The top 10 biggest spending clubs in the world in the summer of 2024: Man Utd in top three as Premier League sides dominate

Joao Neves at PSG, Joao Felix at Chelsea and Leny Yoro at Man Utd

Joao Neves, Joao Felix and Leny Yoro all completed big-money transfers in the summer window

The summer 2024 transfer window saw a return of the big-money deals and clubs in Europe’s top five leagues spent around £4.4billion on new signings.

Premier League clubs continued to show their financial power and they are responsible for nearly half of that overall outlay.

Newly-promoted Ipswich Town spent more than the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Inter, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen.

But a few clubs in Italy, Spain, France and Germany did still spend over £100million on players in the summer transfer window.

We’ve taken a look at the 10 biggest spending clubs in the summer of 2024. Note: we’ve used the initial transfer fees, excluding any potential add-ons.

10. Napoli – £125.4m

Napoli appointed Antonio Conte as their manager following their disastrous title defence in the 2023/24 Serie A season.

Conte immediately brought in two new centre-backs, spending a combined £38.7million on Alessandro Buongiorno and Rafa Marin.

He added David Neres to his squad after Napoli agreed to pay Benfica an initial fee of £23.8million for the winger.

The ex-Tottenham and Chelsea manager went shopping in the Premier League in the final week of the window, buying Scott McTominay from Manchester United, Billy Gilmour from Brighton and Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea.

9. Tottenham – £128.5m

After narrowly missing out on Champions League qualification in 2023/24, Tottenham prioritised a new striker and forked out an initial £55million for Dominic Solanke.

They also bought three highly-rated teenagers in the summer window, signing Lucas Bergvall from Djurgarden for £8.5million, Archie Gray from Leeds for £40million and Wilson Odobert from Burnley for £25million.

“We’ve just about gone to the maximum in terms of turnover, without it affecting competitiveness,” Ange Postecolgou said. “Because obviously we finished fifth last year, which was a decent outcome for us in terms of where we were.

“But you don’t want to be doing this and finishing eighth or tenth or falling off the top half of the table. It’s always a balancing act.”

Dominic Solanke, Archie Gray Tottenham

8. West Ham United – £132.5m

West Ham hired Julen Lopetegui to replace David Moyes at the end of the 2023/24 season, and the manager was backed in the transfer market.

Their most expensive signing of the summer was the £40million move for Max Kilman, who played under Lopetegui at Wolves.

Kilman is followed by Niklas Fullkrug (£27m), Luis Guilherme (£25.5m), Crysencio Summerville (£25m) and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£15m).

The Hammers also signed Jean-Clair Todibo from Nice on an initial season-long loan deal, which includes an obligation to buy the centre-back for £34.22million in 2025.

7. Juventus – £133.2m

Alongside Napoli, Juventus were the only other Serie A side to break the £100million barrier in the summer of 2024.

Manager Thiago Motta revamped their midfield department by signing Khephren Thuram for £16.9million, Douglas Luiz for £42.35million and Teun Koopmeiners for £43.7million.

They also bought Vasilije Adzic for £1.6million and hijacked Inter Milan’s move for Juan Cabal, who cost the club an initial £9.2million.

Alongside those permanent deals, Juventus spent a total of £19.5million in loan fees to bring Nico Gonzalez, Francisco Conceicao, Michele Di Gregorio and Pierre Kalulu to the club.

6. Paris Saint-Germain – £139.4m

PSG have shown that they’re still willing to spend a lot of money, although their focus is now on up-and-coming talents instead of big-name stars.

The Ligue 1 side bought Joao Neves for an initial £50.5million and fought off competition from Bayern Munich to sign Desire Doue in a £42.6million deal.

Willian Pacho arrived from Eintracht Frankfurt in a £33.7million deal and they also replaced back-up goalkeeper Keylor Navas by spending £12.6million on Matvey Safonov.

“I am delighted with the team we have,” manager Luis Enrique said. “I think the president and Luis Campos have done really well in the transfer window.”

5. Aston Villa – £149.5m

Aston Villa will be playing Champions League football this season and Unai Emery used the transfer window to bolster his squad.

Amadou Onana’s £50million move from Everton tops their list of incomings, while Ian Maatsen was signed from Chelsea in a £37.5million deal.

They also bought Ross Barkley, Samuel Iling-Junior, Enzo Barrenechea, Lewis Dobbin, Cameron Archer and Jaden Philogene.

Despite being fifth in this ranking, Villa had a net spend of just £30million as they sold the likes of Douglas Luiz, Moussa Diaby and Cameron Archer.

4. Atletico Madrid – £150.4m

The only La Liga side on this list, Atletico Madrid spent more money than the combined total of Barcelona and Real Madrid (£89.9m) as they look to close the gap on the duo.

Julian Alvarez joined the club from Manchester City in a deal worth an initial £64.4million, making him the most expensive signing in the world in the summer of 2024.

The Argentina international will form a strike partnership with Alexander Sorloth, who was signed from Villarreal for £25.4million.

Diego Simeone’s side also spent £34million on Conor Gallagher and £25.4million on Robin Le Normand before paying a £1.2million loan fee to Atalanta for Juan Musso.

3. Manchester United – £182.3m

Manchester United co-owners Ineos took control of the sporting operations at Old Trafford earlier this year and their first summer transfer window proved to be a busy one.

Joshua Zirkzee – who cost £36.5million – was the first player through the door and United then focused on defensive reinforcements.

They signed Leny Yoro from Lille for an initial £52.1million, while Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui both arrived from Bayern Munich for a combined £51.4million.

Erik ten Hag’s side completed their business on transfer deadline day by signing Manuel Ugarte from Paris Saint-Germain in a deal worth an initial £42.3million.

2. Brighton – £192.8m

After raising around £180million from player sales in 2023, Brighton were able to splash the cash in the summer of 2024.

They broke their own transfer record twice in the space of just two months, first by signing Yankuba Minteh from Newcastle United in a £30million deal and then by triggering the £40million release in Georginio Rutter’s Leeds United contract.

The Seagulls also bought Mats Wieffer, Matt O’Riley, Brajan Gruda, Ferdi Kadioglu, Ibrahim Osman and Malick Yalcouye, taking their overall outlay to £192.8million.

“It (the spending) shows the ambition of the club, it shows that we want to make the next step together, to improve in some ways on the foundation built in recent years,” manager Fabian Hurzeler said.

“That is what I really like, because I am also a very ambitious guy and, for me, it is the right sign, the right moment, and now hopefully we can achieve something big together.”

1. Chelsea – £202m

As has become the norm in recent transfer windows, Chelsea were the biggest spending club in the world.

They had a total outlay of £202million in the summer, with nearly half of that money spent on Portugal internationals Pedro Neto (£51.4m) and Joao Felix (£42m).

Enzo Maresca’s side also bought Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Filip Jorgensen, Mike Penders, Aaron Anselmino, Renato Veiga, Caleb Wiley and Marc Guiu.

But Chelsea did recoup over £150million by selling the likes of Conor Gallagher, Ian Maatsen, Lewis Hall, Omari Hutchinson and Romelu Lukaku.

READ MORE: The 10 most expensive transfers in the summer 2024 window, including Man Utd and Tottenham signings