EPL hits new transfer record amid warning over big China spending
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ENGLISH Premier League clubs have shelled out a record 1.4 billion pounds (US$1.77 billion) in transfers this season, according to a report yesterday that warned of over-reliance on big Chinese spending.
The Deloitte consultancy study said top-tier English sides made 40 million pounds in profit from the January transfer window, the first time they have come out of the football horse-trading in the black.
The market closed on Tuesday night with Southampton swooping for Napoli’s Italy forward Manolo Gabbiadini for at least 14 million pounds while Burnley completing the reported club-record 13-million pound signing of Norwich City winger Robbie Brady.
Deloitte said total gross spending by EPL clubs for the 2016/17 season is now almost 1.4 billion pounds, smashing the previous record of 1 billion pounds set last season.
The latest eye-watering outlay was “far in excess of any other league in world football”, said Dan Jones of Deloitte’s sports business department.
In all, the 20 EPL clubs spent 215 million pounds on new players during the market from January 1 until Tuesday, Deloitte said, the second-highest amount for this window since 2011.
The bottom six teams fighting for their EPL lives — Hull City, Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Swansea City, champion Leicester City and Middlesbrough — accounted for more than 50 percent of the January sales spending.
But the EPL still came out in the black as a whole.
“The sales of Oscar, Dimitri Payet, Odion Ighalo and Memphis Depay, as well as around 20 million pound worth of sales to Championship clubs, have helped EPL clubs record net receipts for the first time in a transfer window,” said Jones.
“As was the case last year, it is clubs in the bottom half of the table who have driven expenditure this January, investing in their squads in an attempt to secure survival.”
This month has seen the increasingly wealthy Chinese Super League flex its financial muscles with Brazil international Oscar leaving Chelsea for Shanghai SIPG in a move worth 51 million pounds.
With Tuesday’s deadline day made more complicated by the fact several EPL clubs had important fixtures, one of the few big deals in the closing hours of the window saw more Chinese spending as Watford striker Ighalo joined Changchun Yatai for a fee reported to be around 20 million pounds.
Former Brazil international Alexandre Pato was also tempted by the CSL riches after joining Tianjin Quanjian from La Liga side Villarreal.
Pato, 27, will be coached by Italian World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro and joins Belgian international Axel Witsel at Tianjin after he sealed a big-money move from Zenit Saint Petersburg earlier this month.
But Deloitte warned the days of Chinese teams splashing out on players could be coming to an end.
“The spending activity by clubs in the Chinese Super League has grabbed many headlines in recent weeks,” said Jones. “CSL clubs have spent over 150 million pounds so far during their current offseason, which began in November 2016.
“However, with the CFA having recently announced that tighter regulations around player transfer and salary expenditure are to be introduced, as well as imposing limits on the number of foreign players allowed, it will be interesting to see whether CSL clubs match this level of expenditure in future off-seasons.”
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