Ranking the Premier League clubs by their overall net spend in 2022: Liverpool 11th, Leeds 17th
While teams in La Liga, Ligue 1, Serie A and the Bundesliga had to tighten the purse strings in 2022, Premier League sides continued to spend a lot of money on new signings.
Newcastle United were the biggest spenders in the January transfer window after a Saudi-led consortium ended Mike Ashley’s 14-year ownership of the club.
They immediately invested money into the club, helping Eddie Howe’s side sign Bruno Guimaraes, Chris Wood, Dan Burn and Kieran Trippier.
Liverpool also made a big-money signing in the January window, fighting off competition from Tottenham and West Ham United to sign Luis Diaz from Porto.
The summer of 2022 then saw Premier League set a new spending record of about £1.9billion, breaking the previous record of £1.4billion from 2017.
In comparison, Serie A clubs spent a total of £647million in the summer of 2022 and Ligue 1 sides spent £482million. Despite Barcelona’s huge outlay on new signings, La Liga sides only spent £437million and Bundesliga clubs are at the bottom of the list with £418million.
Premier League sides also managed to sign some highly-rated players from those leagues, including Erling Haaland, Casemiro, Kalidou Koulibaly and Lucas Paqueta.
Antony, who cost Manchester United £85.5million, was the most expensive Premier League transfer in 2022, but he’s started to justify that fee.
“The record level of spending during this transfer window is a clear indication of Premier League clubs’ confidence, as fans return to stadia and a new broadcast cycle begins,” Tim Bridge, lead partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, said when reflecting on the spending.
“It’s now become part and parcel of the Premier League that clubs are willing to pay significant sums to maximise performance. This season, the desire to acquire playing talent has reached new levels as the pressure for clubs to stay in the competition is higher than ever before.”
Using stats from transfermarkt, we’ve ranked the 20 current Premier League clubs by their net spend since the start of the January 2022 transfer window.
As the stats show, Premier League clubs’ net transfer spend surpassed £1billion in 2022 and three clubs had a net spend of over £200million. Also, only three of the 20 Premier League sides were able to make a profit in relation to transfers during the calendar year.
20. Leicester City – £57.96m profit
Most expensive signing of 2022: Wout Faes (£15.3m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Wesley Fofana (£72.36m)
Brendan Rodgers has publically displayed his frustration at Leicester City’s transfer policy and it’s easy to see why.
After failing to sign anyone in January, the Foxes sold Fofana to Chelsea for £72.36million. Rodgers was only allowed to spend £15.3million of that money as they replaced Fofana with Faes.
19. Brighton – £56.79m profit
Most expensive signing of 2022: Pervis Estupinan (£16.02m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Marc Cucurella (£58.77m)
18. Manchester City – £52.56m profit
Most expensive signing of 2022: Erling Haaland (£54m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Raheem Sterling (£50.58m)
Despite spending over £110million on the likes of Haaland, Kalvin Phillips and Julian Alvarez, City still made a profit in 2022 as they allowed the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Sterling, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ferran Torres to leave.
17. Leeds United – £1.75m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Brenden Aaronson (£29.56m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Raphinha (£52.2m)
16. Everton – £31.23m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Amadou Onana (£31.5m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Richarlison (£52.2m)
15. Bournemouth – £31.45m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Marcos Senesi (£13.5m)
Biggest sale of 2022: N/A
14. Fulham – £35.82m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Joao Palhinha (£18m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Andre Zambo Anguissa (£13.5m)
After winning the Championship, Fulham landed a major coup in the transfer market by signing Palhinha from Sporting Lisbon. They’ve also spent money on Bernd Leno, Issa Diop and Andreas Pereira, who all have Premier League experience.
Marco Silva’s side weren’t able to recoup the £30million they spend on Anguissa, selling him to Napoli for less than half that price. They’ll also have been disappointed to lose Fabio Carvalho for just £5.31million.
13. Crystal Palace – £37.19m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Cheick Doucoure (£20.34m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Christian Benteke (£4.91m)
12. Brentford – £42.21m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Keane Lewis-Potter (£17.1m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Marcus Forss (£3.24m)
11. Liverpool – £50.94m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Darwin Nunez (£67.5m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Sadio Mane (£28.8m)
Liverpool invested a lot of money on new forwards in 2022, signing Nunez for £67.5million, Luis Diaz for £42.3million and Carvalho for £5.31million.
But, they have lost one of their attacking options as Mane joined Bayern Munich after a six-year stay on Merseyside.
The Reds also sold squad players like Neco Williams, Takumi Minamino, Marko Grujic and Ben Davies and that helped bring their net spend down.
10. Aston Villa – £52.2m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Diego Carlos (£27.9m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Carney Chukwuemeka (£16.2m)
9. Southampton – £66.06m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Gavin Bazunu (£12.6m)
Biggest sale of 2022: N/A
8. Wolves – £76.32m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Matheus Nunes (£40.5m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Morgan Gibbs-White (£26.55m)
7. Arsenal – £98.61m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Gabriel Jesus (£46.98m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Matteo Guendouzi (£9.9m)
Mikel Arteta spent most of 2022 shopping at Manchester City, signing Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko for a combined £78.48million.
Arsenal made another £30million-plus signing in Fabio Vieira and spent the rest of their budget on squad players.
The Gunners generated £21.87million through sales and loan fees by letting Guendouzi, Lucas Torreira, Bernd Leno and Konstaninos Mavropanos leave the club.
6. Nottingham Forest – £143.47m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Morgan Gibbs-White (£26.55m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Brice Samba (£4.5m)
5. West Ham – £146.88m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Lucas Paqueta (£38.66m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Issa Diop (£16.02m)
West Ham brought in eight new signings in 2022, with Paqueta, Gianluca Scamacca and Nayef Aguerd all costing fees of £30million-plus.
Diop and Frederik Alves were both sold, while several other players were allowed to depart on loan or on free transfers.
4. Tottenham – £147.85m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Richarlson (£52.2m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Steven Bergwijn (£28.13m)
3. Manchester United – £196.05m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Antony (£85.5m)
Biggest sale of 2022: James Garner (£9.36m)
2. Chelsea – £201.32m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Wesley Fofana (£72.36m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Timo Werner (£18m)
After deciding against making a signing in January, Chelsea then broke the Premier League record for the highest spend during a single transfer window.
They spent a total of £253.79million and their biggest signings were Raheem Sterling, Marc Cucurella and Fofana, who all cost at least £50million.
The Blues recouped some of that money by offloading Werner, Emerson, Billy Gilmour and Michy Batshuayi on permanent deals but still have a net spend over £200millon.
1. Newcastle – £211.31m
Most expensive signing of 2022: Alexander Isak (£63m)
Biggest sale of 2022: Martin Dubravka (£2.08m)*
*Note: Dubravka has left Newcastle on an initial loan deal.