New owners at Premier League clubs combined with the increase in broadcast payments to clubs for the 2007/08 season, are key drivers of the unprecedented rise in spending.
Paul Rawnsley, director in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, commented: “This summer’s transfer spending by English clubs has beaten all previous records, but as Premier League clubs will receive around £300 million of extra broadcast payments during the 2007/08 season the increase in transfer spending is not a surprise.
On a net transfer basis Premier League clubs spent around £140 million more in 2007 than 2006, well below the increase in broadcast payments they will receive this season. We expect total player wages to also increase but by a much lower proportion than the c.80% per cent rise in gross transfer spending this summer.”
Clubs in the top four English divisions spent more than £500 million on transfers during summer 2007, up by around two thirds from around £300 million in summer 2006. Total spending on transfers by Premier League clubs in 2007 (January and summer windows) exceeded £530 million, up by more than 60 per cent on 2006 (£333 million).
The increase in transfer payments is a result of both higher average transfer fees and an increased number of transfers. The average transfer fee paid by Premier League clubs increased from around £3.5 million in summer 2006 to £4 million in summer 2007, whilst the number of transfers for a fee exceeded 100 for the first time in a transfer window (up from around 80 in summer 2006).
The English clubs which invested the most in new players in 2007 were Manchester United (£51 million), Liverpool (£50 million), Tottenham Hotspur (£40 million) and newly promoted Sunderland (£35 million).
