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The amount of money being spent on transfers by clubs in the Premier League has increased substantially since its inception in 1992.
In the 2003/04 season, Premier League clubs spent £265 million on transfers compared to nearly £2.8 billion during the 2022/23 season.
Football FanCast has taken a look at the net spend of the Premier League clubs involved in the 2024/25 season, including newly promoted Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton.
All net spend figures are based on Transfermarkt’s expenditure figures from 1992/93 to 2023/24.
Club |
Net spend |
Most expensive signing |
Most expensive departure |
---|---|---|---|
Chelsea |
-£1.59bn |
Enzo Fernandez |
Eden Hazard |
Manchester City |
-£1.47bn |
Jack Grealish |
Raheem Sterling |
Manchester United |
-£1.43bn |
Paul Pogba |
Cristiano Ronaldo |
Arsenal |
-£861m |
Declan Rice |
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain |
Liverpool |
-£747m |
Virgil van Dijk |
Philippe Coutinho |
Tottenham Hotspur |
-£737m |
Tanguy Ndombele |
Gareth Bale |
Newcastle United |
-£637m |
Alexander Isak |
Andy Carroll |
Aston Villa |
-£531m |
Moussa Diaby |
Jack Grealish |
West Ham United |
-£423m |
Lucas Paqueta |
Declan RIce |
Fulham |
-£331m |
Jean Michael Seri |
Alexsandar Mitrovic |
Wolves |
-£283m |
Matheus Nunes |
Matheus Nunes |
Everton |
-£269m |
Gylfi Sugurdsson |
Romelu Lukaku |
Crystal Palace |
-£264m |
Christian Benteke |
Aaron Wan-Bissaka |
Bournemouth |
-£250m |
Jefferson Lerma |
Nathan Ake |
Nottingham Forest |
-£181m |
Ibrahim Sangare |
Brennan Johnson |
Leicester City |
-£141m |
Youri Tielemans |
Harry Maguire |
Brighton & Hove Albion |
-£54m |
Joao Pedro |
Moises Caicedo |
Brentford |
-£25m |
Igor Thiago |
Ollie Watkins |
Southampton |
-£18m |
Kamaldeen Sulemana |
Virgil van Dijk |
Ipswich Town |
+£19m |
Matteo Sereni |
Tyrone Mings |
20
Chelsea
Net spend: -£1.59bn
At the very top of the list, it’s Chelsea.
Chelsea have spent £3.08 billion on 702 players and generated £1.49 billion from 693 players sold since 1992.
Their most expensive signing of all time came in February 2023, when they signed Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez for a British record fee of £107m.
Moises Caicedo – who could yet become their top arrival – Romelu Lukaku and Alvaro Morata all appear in their 10 most expensive signings ever. Eden Hazard is Chelsea’s record departure during the Premier League era, having moved to Real Madrid in July 2019 for just over £100m.
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Chelsea: Every signing Todd Boehly has made at Stamford Bridge
The full list is absolutely crazy!
19
Manchester City
Net spend: -£1.47bn
It emerged at the beginning of 2023 that Manchester City had been hit with 115 Premier League charges for alleged financial irregularity, so it is no surprise their net spend is one of the worst out of all Premier League clubs.
It must be noted Man City have strongly denied all of these charges, which include 54 for failure to provide accurate financial information, 35 for failure to cooperate with Premier League investigations and 14 for failure to provide accurate details for player and manager payments.
During their time in the English top flight, Man City have spent £2.38bn on 706 arrivals and made £910m from 702 player departures.
Jack Grealish, who didn’t make Gareth Southgate’s England Euro 2024 squad, is their record arrival. Grealish signed for Man City from Aston Villa in August 2021 for £100m and is arguably yet to live up to his expectations.
Perhaps surprisingly, Raheem Sterling’s transfer to Chelsea in July 2022 for £47.5m is Man City’s most expensive departure in the Premier League era.
18
Manchester United
Net spend: -£1.43bn
In February 2024, Manchester United fans were offered a glimmer of hope into a successful future when Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought a 27.7% stake in their club.
Manchester-born Ratcliffe made an investment worth around £1.25bn after he agreed to buy 25% of the club’s class B shares – indicating that further investments are likely in the seasons to come.
This could mean their level of expenditure in the Premier League era could increase dramatically.
Man United have spent £2.17bn on 538 new signings and generated an income of £745m on 543 player departures over the past 22 years. They have the lowest income out of the ‘big six’ in the Premier League’s history.
Their most expensive signing of all time is Paul Pogba, who was banned from football at the start of 2024 for four years for a doping offence.
