From the start of June — when the transfer window opened — until now, English Premier League clubs have collectively spent £1.63 billion on players, a BBC report revealed.
Citing data from Transfermarkt, the report added that the last season’s top four teams are five of the biggest spenders heading into the new season. Manchester United, who finished a lowly 15th, are the only team from the bottom half who are in the top five, ahead of their bitter rivals Manchester City.
Out of the £1.63 billion, a little more than £1 billion was spent by just six teams — Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, in that order.
After winning the league last season by 10 points, Liverpool haven’t wasted time on bolstering their squad. They are comfortably ahead in the spending spree and have shelled out £269 million so far in the current transfer window. That isn’t surprising after they signed German international Florian Wirtz for a staggering £116 million and France forward Hugo Ekitike for £69 million, which could rise to £79 million, as per the report. They have also spent £40.8 million on Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez and £35 million on Bayer Leverkusen right-back Jeremie Frimpong.
Fresh from the Club World Cup title, Chelsea — who finished fourth in the league last season — have spent £212 million so far. Their biggest spending has been on forward Joao Pedro, who was signed for £60 million from Brighton, and Jamie Gittens, the Borussia Dortmund left-winger, for £56 million.
After finishing second in each of the last three seasons, Arsenal have shored up their attack with the signing of striker Victor Gyokeres for £63.5 million. Their other major buys have been Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad for £60 million and former Chelsea winger Noni Madueke for £48.5 million.
Ruben Amorim, meanwhile, is leaving no stone unturned after Manchester United suffered their worst campaign in the Premier League era last season and have spent more than City. United have splurged £133.5 million so far, of which £65 million was spent on Cameroon international Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford and Brazilian Matheus Cunha for £62.5 million.
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Manchester City, meanwhile, have spent about £127 million. Most of it has been on Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Rayan Cherki.
