The “Mercato”, or the transfer period, which opens its doors for a few weeks twice a year, represents the weeks of hope for football fans, as it is the only period in which European clubs can buy and sell players.
Both periods allow fans across the continent to dream of signing new players that could propel their teams to glory, both in the new season, and for the second half of it (for the winter contracts window).
However, during the contracting period that ended on the first of September, most of the excitement centered on England and the Premier League, which is unrivaled as the strongest and richest in the world.
And the English Premier League clubs announced record signings, according to Transfermarkt, as they spent together (20 clubs) 2.24 billion euros ($ 2.24 billion) on new players, a number that seems clearly more than the 2.18 billion euros spent in the 2017-2018 season, but during the two transfer periods. combined.
This figure also seems enormous if we know that it exceeds the spending of almost all clubs in the rest of the “big five” leagues in Europe, in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
The Economist newspaper presented a quick study of the form of English spending on players this summer, noting that part of it is due to “special circumstances”.
Chelsea, for example, which is the club that spent the most on players this summer, with a total of 282 million euros, has a new billionaire, Todd Boley, who seems keen to leave his mark on the club.
As for Manchester United, with a spending volume of 238 million euros, after a long period of stumbling, it brought in a new technical director, Eric Ten Hag, who is trying to repair mistakes and return the team to the title track.
Man United signed Brazilian striker Anthony from Ajax, for 95 million euros, the most expensive contract this summer.
And the generosity was not limited to the big clubs, as Nottingham Forest, newly promoted to the Premier League, spent 162 million euros on 21 players, the largest number of players brought in by a team this summer.
But the extravagance, according to The Economist, was largely driven by the influence and popularity of the Premier League, with a new, three-year, £5 billion ($5.8 billion) international broadcasting contract recently launched.
According to Deloitte, the consulting group, this contract will raise the revenues of Premier League clubs by more than 7 billion euros, an increase of 9% over last season and almost double that achieved by the clubs of “La Liga” Spain, which is the second European league in terms of revenue.
On average, each club in the Premier League is expected to earn around 349 million euros, which means the gap with the rest of Europe is widening, even with the noting that more than 60% of the value of spending this summer, went to clubs outside England. .
Despite all this, the Economist finds, despite the huge revenue growth, few clubs are making a profit.
According to soccer blog Swiss Ramble, only two Premier League teams have reported operating profit in the 10 seasons up to 2019-20, due to the massive spending volume.
The profusion of English clubs is pushing other clubs on the continent to spend more to stay competitive, and the Spanish giants Barcelona this summer sold many of their assets, including a share of future income, to fund new signings.
In total, Barcelona spent 153 million euros, the largest number spent by a non-English club.
To counter this, sporting bodies are trying to rein in reckless spending, and UEFA has announced restrictions that will prevent clubs from spending more than 70% of their revenue on transfers, wages and player agent fees by 2025.
The English Premier League, separately, plans to introduce similar restrictions, according to The Times,
On average, spending by clubs in all five major leagues, with the exception of Germany, currently exceeds the 70% target by UEFA.
The high revenue of the English Premier League means the consolidation of the gap between it and the rest of the continent, which may prompt many of the major clubs in Europe to seek again to launch the European Super League, a competition, splinter, closed to a number of elite teams in the continent.
An attempt to launch the controversial tournament in 2021 was thwarted after fans revolted and the six English clubs abandoned the idea.
But now, her choice has become easier, as she is already participating in what can be considered her “super league”, according to the newspaper, which believes that the wealth and revenues of the English Premier League are not “healthy” for the future of football, if the matter remains in that case.