Pogba re-joined the Manchester club for a world-record transfer fee of £89m in August 2016, following successful campaigns with Juventus. The Frenchman later returned to the Italian side in July 2022.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the club’s most expensive departure to date, following his world-record £80m move to Real Madrid in July 2009.
17
Arsenal
Net spend: -£861m
The north London club have spent £1.61bn on 507 players and made £751m in player sales.
Luckily for Arsenal fans, the addition of Declan Rice in the summer of 2023 meant they no longer had to quiver at Nicolas Pepe being their most expensive signing of all time.
Arsenal signed the Ivory Coast winger from Lille for a club record fee of £72m in August 2019, but Rice’s arrival for £105m from West Ham made him their priciest purchase.
It hasn’t been great for Arsenal in the sales department, as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is their most expensive departure of all time and he only left the club for £35m.
Oxlade-Chamberlain rejected a move to Chelsea to sign for Liverpool on a five-year contract worth £120,000 a week in 2017. Arsenal’s record departure sale looks certain to be broken in the near future.
16
Liverpool
Net spend: -£747m
Liverpool have been known to spend their money quite wisely with Jurgen Klopp at the helm, but their net spend in the Premier League era is still up there.
The Reds have made the second-most, behind Chelsea, in player sales, having generated an income of £1.03bn from departures since the 1992/93 season. Liverpool’s expenditure sits at £1.78bn on 551 players, which, for any mathematicians out there, averages out at £3.2m per player signed.
Liverpool fans will be delighted to hear that their most expensive signing of all time has arguably been their best player in the last decade.
Virgil van Dijk signed for the Merseyside club at the turn of the new year in 2018 for £75m, in what was a world-record deal for a defender at the time.
They will also be quite happy to learn that they have received the highest-ever fee for a player leaving the Premier League. Barcelona signed Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool in January 2018 for a whopping £105m upfront fee – a British record – that had the potential to rise to £142m in add-ons.
Coutinho had a buyout clause of £355m and remains Barcelona’s most-expensive signing of all time, on a par with Ousmane Dembele – who joined from Borussia Dortmund.
15
Tottenham Hotspur
Net spend: -£737m
Tottenham Hotspur have spent £1.66bn on 640 players and received £930m from 647 departures during their time in the Premier League.
The majority of talent that has arrived at the north London club has been in recent years, with the likes of Richarlison, Brennan Johnson, Cristian Romero and James Maddison all in the club’s top five record arrivals.
However, Spurs fans won’t like to hear that their most expensive signing of all time didn’t quite work out for them.
In July 2019, Tottenham announced the addition of then-22-year-old Tanguy Ndombele on a six-year deal, which would’ve seen him at the club until 2025. But the £63m signing rarely showcased his talent during his time at the club, which saw him go on loan back to his parent club Lyon, as well as Napoli and most recently Galatasaray, since he put pen to paper.
Spurs do have a good record when it comes to shifting players on – Gareth Bale joined Real Madrid for a world-record transfer fee of £85m in September 2013.
The Welshman agreed a six-year deal worth £300,000 and the move eclipsed the previous record that Madrid held when they signed Cristiano Ronaldo for £80m in 2009.
Tottenham also received £86.4m for Harry Kane when the England captain made his decision to join German giants Bayern Munich. Kyle Walker, Dimitar Berbatov and Luka Modric are other notable players who have left the club for big money.
14
Newcastle United
Net spend: -£637m
Newcastle United have spent the majority of their money since the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) bought an 80% stake in the club for £300m in October 2021.
In total, they have spent £1.22bn on 569 players in the Premier League era. The north-east club have accumulated the lowest total so far on this list for player sales, having received £589m from 565 players.
Alexander Isak is the club’s most expensive buy, while Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes, who have all joined the club since the takeover, all appear at the top of the list.
Isak became PIF’s fourth signing when he joined the club in the 2022 summer transfer window. He signed for Newcastle from Real Sociedad for around £60m and scored 10 goals in 17 Premier League appearances in his first season.
Andy Carroll is the club’s most expensive departure. He joined Liverpool for a club-record fee of about £35m in January 2011 – a record which still stands.
Moussa Sissoko to Spurs, Ayoze Perez to Leicester City and Georginio Wijnaldum to Liverpool have all been significant transfers for Newcastle in terms of income.
13
Aston Villa
Net spend: -£531m
Aston Villa’s tally of 68 points come the end of the 2023/24 season meant the club secured Champions League qualification for the first time since it’s 90s revamp. So, it is fitting that the majority of their current talent top the transfer history books.
