€580m for new signings: Premier League breaks record for January spending

Financially, the Premier League continues to play at a different level than the other European top leagues—that is no secret, but a glance at the numbers highlights a significant gap. This winter further underlines this, especially as Chelsea continue their shopping tour, spending €208.5 million on seven players and counting ahead of Tuesday’s Deadline Day. By Monday evening, the first-division clubs in England spent €583.06m on 42 new players, breaking the record for the most money paid by a single league in a single window. 

Click here to see the leagues with the biggest winter spendings

The Premier League broke its own record from the 2017/18 season when €561.4m was spent on new players. Back then, Chelsea signed Olivier Giroud, Man City signed Aymeric Laporte, and Liverpool made Virgil van Dijk the most expensive center-back in football history. 

Among the top ten biggest spenders by transfer window, the Premier League occupies seven places. The league spent over €250m in 2021/22, 2019/20, 2016/17, 2015/16, and 2011/12. The only other league in the top five is the Chinese Super League, which spent €347.9m in 2016 and €403.5m in 2017. But in China, the winter window is far more important compared with the summer window in the big European leagues. As a result, the big investments during the boom years came in the winter.

Also in the top ten is Spain’s LaLiga. In 2017/18, the Spanish first division invested €288.7m in 62 new players. Philippe Coutinho was the most expensive transfer that winter. The Brazilian joined Barcelona from Liverpool for €135m.