Liverpool could reportedly spend up to £116m to secure Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen.
This transfer window has already been remarkably active.
Premier League clubs have until September 1st to bolster their squads, and substantial deals are materializing frequently, with further activity anticipated.
Arsenal is nearing the completion of Victor Gyokeres’ acquisition from Sporting for £63.5m, while Alexander Isak revealed on Thursday that he is contemplating a departure from Newcastle.
The 25-year-old forward could command a fee as high as £150m, with Liverpool, the current top spenders this summer, reportedly maintaining interest.
The Reds have reportedly secured German international Florian Wirtz for a potential British record transfer of £116m, and France forward Hugo Ekitike for an initial £69m, a fee that could reach £79m.
Data from Transfermarkt, external indicates that Premier League clubs have collectively spent £1.63bn (1.87bn euros) on players since the window opened in early June.
Last season’s top four teams account for five of the highest spenders this season, with Manchester United, seeking to improve after a 15th-place finish, as the outlier.
Of the total expenditure, just over £1bn originates from the traditional ‘big six’ clubs in the Premier League era: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham.
Liverpool, last season’s league champions by a margin of 10 points, lead the spending charts with £269m invested thus far this summer. This includes the reported acquisitions of Wirtz and Ekitike, as well as Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez for £40.8m and right-back Jeremie Frimpong, who is arriving for almost £35m from Bayer Leverkusen.
This contrasts sharply with the 2024-25 campaign when the Anfield club’s only major additions were goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili and forward Federico Chiesa, who joined for a combined total of less than £40m.
Chelsea, who finished fourth in the Premier League last season, have recorded the second-highest expenditure this summer, totaling just over £212m. Their most significant moves have been securing Brighton forward Joao Pedro for £60m, left-winger Jamie Gittens from Borussia Dortmund for £56m, and Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap for £30m.
Arsenal, runners-up in each of the past three seasons, are poised to surpass the £200m mark with the potential arrival of Gyokeres, having already spent £137m. Their key acquisitions include Spain midfielder Martin Zubimendi for £60m from Real Sociedad and Chelsea winger Noni Madueke for just under £50m.
Manchester City, who finished third last year, conducted their business early in the summer, spending approximately £127m primarily on midfielder Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan, left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolves, and French attacker Rayan Cherki from Lyon.
Manchester United endured their worst campaign in the Premier League era, finishing 15th. They are the only team outside of last season’s top four to have outspent Manchester City this summer, with most of their £133.5m outlay allocated to two forwards: Cameroon international Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford and Brazilian Matheus Cunha from Wolves.
Tottenham finished 17th in the table but salvaged a disappointing season by winning the Europa League – beating Manchester United in the final – although it was not enough to prevent manager Ange Postecoglou from getting sacked.
Spurs have since spent £122.5m under new boss Thomas Frank, with almost half of that in one transfer – the £55m purchase of midfielder Mohammed Kudus from West Ham, while it cost £30m to turn attacker Mathys Tel’s loan from Bayern Munich into a permanent deal.
Liverpool is already sixth on the list of most money spent by one club in a transfer window around the world.
The top three in that statistic all came from last summer’s window, where Chelsea spent £404.4m (463m euros), Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal spent £307.7m (353m euros) and Champions League winners Paris St-Germain paid out £305.1m (350m euros).
Real Madrid’s transfer outlay in the 2019-20 summer window was £288.6m (331m euros), while Chelsea spent £287.7m (330m euros) in the winter transfer window of the 2022-23 campaign.
If Liverpool bought Isak for £135m or above then Arne Slot’s side would move top of the list for most money spent in a single transfer window.
However, when taking ‘football inflation’ into account – the annual increases in Premier League revenue – their spending does not seem quite as lavish, with Chelsea topping the all-time list with their 2003-04 transfers.
“Liverpool’s spending this season to date puts them just 48th in the all-time list,” according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire. “Even if they sign Isak for £140m it would only take them to about 12th.”
Defenders Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jarell Quansah have both left Liverpool this summer
It is a question fans were asking even before they signed the 23-year-old Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt.
“Liverpool have two potential restrictions in terms of transfer spending, cash and PSR (profit and sustainability rules). From a cash perspective the club are in a strong position,” explained Maguire.
“The group accounts show that Liverpool generated more than £80m cash in each of the last two seasons, and new signings will be paid for on an instalment basis, so no problems here.
“Add in the extra money generated in 2024-25 from winning the Premier League (prize money and an expanded Anfield that generates more than £100m a season from ticket sales), a new kit deal with adidas that starts on 1 August, participation in the expanded Champions League and revenue is likely to exceed £700m.
“Some players have left, which has freed up money on the payroll too, as well as generating ‘pure’ profits if those players (Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jarell Quansah) are from the academy. There are other players that could be sold too to further assist the finances.
“PSR-wise Liverpool are very strong too. The allowable PSR loss is £105m over three seasons. Liverpool were well within that figure to the end of 2023-24 and the PSR add-backs, such as academy, infrastructure and the women’s team costs, probably meant that Liverpool had a PSR profit going into the summer 2025 window.”
Each of the three newly promoted teams – Burnley, Leeds United and Sunderland – are in the top 10 of biggest spenders so far this summer.
Sunderland are seventh and have spent just over £100m on six new players, although they sold Jobe Bellingham and Tom Watson, recouping about £37m.
Burnley have added 10 players to their squad, at a total cost of just under £70m, while Leeds have spent just over £60m for their six new signings.
Fulham are the only Premier League side yet to spend anything this summer, while Crystal Palace’s only paid purchase has been Ajax left-back Borna Sosa for £2m.
Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest both qualified for Europe, but are yet to make major signings. Villa’s only addition has been teenage Turkish defender Yasin Ozcan in a deal worth £6.7m from Kasimpasa.
Forest have spent £27m on Brazilian duo Igor Jesus and Jair Cunha, but winger Anthony Elanga joined Newcastle for £55m.
With less than a third of the league accounting for nearly two thirds of the total summer spending, what does this mean for the competitiveness of the division?
Only five months ago fans and pundits considered the Premier League to be as wide open as it had been in a long time, with Forest and Bournemouth both in the Champions League spots.
“I’m looking at Forest, Bournemouth, Fulham, Brentford, Brighton… they’re not the biggest clubs in stature but what a job they’ve done,” ex-Premier League striker Dion Dublin said on Final Score in February.
“They’re all in the top 10 and I think it’s just outstanding.”
However, normal service was resumed as Forest eventually slipped down to finish seventh, while Bournemouth were ninth.
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