Six of Aston Villa’s seven most expensive signings started 20 or more games during the 2023/24 season. Moussa Diaby is the club’s priciest purchase, and aside from the injury-prone Emiliano Buendia in second, the rest of the top seven is made up of their current best players, such as Ollie Watkins, Pau Torres and Leon Bailey.
Villa signed Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen in July 2023 for an undisclosed fee that was reported to be around the £50m mark.
As for players going the other way, Villa have been largely unsuccessful apart from one huge recent transfer which saw the club take in £100m.
This, of course, was the transfer of Jack Grealish, who left the Villians to join Manchester City in August 2021. It was a British-record fee at the time, and still is, with Declan Rice’s move to Arsenal potentially overtaking it once add-ons are taken into account.
Christian Benteke, Stewart Downing, James Milner and Cameron Archer make up the rest of the top five.
12
West Ham United
Net spend: -£423m
It was West Ham who benefited from the sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal as the England midfielder moved to north London for a whopping £100m plus £5m in add-ons during the summer of 2023.
He is West Ham’s most expensive departure to date, with Dimitri Payet’s £25m transfer to Marseille not even close in second.
West Ham have spent £1.1bn on 673 arrivals in the Premier League era, while generating a total £650m income from the sale of 672 players.
The Hammers announced they had signed Lucas Paqueta for a club-record fee in August 2022. The initial £36.5m deal for the Brazilian is expected to rise above £50m based on add-ons, meaning the transfer surpasses the addition of Sebastien Haller for £45m from Eintracht Frankfurt in 2019.
Mohammed Kudus, Edson Alvarez, Felipe Anderson and Kurt Zouma all appear at the top of West Ham’s transfer books.
11
Fulham
Net spend: -£331m
Fulham have generated just £278m from 673 player transfers in Premier League history, meaning they have the least total income on the list so far. This averages out at just over £400,000 per player signed.
The Cottagers have spent £609m on the exact same amount of players, with the addition of Jean Michael Seri from OGC Nice being the priciest of the lot.
Aleksandar Mitrovic is the club’s most expensive departure of all time. He joined Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal for a club record fee of around £50m in August 2023 and scored 28 league goals in his debut season.
10
Wolves
Net spend: -£283m
Wolves’ transfer business in the Premier League has largely been shaped by the influence of super-agent Jorge Mendes, with plenty of Portuguese talent heading to Molineux since the Old Gold’s promotion in 2018.
Following in Mitrovic’s footsteps, Ruben Neves was another player who became Wolverhampton Wanderers’ most expensive departure after joining Al-Hilal, though he was succeeded by Matheus Nunes when Man City snapped him up for £53m two months later.
Neves had shockingly joined the Saudi Arabian side for a club record £47m, but it was Nunes’ deal – which included a 10% sell-on clause – that now tops their record departures list.
Nunes, surprisingly, is also the club’s most expensive signing. Wolves broke their transfer record in August 2022 to sign the midfielder from Sporting CP for £38m before selling him just one year later.
Wolves have bought the greatest number of players on the list so far, having spent £716m on 785 players during the Premier League era. And like Fulham, Wolves have sold the same amount of players as they’ve signed, generating a total of £785m income.
9
Everton
Net spend: -£269m
With their new stadium set to be ready for the 2025/26 season, Everton will have to tread carefully when it comes to making any future signings, with the club having already been hit with a points deduction for breaching Premier League financial rules.
In terms of the bigger picture, the Merseyside club broke their transfer record when they purchased Gylfi Sigurdsson from Swansea City for £45m in August 2017. He remains Everton’s most expensive signing to date.
Everton have spent £1bn on 502 players during their time in the Premier League, while generating £745m in income from 501 departures.
Romelu Lukaku is Everton’s record departure, with Richarlison, John Stones and Anthony Gordon close behind.
8
Crystal Palace
Net spend: -£264m
Crystal Palace have made £220m from 640 player sales since the Premier League’s inception, while spending £493m on 635 arrivals.
Recent news that star man Michael Olise will join Bayern Munich next season for just over £50m means that Palace could have a new record sale on their books.
The Eagles sold Aaron Wan-Bissaka to Man United for a club-record fee of around £45m in July 2019. It was United’s fifth most expensive signing of all time.
Christian Benteke is Palace’s record signing, ahead of Mamadou Sakho and Marc Guehi. Like Sakho, Benteke left Liverpool to join Palace.
Benteke’s arrival at Selhurst Park in August 2016 set Palace back an initial £27m plus £5m in add-ons. The Belgian scored 35 Premier League goals during his six seasons at the club.
