of 2008, 2009 and 2010, and it took until the end of the 2010/11 for them to win their first title. Again, spending more than everyone else in the summers of 2015, 2016 and 2017 brought about another title in 2018.

Away from the title challengers, there are also plenty of examples of big spending having relatively little impact.

Newcastle and Aston Villa spent £59m and £56m respectively on players in 2015 - the sixth and seventh highest outlays that year - but were both relegated at the end of the season. In the subsequent season Watford spent £56m and fell four places from 13th to 16th.

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