Premier League teams clear £3B, smash record transfer spend

Premier League clubs spent a record £3 billion ($4 billion) in a summer transfer window that finished with a bang thanks to Liverpool's £125 million ($169 million) signing of Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak.

The figure, estimated by finance company Deloitte, smashed the previous record of £2.36 billion ($3.2 billion) two summers ago.

Liverpool spent more than £400 million ($541 million) in the window, a record for a Premier League club, with Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Isak's former club Newcastle all breaking the £200 million ($270 million) barrier.

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Tim Lunn, director in the Deloitte Sports Business Group, told the PA news agency: "I think it just demonstrates once again the competitive nature of the league -- more teams in Europe than ever before and big clubs that are trying to get back in Europe.

"I think that the competitive nature of getting into Europe has never really been more evident.

"I think that's reflected also in the amount of business that's being done. Not necessarily just the total spend, but the amount of business in and out of those clubs indicates that significant desire for them to improve and get into those coveted European spots."

The first year of a new domestic television rights cycle, along with a record six English clubs having Champions League windfalls to call on, helped provide the financial might for this latest burst of spending.

"It's the data that we've looked at over the last few years on transfers and the revenue that the Premier League turns over as well, and obviously that then flows through to the clubs," Lunn said.

"So it's just a consequence of the success of the league and the size and the scale of it -- not just in recent years, I think we're going back even further. It's just self-evident, the Premier League and its power to attract players and the premium nature of the league and the clubs.

"This was the start of the new four-year rights cycle. Previously they were only ever sold in three-year cycles so they've now extended that one more year, more games on TV than ever before, so larger total TV rights fees.

"And then obviously the revenue that clubs have, the clubs where they're in Europe and know they're going to be in Champions League places and the revenue that brings. So I think if you look at it in totality, there's more revenue coming into those clubs than ever before."

It is the 10th consecutive summer the Premier League's gross spending has registered in the billions and Lunn says he sees no prospect of any let-up.

"Some of the factors, you would imagine they'll be set to continue," he said. "The TV deal, that is a significant amount of revenue fixed for years. There's not too many other changing factors coming up within the Premier League, the business that it's doing."