7
Bournemouth
Net spend: -£250m
Bournemouth signed Jefferson Lerma from Spanish side Levante for a club-record fee of £25m in August 2018. The fee paid by the Cherries broke their previous record of around £20m to bring in Nathan Ake from Chelsea the previous season.
Ake would make 115 appearances for Bournemouth in the Premier League and establish himself as one of their greatest-ever players. Eddie Howe, manager at the time, would have been thanked for welcoming the Netherlands international to the Vitality Stadium, as the defender would become their record departure.
Manchester City signed the Bournemouth defender on a five-year contract for £40m in August 2020. Tyrone Mings, Callum Wilson and Aaron Ramsdale have also been profitable sales for the club.
6
Nottingham Forest
Net spend: -£181m
Nottingham Forest have sold 780 players for £248m and signed a total of 776 for £428m during the Premier League era.
In the summer of 2022, a newly promoted Forest broke the British record for signing the most players in a transfer window after welcoming 21 new players to their squad.
One of these players was Morgan Gibbs-White, who arrived on Trentside from Wolves for a club-record fee of £25m. He was the club’s record transfer until Forest signed PSV midfielder Ibrahim Sangare for around £30m in September 2023.
Brennan Johnson remains the club’s record departure by far. The Welshman joined Tottenham Hotspur on a six-year deal for £45m in the same window as the addition of Sangare.
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5
Leicester City
Net spend: -£141m
Newly promoted Leicester City have one of the healthiest net spend balances out of all Premier League clubs in the 2024/25 season. This is largely due to the whopping £538m they have generated from a total of 656 player sales.
Leicester have been one of the best clubs in the English top flight in recent years for selling their star players for the maximum amount of money possible.
Harry Maguire is their record departure. He joined Man United for £80m in August 2019, which was not only an English record, but a world-record fee for a defender.
Wesley Fofana, Ben Chilwell, Danny Drinkwater and N’Golo Kante have all been sold to Chelsea since their historic Premier League season for big money, while Riyad Mahrez and James Maddison are other notable sales.
At the opposite end of the scale, Leicester signed Youri Tielemans from Monaco for a club-record fee of £35m in July 2019 – he remains their most expensive addition.
4
Brighton & Hove Albion
Net spend: -£54m
Brighton have reaped the rewards in recent years for developing lesser-known players and turning them into established Premier League regulars.
Their most expensive departure, Moises Caicedo, was signed from Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle for £4.5m in June 2021.
Three years later, Chelsea signed the Brighton midfielder for a pretty remarkable £115m, with Marc Cucurella, Ben White, Alexis Mac Allister and Yves Bissouma all following similar trends of moving to bigger Premier League clubs.
In June 2023, Brighton completed the club-record signing of Joao Pedro, who made the switch from Watford for a fee of just under £30m.
3
Brentford
Net spend: -£25m
Brentford have spent less money on players in the Premier League era than current Championship clubs Blackburn Rovers, Norwich City, Swansea City and Birmingham City. They have spent £208m on 683 players, while making £184m from 674 departures.
In February 2023, it was announced that Brentford would pay in excess of £30m with add-ons to sign Igor Thiago, who scored 26 goals for Club Brugge in the 2023/24 season.
This transfer would make Thiago Brentford’s most expensive signing ahead of Nathan Collins, who signed from Wolves for £23m.
Brentford sold Ollie Watkins to Aston Villa for £28m in September 2020, and he remains the club’s record departure.
2
Southampton
Net spend: -£18m
Southampton have the lowest negative net spend out of every Premier League team in the 2024/25 season. The Saints have spent £743m on 630 players during the Premier League era but made a huge £725m on 644 player departures.
Liverpool have been involved with two of Southampton’s record departures. Virgil van Dijk joined the Anfield club for £75m in December 2017 and Sadio Mane also did the same six months earlier for £34m.
Romeo Lavia is the Saints’ second-most expensive departure. The Belgium midfielder joined Chelsea for £53m in August 2023 as a 19-year-old.
Southampton’s £22m plus bonuses deal for winger Kamaldeen Sulemana is their record transfer signing, ahead of Danny Ings’ arrival from Liverpool.
1
Ipswich Town
Net spend: +£19m
Ipswich Town have the only positive net spend out of all current top-flight clubs. They have spent just £84m on 676 players in the Premier League era and sold 669 players for a total of £103m.
They have spent less money than some League One clubs, such as Reading, Wigan and Charlton Athletic. However, it is expected that the club will have to spend big money soon for any hope of Premier League survival.
Matteo Sereni is the club’s record signing. The goalkeeper joined from Italian side Sampdoria for just over £5m in 2001. Tyrone Mings is Ipswich’s record departure. He joined Bournemouth for £8m in 2015.
