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Sky Sports News: blanket coverage of the last-minute deals. Youtube screengrab
Cash Money

How much? Premier League clubs spend big as window slams shut

New rules put emphasis on young British players as transfer spending increases by one third on last summer.

THE SUMMER TRANSFER window swung closed last night at 11pm with the usual scamble of last-minute dealing throughout Europe.

And yesterday’s moves by the likes of Crouch, Meireles and Arteta helped bring player transfer spending by English Premier League clubs to around £485million this summer.

The figure is up £120m (33%) – on the summer of 2010, according to analysis by the business advisory firm Deloitte.

Yesterday’s Sky Sports-hyped dealing alone involved around £100m in transfer fees; the equivalent deadline day figure in January was around £135m, while last summer’s was around the £35m mark.

“This summer’s spending is largely focused amongst the top end Premier League clubs most strongly competing for domestic and European success and the consequent financial rewards,” says Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.

“The football authorities’ encouragement for home-grown players has contributed towards the increased scale of fees for the transfer of young English talent this summer.  The resurgence of transfer spending is also apparent in other top European leagues.

“Despite domestic difficulties delaying the start of their seasons, transfer spending is considerably up amongst clubs in Serie A and La Liga.  As in England, in order to meet UEFA’s break-even requirements, clubs will need an appropriate balance of revenue generation against these expenditures.”

This summer, each of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United have exceeded £50m of transfer spending.

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