Ranking the Premier League clubs by their transfer net spend in 2023: Chelsea top, Man Utd above Liverpool…

Dominik Szoboszlai, Moises Caicedo and James Maddison - Premier League net spend

Dominik Szoboszlai, Moises Caicedo and James Maddison - Premier League net spend

Premier League clubs continued to flex their financial muscles in 2023 – but which team has spent the most and who has made a profit?

English top-flight clubs spent a record-breaking €841.56million in the January transfer window, which accounted for 79% of the total expenditure across Europe’s ‘big five’ football leagues.

They showed no signs of slowing down during the summer transfer window and spent a combined €2.81billion, which exceeded last summer’s record of €2.25billion.

Using stats from transfermarkt, we’ve ranked the 20 current Premier League clubs by their net spend since the start of 2023. Note: The list also stipulates deals on an initial fee basis, not those with add-ons taken into account.

20. Brighton – €103M profit 

Most expensive signing of 2023: Joao Pedro (€34.2m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Moises Caicedo (€116m)

Brighton are widely regarded as the best run club in the Premier League and they’ve managed to raise more than €200million in player sales in 2023.

Alongside Caicedo’s record-breaking move to Chelsea, Alexis Mac Allister, Leandro Trossard and Robert Sanchez have all left the Amex in big-money deals.

19. Everton – €87.9m profit

Most expensive signing of 2023: Beto (€25m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Anthony Gordon (€45.6m).

18. Wolves – €40.96m profit 

Most expensive signing of 2023: Matheus Cunha (€50m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Matheus Nunes (€62m)

17. West Ham United – €10.59m profit

Most expensive signing of 2023: Mohammed Kudus (€43m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Declan Rice (€116.6m)

The Hammers sold Rice to Arsenal for €116.6million and then revamped their midfield by signing Kudus, James Ward-Prowse and Edson Alvarez.

They also bought Danny Ings and Konstantinos Mavropanos in 2023 but still managed to make a small profit as they sold Craig Dawson, Gianluca Scamacca, Nikola Vlasic and Arthur Masuaku.

James Ward-Prowse (pic via WHUFC.com)

James Ward-Prowse (pic via WHUFC.com)

16. Luton Town – €21.9m

Most expensive signing of 2023: Ryan Giles (€5.85m)
Biggest sale of 2023: James Bree (€850k)

15. Fulham – €25.67m 

Most expensive signing of 2023: Alex Iwobi (€25.7m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Aleksandar Mitrovic (€52.5m)

14. Sheffield United – €33.55m

Most expensive signing of 2023: Cameron Archer (€21.55m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Iliman Ndiaye (€17m)

After winning promotion to the Premier League in 2022/23, Sheffield United bought Archer, Gustavo Hamer, Vini Souza, Auston Trusty, Bénie Traoré and Anis Slimane

But they reluctantly sold Ndiaye, who won their Player of the Year award and the Players’ Player of the Year award in 2022/23.

13. Crystal Palace – €50.7m 

Most expensive signing of 2023: Matheus Franca (€20m)
Biggest sale of 2023: N/A

12. Brentford – €55.76M

Most expensive signing of 2023: Nathan Collins (€26.85m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Mads Bidstrup (€6m)

11. Aston Villa – €78.59m

Most expensive signing of 2023: Moussa Diaby (€55m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Cameron Archer (€21.55m)

During his first transfer window at Aston Villa, Unai Emery signed both Jhon Duran and Alex Moreno while offloading Danny Ings to West Ham.

In the summer window, Villa broke their club record to sign Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen and secured a €33million deal for Pau Torres, who played under Emery at Villarreal.

Archer left to join Sheffield United for €21.55million, although Villa are reported to have included a buy-back clause in the deal.

10. Nottingham Forest – €90.53m 

Most expensive signing of 2023: Ibrahim Sangare (€35m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Brennan Johnson (€55m)

9. Burnley – €123.44m

Most expensive signing of 2023: Zeki Amdouni (€18.6m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Bobby Thomas (€2.3m)

8. Tottenham – €134.4m 

Most expensive signing of 2023: Brennan Johnson (€55m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Harry Kane (€100m)

Ange Postecoglou rebuilt the Tottenham squad this summer, buying Johnson, James Maddison, Micky van de Ven, Guglielmo Vicario, Ashley Phillips and Alejo Veliz.

Pedro Porro and Dejan Kulusevski also saw their loan moves at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium turned into permanent deals.

But they have lost their all-time leading goalscorer as Kane moved to Bayern Munich in a deal worth an initial €100million.

7. Manchester City – €135.6m

Most expensive signing of 2023: Josko Gvardiol (€90m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Cole Palmer (€47m)

6. Newcastle United – €146.79m

Most expensive signing of 2023: Sandro Tonali (€64m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Allan Saint-Maximin (€27.2m)

5. Liverpool – €153.3m 

Most expensive signing of 2023: Dominik Szoboszlai (€70m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Fabinho (€46.7m)

After signing Cody Gakpo in the January window, Liverpool focused on the midfield in the summer and bought Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch.

They only made two sales in 2023 as Fabinho and Jordan Henderson both moved to the Saudi Pro League, joining Al-Ittihad and Al-Ettifaq respectively.

Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Liverpool, September 2023

Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai applaud Liverpool fans

4. Manchester United – €154.32m 

Most expensive signing of 2023: Ramus Hojlund (€75m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Anthony Elanga/Dean Henderson (€17.5m)

3. Bournemouth – €182.39M

Most expensive signing of 2023: Tyler Adams (€26.9M)
Biggest sale of 2023: Ben Pearson (€1.5m)

Las Vegas-based businessman Bill Foley completed his takeover of Bournemouth in December 2022 and has already invested a lot of money into the club.

The Cherries signed Ilya Zabarnyi from Dynamo Kyiv in a €22.7million deal and also spent €25.62million to turn Hamed Junior Traore’s loan move into a permanent deal.

They’ve bought a few players from the Championship as Adams left Leeds United, Max Aarons was signed from Norwich City and Alex Scott and Antoine Semenyo both arrived from Bristol City.

Bournemouth have also signed Dango Ouattara from FC Lorient, Justin Kluivert from Roma, Roman Faivre from Lyon and Milos Kerkez from AZ Alkmaar.

New AFC Bournemouth signing Tyler Adams

New AFC Bournemouth signing Tyler Adams

2. Arsenal – €227.34M

Most expensive signing of 2023: Declan Rice (€116.6m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Folarin Balogun (€30m)

1. Chelsea – €515.3m

Most expensive signing of 2023: Enzo Fernandez (€121m)
Biggest sale of 2023: Kai Havertz (€75m)

Having finished second in this ranking in 2022, Chelsea are now the runaway leaders after a record-breaking spending spree in 2023.

The Blues bought Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke, Benoit Badiashile, Malo Gusto, David Datro Fofana and Andrey Santos in the January transfer window and they also broke the British transfer record to sign Fernandez from Benfica.

Christopher Nkunku then became Mauricio Pochettino’s first signing after Chelsea triggered the €60million release clause in his RB Leipzig contract.

They have since added Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Axel Disasi, Nicolas Jackson, Robert Sanchez, Djordje Petrovic, Angelo, Deivid Washington, Lesley Ugochukwu and Cole Palmer to their squad.

Chelsea have tried to balance the books by selling Havertz, Jorginho, Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ethan Ampadu, Kalidou Koulibaly, Edouard Mendy and Callum Hudosn-Odoi but they’re still at the top of this list.

READ MORE: The 10 most expensive transfers in the summer of 2023: Moises Caicedo to Chelsea, Declan Rice to Arsenal…