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The amount of money being spent on transfers by clubs in the Premier League has increased substantially since its inception in 1992.
In the 2003/04 season, Premier League clubs spent £265 million on transfers compared to nearly £2.8 billion during the 2022/23 season.
Football FanCast has taken a look at the net spend of the Premier League clubs involved in the 2024/25 season, including newly promoted Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton.
All net spend figures are based on Transfermarkt’s expenditure figures from 1992/93 to 2023/24.
Club |
Net spend |
Most expensive signing |
Most expensive departure |
---|---|---|---|
Chelsea |
-£1.59bn |
Enzo Fernandez |
Eden Hazard |
Manchester City |
-£1.47bn |
Jack Grealish |
Raheem Sterling |
Manchester United |
-£1.43bn |
Paul Pogba |
Cristiano Ronaldo |
Arsenal |
-£861m |
Declan Rice |
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain |
Liverpool |
-£747m |
Virgil van Dijk |
Philippe Coutinho |
Tottenham Hotspur |
-£737m |
Tanguy Ndombele |
Gareth Bale |
Newcastle United |
-£637m |
Alexander Isak |
Andy Carroll |
Aston Villa |
-£531m |
Moussa Diaby |
Jack Grealish |
West Ham United |
-£423m |
Lucas Paqueta |
Declan RIce |
Fulham |
-£331m |
Jean Michael Seri |
Alexsandar Mitrovic |
Wolves |
-£283m |
Matheus Nunes |
Matheus Nunes |
Everton |
-£269m |
Gylfi Sugurdsson |
Romelu Lukaku |
Crystal Palace |
-£264m |
Christian Benteke |
Aaron Wan-Bissaka |
Bournemouth |
-£250m |
Jefferson Lerma |
Nathan Ake |
Nottingham Forest |
-£181m |
Ibrahim Sangare |
Brennan Johnson |
Leicester City |
-£141m |
Youri Tielemans |
Harry Maguire |
Brighton & Hove Albion |
-£54m |
Joao Pedro |
Moises Caicedo |
Brentford |
-£25m |
Igor Thiago |
Ollie Watkins |
Southampton |
-£18m |
Kamaldeen Sulemana |
Virgil van Dijk |
Ipswich Town |
+£19m |
Matteo Sereni |
Tyrone Mings |
20
Chelsea
Net spend: -£1.59bn
At the very top of the list, it’s Chelsea.
Chelsea have spent £3.08 billion on 702 players and generated £1.49 billion from 693 players sold since 1992.
Their most expensive signing of all time came in February 2023, when they signed Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez for a British record fee of £107m.
Moises Caicedo – who could yet become their top arrival – Romelu Lukaku and Alvaro Morata all appear in their 10 most expensive signings ever. Eden Hazard is Chelsea’s record departure during the Premier League era, having moved to Real Madrid in July 2019 for just over £100m.
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19
Manchester City
Net spend: -£1.47bn
It emerged at the beginning of 2023 that Manchester City had been hit with 115 Premier League charges for alleged financial irregularity, so it is no surprise their net spend is one of the worst out of all Premier League clubs.
It must be noted Man City have strongly denied all of these charges, which include 54 for failure to provide accurate financial information, 35 for failure to cooperate with Premier League investigations and 14 for failure to provide accurate details for player and manager payments.
During their time in the English top flight, Man City have spent £2.38bn on 706 arrivals and made £910m from 702 player departures.
Jack Grealish, who didn’t make Gareth Southgate’s England Euro 2024 squad, is their record arrival. Grealish signed for Man City from Aston Villa in August 2021 for £100m and is arguably yet to live up to his expectations.
Perhaps surprisingly, Raheem Sterling’s transfer to Chelsea in July 2022 for £47.5m is Man City’s most expensive departure in the Premier League era.
18
Manchester United
Net spend: -£1.43bn
In February 2024, Manchester United fans were offered a glimmer of hope into a successful future when Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought a 27.7% stake in their club.
Manchester-born Ratcliffe made an investment worth around £1.25bn after he agreed to buy 25% of the club’s class B shares – indicating that further investments are likely in the seasons to come.
This could mean their level of expenditure in the Premier League era could increase dramatically.
Man United have spent £2.17bn on 538 new signings and generated an income of £745m on 543 player departures over the past 22 years. They have the lowest income out of the ‘big six’ in the Premier League’s history.
Their most expensive signing of all time is Paul Pogba, who was banned from football at the start of 2024 for four years for a doping offence.
