Английн Премьер лигийн багууд энэ зуны солилцооны цонхоор 1.6 тэрбум фунт стерлингийг зөвхөн лигийнхээ хүрээнд эргэлдүүлсэн нь санхүүгийн давамгайллаа харуулсан гол үзүүлэлт болов.
Энэ зуны солилцооны цонхоор Челси болон Астон Вилла клубүүд тоглогч солилцооны хамгийн идэвхтэй харилцааг тогтоож, нийт 13 шилжилт хийжээ. Челси клуб Премьер лигийн бусад багууд руу хамгийн олон тоглогч худалдсан багаар тодорсон бөгөөд Манчестер Сити, Манчестер Юнайтед, Арсенал зэрэг багууд Челсигийн тоглогчдыг худалдан авахад хамгийн их хөрөнгө зарцуулсан байна. Ялангуяа Челси болон Манчестер Сити хоорондын наймааны эргэлт 303 сая фунт стерлингт хүрсэн нь лигийн түүхэн дэх хамгийн өндөр өртөгтэй хамтын ажиллагаа болжээ.
Брайтон клуб Челсид олон тоглогчоо өндөр үнээр худалдсанаар хоёр багийн хооронд 229 сая фунт стерлингийн цэвэр ашигтай урсгал үүссэн нь хамгийн өндөр үзүүлэлт юм. Гэсэн хэдий ч Брайтон өөрийн бүрэлдэхүүнийг бүрдүүлэхдээ Премьер лигийн бус зах зээлээс тоглогч олж ирэхэд илүү анхаарч, нийт зарцуулалтынхаа ердөө 12.9 хувийг л лигийн дотоод наймаанд зориулжээ. Эсрэгээрээ Кристал Пэлас клубийн хувьд нийт наймааны 41 хувийг Премьер лигт тоглож байсан туршлагатай тоглогчдод зарцуулсан байна.
Манчестер Юнайтед, Ливерпүүл болон Арсенал, Тоттенхэм зэрэг олон жилийн өрсөлдөгч багуудын хооронд тоглогч шилжих үйл явц тун ховор хэвээр байгаа нь талбайн гаднах өрсөлдөөн хурц хэвээр байгааг илтгэнэ. Премьер лигийн санхүүгийн хүчирхэг байдал Европын бусад лигүүдээс хол тасарсан тул ирэх жилүүдэд ч лигийн дотоод наймааны өндөр дүнтэй гүйлгээ үргэлжлэх төлөвтэй байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
The amount of business done between Premier League clubs quickly emerged as the defining theme of this summer’s transfer window. A staggering £1.6billion of spending stayed within the division’s ecosystem, including the British record-equalling £125million Manchester City paid Chelsea for Enzo Fernandez before Tuesday night’s signing deadline.
It is an inevitable consequence of the competition’s growing financial dominance; few teams elsewhere in the world can afford the fees Premier League sides demand, forcing them to turn inwards. This has led to marriages of convenience and the thawing of relationships as clubs navigate this changed landscape. Aston Villa and Chelsea, for example, exchanged four players over the summer, with The Athletic reporting that the two organisations enjoy a strong relationship.
Among the Premier League’s current 20 clubs, the Villa-Chelsea route is now the most well-trodden, with 13 transfers completed between the two while in the Premier League. Until recently, the direction of travel for these was largely from west London to Birmingham, through loans and modestly-priced permanent transfers.
But in an era when only six of the 20 teams spent under £100million this summer, those bargain-basement deals have given way to big-money moves. Both Chelsea and Villa broke their transfer record to sign a player from the other, with Morgan Rogers moving to Stamford Bridge and Nicolas Jackson heading in the opposite direction.
Looking beyond that relationship to the league as a whole, the graphic below maps the number of deals between each of the current 20 clubs, with rows showing where players moved to and columns where they came from. Only transfers completed while both teams were simultaneously in the Premier League are included, with loans also counted.
Again, Chelsea dominate.
Many of the tiles involving them are shaded a deeper blue, denoting a higher number of deals. But it is their outgoings, represented by the column bearing their club badge, that stand out. Chelsea have sanctioned more moves to other Premier League sides than any other side, sending 10 players each to Everton and Villa.
Arsenal have made nine signings from Chelsea, the most by one ‘Big Six’ club from another. The two London clubs’ transfer dealings got off to a controversial start with Ashley Cole’s infamous move from Arsenal, a deal clouded by accusations of tapping up and considerable hostility. A more cordial relationship exists now, particularly as Chelsea have relied on player sales to help sustain their lavish spending since owner BlueCo took over in 2022.
Chelsea’s less selective approach to selling within the Premier League means Arsenal have sent £149million to their fellow Londoners, more than to any other domestic rivals. Manchester’s City and United have also spent more on Chelsea players than on those from any other Premier League club, at £178m and £184m respectively.
Some heated on-pitch rivalries persist at the negotiating table, though.
Tony Coton’s 1996 move to United remains the only transfer between the Manchester rivals in the Premier League era, while United and Liverpool have never exchanged a senior player since the competition began play in 1992. Neither have north London enemies Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.
In monetary terms, that record-equalling Fernandez transfer means Chelsea and City now have the most lucrative relationship among Premier League clubs, with £303million spent between them. That surpasses the £244m exchanged between Chelsea and Manchester United, which had previously occupied top spot.
In third place sits Brighton-Chelsea, but this transfer relationship has been heavily one-sided. Chelsea have forked out £236million on Brighton players, the largest sum any Premier League club has spent on signings from another, and all of it since 2022. That outlay has brought Marc Cucurella, Robert Sanchez, Moises Caicedo and Joao Pedro to Stamford Bridge, while their latest arrival from the south-coast side, centre-forward Danny Welbeck, was secured for a much more modest £5m this summer.
By contrast, Brighton have sent just £7million in the other direction — when they bought Billy Gilmour in 2022, their sole permanent signing from Chelsea while in the Premier League. The net result is around £229m moving from Stamford Bridge to the Amex Stadium, the largest net transfer flow between any two Premier League clubs.
Aside from the Welbeck and Sanchez deals, Brighton signed those high-profile players from outside the Premier League before selling them on to Chelsea for considerably more than they originally paid.
Brighton are renowned for their cutting-edge, data-led recruitment work, which unearths gems from across the globe, and no club has spent a smaller share of its transfer budget on Premier League players, at just 12.9 per cent of their total spend. Crystal Palace, meanwhile, place the greatest relative stock in signing Premier League-proven talent, representing 41 per cent of their spending during their time in the division.
But even Brighton have been swept along by the prevailing transfer winds this summer.
They spent £20million to sign Pascal Struijk from Leeds United, before breaking their transfer record with the £50m deal that brought Luka Vuskovic from Spurs.
Each summer, the Premier League’s financial power pulls further and further away from what the rest of Europe’s leagues can muster.
With no sign of this bubble popping just yet, the era of the big-money, intra-league transfer is here to stay.
