Premier League transfers: January spend higher than last year with one week left
2025-01-27
Category: sports

Premier League clubs have spent Â£247m this month - up from last year's Â£90m total - with a week left to go in the January transfer window.According to data from FootballTransfers.com, external, Manchester City are responsible for more spending this month - about Â£125m - than the other 19 Premier League clubs combined.With another seven days left, the spending will likely rise but is unlikely to get near the 2023 record of Â£815m.Ligue 1 is the next highest spending league this month, on Â£106m, although over half of that was PSG's Â£59m signing of Napoli star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.English Championship clubs have spent Â£44m, dwarfing the total Â£2m spent by Spanish La Liga clubs. In fact, League One Huddersfield have spent more (in excess of Â£4m) than the 20 Spanish top flight clubs combined.The English transfer window closes at 23:00 GMT on Monday, 3 February.
Why is spending higher this year?
Manchester City's surprisingly poor defence of the Premier League title has led to Pep Guardiola making three big-money signings - with the potential of more to come.City have signed Eintracht Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush (Â£59m), Palmeiras defender Vitor Reis (Â£29.6m) and Lens centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov (Â£33.6m).They had not previously made a significant January signing since Â£57m Aymeric Laporte in 2018.Paul MacDonald of FootballTransfers.com said: "In January 2023, Â£815m was spent and this represented 28.4% of all transfer fees spent in that season - the highest of any year in the past decade. "But there were a few mitigating factors. Chelsea alone were responsible for Â£286m of that. We also witnessed a sense of desperation in sides threatened with relegation - Leeds, Southampton, Leicester, who would all ultimately go down - and Bournemouth spent over Â£200m between them to attempt to avoid the drop."But 2024 saw a complete reset - Â£96m was spent, just 3.9% of the total outlay for the season, as teams appeared happy with their lot and, crucially, were acutely aware of emerging PSR restrictions and opted to retain any spending power for the summer window."Profit and sustainability rules have hindered clubs - with Everton and Nottingham Forest receiving points deductions last season for breaking the Premier League's spending rules.No clubs have fallen foul of the rules this year.McDonald added: "2025 is shaping up to be a more active window than last year, with Manchester City extremely active. "But they have the headroom after amassing a very strong PSR position courtesy of their quiet summer business and others, like Manchester United, probably aren't as fortunate."Liverpool probably do have the PSR headroom, too, but their focus is likely to be on renewals rather than acquisitions, as Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah's remain very much up for grabs. "And Chelsea are still trying to find equilibrium by offloading some of the mass of players they brought in - but again, they may see the summer window as a better place to extract value for those deemed surplus to requirements."
Who has been most active?
Manchester City, one of three teams to sign three players so far this month, have spent the most in this window by far - Â£123m.Ipswich, who are battling to avoid relegation, and Southampton, who already seem doomed on just six points, have also recruited three first-team players each.There have been nine Premier League signings for Â£10m-plus, with City's the three biggest so far.Ipswich Town spent about Â£20m to sign winger Jaden Philogene from Aston Villa, who in turn spent Â£19m to bring Netherlands forward Donyell Malen from Borussia Dortmund.The next biggest deal saw Wolves pay Â£16.6m to sign Reims defender Emmanuel Agbadou.Tottenham signed Slavia Prague goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky for Â£12.5m and he went straight into the team because of problems for Guglielmo Vicario and Fraser Forster.Crystal Palace signed teenage Millwall winger Romain Esse for a reported Â£12m.Brighton's signing of Paraguay midfielder Diego Gomez from Inter Miami was for an undisclosed fee but reports value the deal at about Â£11m.Villa, Bournemouth and Spurs have all made two signings - with one each for Brentford, Brighton, Palace, Leicester, Nottingham Forest and Wolves.There was also an EFL signing for Â£10m, with Championship promotion chasers Sheffield United bringing in Republic of Ireland striker Tom Cannon from Leicester.Leaders Liverpool, title rivals Arsenal, plus Chelsea and Manchester United are some of the eight teams yet to sign anyone.
How about the rest of Europe?
The joint biggest January signing in the world (along with Marmoush) was Paris St-Germain's signing of Napoli winger Kvaratskhelia for a reported Â£59m.But the Georgian is an outlier - with none of Europe's other top clubs making big-money signings.The next biggest signing - after City's trio - is Botafogo winger Luiz Henrique's reported Â£27.8m move to Russian side Zenit St Petersburg.Frankfurt paid about Â£21.9m to sign Marmoush's replacement, Marseille forward Elye Wahi.Those are the only Â£20m-plus transfers not involving Premier League teams in January.
What else could happen this window?
There could still be plenty of signings to come.Manchester United will be trying to find a new club for England forward Marcus Rashford, who has fallen out of Ruben Amorim's plans.Another of their wingers Alejandro Garnacho could also be on the move, with Chelsea and Napoli linked.Selling those players could give them finances to sign players to help them climb into the top half of the Premier League table.Arsenal are "actively looking" to sign a striker in the January transfer window who is able to "make an impact", says manager Mikel Arteta.But that is easier said than done - with Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko, Wolves' Matheus Cunha and Newcastle's Alexander Isak all linked.Tottenham - hit by an injury crisis all season - need new players in a bid to stop their slide towards the relegation zone."We're sort of playing with fire by not bringing anyone in but the flip side of that is the club is trying to change that situation," said boss Ange Postecoglou.