Pogba re-joined the Manchester club for a world-record transfer fee of £89m in August 2016, following successful campaigns with Juventus. The Frenchman later returned to the Italian side in July 2022.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the club’s most expensive departure to date, following his world-record £80m move to Real Madrid in July 2009.
17
Arsenal
Net spend: -£861m
The north London club have spent £1.61bn on 507 players and made £751m in player sales.
Luckily for Arsenal fans, the addition of Declan Rice in the summer of 2023 meant they no longer had to quiver at Nicolas Pepe being their most expensive signing of all time.
Arsenal signed the Ivory Coast winger from Lille for a club record fee of £72m in August 2019, but Rice’s arrival for £105m from West Ham made him their priciest purchase.
It hasn’t been great for Arsenal in the sales department, as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is their most expensive departure of all time and he only left the club for £35m.
Oxlade-Chamberlain rejected a move to Chelsea to sign for Liverpool on a five-year contract worth £120,000 a week in 2017. Arsenal’s record departure sale looks certain to be broken in the near future.
16
Liverpool
Net spend: -£747m
Liverpool have been known to spend their money quite wisely with Jurgen Klopp at the helm, but their net spend in the Premier League era is still up there.
The Reds have made the second-most, behind Chelsea, in player sales, having generated an income of £1.03bn from departures since the 1992/93 season. Liverpool’s expenditure sits at £1.78bn on 551 players, which, for any mathematicians out there, averages out at £3.2m per player signed.
Liverpool fans will be delighted to hear that their most expensive signing of all time has arguably been their best player in the last decade.
Virgil van Dijk signed for the Merseyside club at the turn of the new year in 2018 for £75m, in what was a world-record deal for a defender at the time.
They will also be quite happy to learn that they have received the highest-ever fee for a player leaving the Premier League. Barcelona signed Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool in January 2018 for a whopping £105m upfront fee – a British record – that had the potential to rise to £142m in add-ons.
Coutinho had a buyout clause of £355m and remains Barcelona’s most-expensive signing of all time, on a par with Ousmane Dembele – who joined from Borussia Dortmund.
15
Tottenham Hotspur
Net spend: -£737m
Tottenham Hotspur have spent £1.66bn on 640 players and received £930m from 647 departures during their time in the Premier League.
The majority of talent that has arrived at the north London club has been in recent years, with the likes of Richarlison, Brennan Johnson, Cristian Romero and James Maddison all in the club’s top five record arrivals.
However, Spurs fans won’t like to hear that their most expensive signing of all time didn’t quite work out for them.
In July 2019, Tottenham announced the addition of then-22-year-old Tanguy Ndombele on a six-year deal, which would’ve seen him at the club until 2025. But the £63m signing rarely showcased his talent during his time at the club, which saw him go on loan back to his parent club Lyon, as well as Napoli and most recently Galatasaray, since he put pen to paper.
Spurs do have a good record when it comes to shifting players on – Gareth Bale joined Real Madrid for a world-record transfer fee of £85m in September 2013.
The Welshman agreed a six-year deal worth £300,000 and the move eclipsed the previous record that Madrid held when they signed Cristiano Ronaldo for £80m in 2009.
Tottenham also received £86.4m for Harry Kane when the England captain made his decision to join German giants Bayern Munich. Kyle Walker, Dimitar Berbatov and Luka Modric are other notable players who have left the club for big money.
14
Newcastle United
Net spend: -£637m
Newcastle United have spent the majority of their money since the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) bought an 80% stake in the club for £300m in October 2021.
In total, they have spent £1.22bn on 569 players in the Premier League era. The north-east club have accumulated the lowest total so far on this list for player sales, having received £589m from 565 players.
Alexander Isak is the club’s most expensive buy, while Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes, who have all joined the club since the takeover, all appear at the top of the list.
Isak became PIF’s fourth signing when he joined the club in the 2022 summer transfer window. He signed for Newcastle from Real Sociedad for around £60m and scored 10 goals in 17 Premier League appearances in his first season.
Andy Carroll is the club’s most expensive departure. He joined Liverpool for a club-record fee of about £35m in January 2011 – a record which still stands.
Moussa Sissoko to Spurs, Ayoze Perez to Leicester City and Georginio Wijnaldum to Liverpool have all been significant transfers for Newcastle in terms of income.
13
Aston Villa
Net spend: -£531m
Aston Villa’s tally of 68 points come the end of the 2023/24 season meant the club secured Champions League qualification for the first time since it’s 90s revamp. So, it is fitting that the majority of their current talent top the transfer history books.
