Premier League January Transfer Spending Falls To £100m
Premier League clubs spent £100m in the 2024 January transfer window, according to analysis from Deloitte’s Sports Business Group marking the lowest gross transfer expenditure since January 2012 (£60m), excluding the January 2021 window (£70m) when activities were restricted by COVID-19.
Despite this, Premier League clubs’ total seasonal spend of £2.5bn in the 2023/24 season is the second highest ever, behind the 2022/23 season (£2.7bn).
Tim Bridge, lead partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, said: “After record breaking spending in the last three transfer windows, Premier League clubs’ spending this January has been subdued.
“The more prudent approach is likely driven by the high level of spend invested during the summer window but may also have been influenced by a heightened awareness of the Premier League’s financial regulations and the potential repercussions of non-compliance.
“Securing the highest quality player talent remains pivotal for Premier League clubs, but we’ve seen in this window that retention has been of higher priority than attraction.”
The 2024 January transfer window marked the first January window since 2019 – when it was surpassed by the Chinese Super League – in which the Premier League did not have the highest transfer expenditure of any league globally. It is also the first window since the summer of 2011 – when Serie A spent €565m – in which the Premier League was not the highest spending league in Europe.
In contrast to the fall in Premier League spending, cumulative gross spend across the rest of Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues rose by 80% year-on-year to €455m in the 2024 January transfer window (€255m in January 2023). The net spend of these leagues was €180m.
Ligue 1 clubs had the highest gross transfer spend among Europe’s ‘big five’ with expenditure of €190m, an increase of €65m (53%) compared to January 2023 (€125m).
Elsewhere in Europe, Serie A (€75m: 256%), La Liga (€45m: 120%) and the Bundesliga (€15m: 21%) also reported year-on-year increases in gross transfer spend.
Serie A was also the only of Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues to have reported net receipts in this window, with transfer income exceeding expenditure by €25m. Conversely, the spending of clubs from the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, and Ligue 1 exceeded their transfer receipts.
Calum Ross, assistant director in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, commented: “The domino effect created by high value transfers and a desire to improve on-pitch performance ahead of the final part of the season are usually key drivers of transfer spending, but this hasn’t been reflected in January’s subdued transfer window.
“As we move towards this summer’s window, and a new financial year, we expect to see spending return to similar levels we have seen in the last two record-breaking summer transfer windows.”
WSL transfer market
Forty-four transfers took place across the WSL during the January transfer window. Despite a relatively quiet January in the women’s game, with the volume of transfers down by 14% compared with the 2023 winter spending window (51), an active summer window means that the 2023/24 season saw a higher level of transfer activity than each of the three seasons before.
A total of 226 transfers took place across the WSL in the 2023/2024 season, up from 196 in 2022/23, 215 in 2021/2022 and 179 in 2020/21.
Amy Clarke, women’s sport lead in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, said: “The fact we are seeing WSL clubs acquire talent from a broader range of leagues, as well as a growing number of WSL players moving to play further afield, demonstrates the increasing globalisation of the women’s football market. This widening talent pathway is a positive indicator of the increased professionalisation of the women’s game.
“With contracts for a number of top players set to expire this year, we might have anticipated greater fee-generating movement of those players in this window. Instead, we could now see those players leave their clubs for free this summer.
“In future transfer windows, we expect to see sharper competition between top tier leagues and clubs as they seek to attract and retain top talent. It will be interesting to see whether player trading will become a more significant contributor to clubs’ business models, as they look to further capitalise on the potential of the women’s transfer market.”
