The EPL continues to break away from the other leagues | Number Theory

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The lead-up to the commencement of the European club football season is a lot about player transfers — those big moves where clubs throw open their coffers to buy players to fill critical gaps in their lineup. There are still two weeks left in the summer transfer window, and more trades will happen. But already, two things are clear. One, spending by clubs is likely to close below its all-time high, pointing to a tempering of spending instincts. Two, even with the tempering, the English Premier League (EPL) continues to remain the epicentre of these moves — and widen the financial gap to other top leagues.

Liverpool's Florian Wirtz (C) advances the ball during the first half of the friendly football match between English Premier League side Liverpool and Japan's J-League team Yokohama F. Marinos in Yokohama on July 30 (AFP FILE)

The EPL continues to break away from the other leagues

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  Value Spend

  In the past decade, the financial side of European club football has had to deal with two extraordinary events. One of these severely curtailed their spending power, and the other gave them more to spend. The Covid-19 pandemic shut down stadiums in the middle of the footballing season. In the process, it reduced club revenues, making them more reluctant to spend big. In the summer of 2019, the five main tier-I leagues — in England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France — spent 5.7 billion euros on player transfers. That amount was matched only in the summer of 2023. That was also the year when Saudi Arabia, fuelled by oil profits from its sovereign wealth fund, ventured to disrupt football, baiting players with outsized packages. Saudi clubs bought players from European clubs at premium prices. That, in turn, gave European clubs more money to spend. Latest data for the current season shows a tempering on both counts.
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  EPL Hegemony

  There is one part of the footballing world that has withstood this tempering: the EPL. With two weeks left in the transfer window, its cumulative spend to buy players was only about 15% short of the 2.8 billion euros it shelled out in 2023-24. Among all leagues, it was the one that bounced back from the Covid lows the sharpest. Not only did it bounce back, it scaled new heights in financial power—and increased the distance to other leagues. In 2016-17, it spent 1.7 times the next league by maximum spending. In 2025-26, that multiple was 2.8 times. Other leagues are struggling to keep up with the EPL. Italy and Spain, which had seen a surge in player spending between 2016-17 and 2019-20, have tapered off spending. Even Saudi Arabia, which had leapfrogged most tier-I European leagues to become the second-highest spender in 2023-24, is down at the number six spot.
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  Across the Board

  This summer, clubs have paid about 780 million euros for the top 10 purchases. This is, yet, lower than the 952 million euros they paid in 2023-24 or the 930 million euros in 2019-20. The top two buys this year have both gone to the reigning EPL champion. Liverpool has paid 125 million euros to buy attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz and 80 million euros to buy centre-forward Hugo Ekitike. They are aged 22 years and 23 years, respectively, in line with Liverpool’s policy of buying potential young mainstays. Of the 10 most-expensive purchases, 7 will be in the EPL this year. This is another demonstration of the chasm in spending power between the EPL and other leagues. Among the top five European leagues, EPL clubs bought 307 players, which was next only to high-turnover Italy (652 players). The average cost per EPL player purchased was nearly 80% more than in 2019-20. By comparison, this average cost has dropped in Germany, Spain and France.
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  Rich Getting Richer

  This drop-off is now just in the middle or lower reaches of the financial scale. This is the case even at the top end, which is defined by 10 super-clubs — the clubs in European football that are a cut above by their footballing history, expectations, fan base, cultural influence and finances. In 2019-20, the last big year before Covid-19 and Saudi Arabia, the super-clubs that spent the most to buy players were Real Madrid and Barcelona from Spain, and Juventus from Italy. In 2025-26, all five top spenders are English clubs. Their collective spend over 2019-20 has increased by 129%. The next five slots are occupied by non-English clubs, and their collective spending is down 57% over the same period. The rich EPL is getting richer. www.howindialives.com is a database and search engine for public data