Six of Aston Villa’s seven most expensive signings started 20 or more games during the 2023/24 season. Moussa Diaby is the club’s priciest purchase, and aside from the injury-prone Emiliano Buendia in second, the rest of the top seven is made up of their current best players, such as Ollie Watkins, Pau Torres and Leon Bailey.
Villa signed Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen in July 2023 for an undisclosed fee that was reported to be around the £50m mark.
As for players going the other way, Villa have been largely unsuccessful apart from one huge recent transfer which saw the club take in £100m.
This, of course, was the transfer of Jack Grealish, who left the Villians to join Manchester City in August 2021. It was a British-record fee at the time, and still is, with Declan Rice’s move to Arsenal potentially overtaking it once add-ons are taken into account.
Christian Benteke, Stewart Downing, James Milner and Cameron Archer make up the rest of the top five.
12
West Ham United
Net spend: -£423m
It was West Ham who benefited from the sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal as the England midfielder moved to north London for a whopping £100m plus £5m in add-ons during the summer of 2023.
He is West Ham’s most expensive departure to date, with Dimitri Payet’s £25m transfer to Marseille not even close in second.
West Ham have spent £1.1bn on 673 arrivals in the Premier League era, while generating a total £650m income from the sale of 672 players.
The Hammers announced they had signed Lucas Paqueta for a club-record fee in August 2022. The initial £36.5m deal for the Brazilian is expected to rise above £50m based on add-ons, meaning the transfer surpasses the addition of Sebastien Haller for £45m from Eintracht Frankfurt in 2019.
Mohammed Kudus, Edson Alvarez, Felipe Anderson and Kurt Zouma all appear at the top of West Ham’s transfer books.
11
Fulham
Net spend: -£331m
Fulham have generated just £278m from 673 player transfers in Premier League history, meaning they have the least total income on the list so far. This averages out at just over £400,000 per player signed.
The Cottagers have spent £609m on the exact same amount of players, with the addition of Jean Michael Seri from OGC Nice being the priciest of the lot.
Aleksandar Mitrovic is the club’s most expensive departure of all time. He joined Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal for a club record fee of around £50m in August 2023 and scored 28 league goals in his debut season.
10
Wolves
Net spend: -£283m
Wolves’ transfer business in the Premier League has largely been shaped by the influence of super-agent Jorge Mendes, with plenty of Portuguese talent heading to Molineux since the Old Gold’s promotion in 2018.
Following in Mitrovic’s footsteps, Ruben Neves was another player who became Wolverhampton Wanderers’ most expensive departure after joining Al-Hilal, though he was succeeded by Matheus Nunes when Man City snapped him up for £53m two months later.
Neves had shockingly joined the Saudi Arabian side for a club record £47m, but it was Nunes’ deal – which included a 10% sell-on clause – that now tops their record departures list.
Nunes, surprisingly, is also the club’s most expensive signing. Wolves broke their transfer record in August 2022 to sign the midfielder from Sporting CP for £38m before selling him just one year later.
Wolves have bought the greatest number of players on the list so far, having spent £716m on 785 players during the Premier League era. And like Fulham, Wolves have sold the same amount of players as they’ve signed, generating a total of £785m income.
9
Everton
Net spend: -£269m
With their new stadium set to be ready for the 2025/26 season, Everton will have to tread carefully when it comes to making any future signings, with the club having already been hit with a points deduction for breaching Premier League financial rules.
In terms of the bigger picture, the Merseyside club broke their transfer record when they purchased Gylfi Sigurdsson from Swansea City for £45m in August 2017. He remains Everton’s most expensive signing to date.
Everton have spent £1bn on 502 players during their time in the Premier League, while generating £745m in income from 501 departures.
Romelu Lukaku is Everton’s record departure, with Richarlison, John Stones and Anthony Gordon close behind.
8
Crystal Palace
Net spend: -£264m
Crystal Palace have made £220m from 640 player sales since the Premier League’s inception, while spending £493m on 635 arrivals.
Recent news that star man Michael Olise will join Bayern Munich next season for just over £50m means that Palace could have a new record sale on their books.
The Eagles sold Aaron Wan-Bissaka to Man United for a club-record fee of around £45m in July 2019. It was United’s fifth most expensive signing of all time.
Christian Benteke is Palace’s record signing, ahead of Mamadou Sakho and Marc Guehi. Like Sakho, Benteke left Liverpool to join Palace.
Benteke’s arrival at Selhurst Park in August 2016 set Palace back an initial £27m plus £5m in add-ons. The Belgian scored 35 Premier League goals during his six seasons at the club.
7
Bournemouth
Net spend: -£250m
Bournemouth signed Jefferson Lerma from Spanish side Levante for a club-record fee of £25m in August 2018. The fee paid by the Cherries broke their previous record of around £20m to bring in Nathan Ake from Chelsea the previous season.
