Chelsea break EPL transfer window record, spend £271.1 million
Chelsea broke the English Premier League record after spending the sum of £271.1million in a single transfer window over the summer, DailyMail reports.
The Thomas Tuchel’s side signed 11 players before the window ended at 11pm on Thursday night.
The newly signed players include Wesley Fofana (£69.5m), Denis Zakaria (loan), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£10m), Marc Cucurella (£62m), Raheem Sterling (£50m), Kalidou Koulibaly (£34m), and Gabriel Slonina (£13m).
Others are Carney Chukwuemeka (£20m), Cesare Casadei (£12.6m), Eddie Beach (undisclosed) and Omari Hutchinson (undisclosed).
According to the report, the new co-owner, Todd Boehly, ensured that Chelsea’s summer spending broke Manchester City’s record for most money invested in a single window, which they set at £223.65m in 2017.
Chelsea paid £50m for Sterling who left Manchester in search of more regular playing time ahead of this winter’s World Cup in Qatar.
The Blues also confirmed the signing of Koulibaly from Napoli in a deal worth £34m on a four-year deal.
Tuchel signed Cucurella from Brighton on a six-year deal while Zakaria completed a season-long loan move to Chelsea from Juventus on deadline day.
Premier League clubs shattered their single-season spending record during an incredible £1.9 billion ($2.1 billion) spree during the summer window.
Deloitte’s Sports Business Group estimated the gross spending by the 20 English top-flight clubs during the transfer window that ended on Thursday was the highest in the history of the competition.
Despite the cost-of-living crisis gripping Britain, Premier League teams needed just one window to break the £1.86 billion mark set in the summer and winter transfer periods combined during the 2017-18 season.
According to Deloitte, the gross spend on a total of 169 players was also 34 per cent higher than the previous record for a single window of £1.4 billion in the summer of 2017.
It was 67 per cent higher than last year’s total Premier League summer window spend of £1.1 billion.
“Gross spend was so high among Premier League clubs this summer that, before this season’s January transfer window had taken place, the 2022/23 season already has the highest transfer spend since the two-window season began, exceeding the previous record by 3 per cent (2017/18’s £1.86 billion),” Deloitte said.
Nine Premier League clubs spent over £100 million each as expenditure recovered dramatically after two seasons of decline caused by the financial fall-out from the coronavirus.
In total, the Premier League spent more than Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and Germany’s Bundesliga combined.
Tim Bridge, lead partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, said: “The record level of spending during this transfer window is a clear indication of Premier League clubs’ confidence, as fans return to stadia and a new broadcast cycle begins.
“It’s now become part and parcel of the Premier League that clubs are willing to pay significant sums to maximise performance.
“This season, the desire to acquire playing talent has reached new levels as the pressure for clubs to stay in the competition is higher than ever.”
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