Ake would make 115 appearances for Bournemouth in the Premier League and establish himself as one of their greatest-ever players. Eddie Howe, manager at the time, would have been thanked for welcoming the Netherlands international to the Vitality Stadium, as the defender would become their record departure.
Manchester City signed the Bournemouth defender on a five-year contract for £40m in August 2020. Tyrone Mings, Callum Wilson and Aaron Ramsdale have also been profitable sales for the club.
6
Nottingham Forest
Net spend: -£181m
Nottingham Forest have sold 780 players for £248m and signed a total of 776 for £428m during the Premier League era.
In the summer of 2022, a newly promoted Forest broke the British record for signing the most players in a transfer window after welcoming 21 new players to their squad.
One of these players was Morgan Gibbs-White, who arrived on Trentside from Wolves for a club-record fee of £25m. He was the club’s record transfer until Forest signed PSV midfielder Ibrahim Sangare for around £30m in September 2023.
Brennan Johnson remains the club’s record departure by far. The Welshman joined Tottenham Hotspur on a six-year deal for £45m in the same window as the addition of Sangare.
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5
Leicester City
Net spend: -£141m
Newly promoted Leicester City have one of the healthiest net spend balances out of all Premier League clubs in the 2024/25 season. This is largely due to the whopping £538m they have generated from a total of 656 player sales.
Leicester have been one of the best clubs in the English top flight in recent years for selling their star players for the maximum amount of money possible.
Harry Maguire is their record departure. He joined Man United for £80m in August 2019, which was not only an English record, but a world-record fee for a defender.
Wesley Fofana, Ben Chilwell, Danny Drinkwater and N’Golo Kante have all been sold to Chelsea since their historic Premier League season for big money, while Riyad Mahrez and James Maddison are other notable sales.
At the opposite end of the scale, Leicester signed Youri Tielemans from Monaco for a club-record fee of £35m in July 2019 – he remains their most expensive addition.
4
Brighton & Hove Albion
Net spend: -£54m
Brighton have reaped the rewards in recent years for developing lesser-known players and turning them into established Premier League regulars.
Their most expensive departure, Moises Caicedo, was signed from Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle for £4.5m in June 2021.
Three years later, Chelsea signed the Brighton midfielder for a pretty remarkable £115m, with Marc Cucurella, Ben White, Alexis Mac Allister and Yves Bissouma all following similar trends of moving to bigger Premier League clubs.
In June 2023, Brighton completed the club-record signing of Joao Pedro, who made the switch from Watford for a fee of just under £30m.
3
Brentford
Net spend: -£25m
Brentford have spent less money on players in the Premier League era than current Championship clubs Blackburn Rovers, Norwich City, Swansea City and Birmingham City. They have spent £208m on 683 players, while making £184m from 674 departures.
In February 2023, it was announced that Brentford would pay in excess of £30m with add-ons to sign Igor Thiago, who scored 26 goals for Club Brugge in the 2023/24 season.
This transfer would make Thiago Brentford’s most expensive signing ahead of Nathan Collins, who signed from Wolves for £23m.
Brentford sold Ollie Watkins to Aston Villa for £28m in September 2020, and he remains the club’s record departure.
2
Southampton
Net spend: -£18m
Southampton have the lowest negative net spend out of every Premier League team in the 2024/25 season. The Saints have spent £743m on 630 players during the Premier League era but made a huge £725m on 644 player departures.
Liverpool have been involved with two of Southampton’s record departures. Virgil van Dijk joined the Anfield club for £75m in December 2017 and Sadio Mane also did the same six months earlier for £34m.
Romeo Lavia is the Saints’ second-most expensive departure. The Belgium midfielder joined Chelsea for £53m in August 2023 as a 19-year-old.
Southampton’s £22m plus bonuses deal for winger Kamaldeen Sulemana is their record transfer signing, ahead of Danny Ings’ arrival from Liverpool.
1
Ipswich Town
Net spend: +£19m
Ipswich Town have the only positive net spend out of all current top-flight clubs. They have spent just £84m on 676 players in the Premier League era and sold 669 players for a total of £103m.
They have spent less money than some League One clubs, such as Reading, Wigan and Charlton Athletic. However, it is expected that the club will have to spend big money soon for any hope of Premier League survival.
Matteo Sereni is the club’s record signing. The goalkeeper joined from Italian side Sampdoria for just over £5m in 2001. Tyrone Mings is Ipswich’s record departure. He joined Bournemouth for £8m in 2015.
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