PSG had leapfrogged Tottenham as Europe’s biggest spenders this summer before Arsenal blew everyone out of the water…
Here are the 10 clubs who have spent the most money on new recruits so far this summer. For consistency, for the most part, we’ve used fees and figures from transfermarkt…
1) Arsenal – £199.3m (€232.3m)
Biggest purchase: Declan Rice (from West Ham, £100m plus £5m add-ons)
Arsenal soared to the summit of this list by smashing their transfer record for Rice after signing up Kai Havertz from Chelsea and Jurrien Timber from Ajax.
2) Paris Saint-Germain – £138m (€159.5m)
Biggest purchase: Manuel Ugarte (from Sporting, £51.2m)
The largest wage packet of any PSG summer signing has probably gone to either of the free agents in Marco Asensio and Milan Skriniar, but the French giants have otherwise made fee-worthy additions in every position aside from goalkeeper.
3) Tottenham – £116.6m (€136.3m)
Biggest purchase: James Maddison (from Leicester, £40m)
Spurs have also brought in keeper Guglielmo Vicario from Empoli for around £17million, but they’ve had to cough up for a few pre-arranged deals involving Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro.
4) Real Madrid – £109.8m (€128.5m)
Biggest purchase: Jude Bellingham (from Borussia Dortmund, £88.5m)
This is what happens when you sink a boatload of cash on a quite phenomenal 20-year-old. Real Madrid have also brought in Arda Guler from Fenerbahce, Valladolid left-back Fran Garcia, as well as Newcastle legend Joselu on loan.
5) RB Leipzig – £108.2m (€126m)
Biggest purchase: Lois Openda (from Lens, £36.9m)
With all that money burning a hole in their pocket from the sales of Dominik Szoboszlai and Christopher Nkunku among others, Leipzig splurged to smash their club record to sign Openda. They are still in profit and the Germans have kept much of their cash in the family, sending £37.5million to Salzburg for Benjamin Sesko and Nicolas Seiwald.
6) Manchester United – £100.9m (€116.7m)
Biggest purchase: Mason Mount (from Chelsea, £55.5m plus £5m add-ons)
The Red Devils enter the top ten by following their purchase of Mount with the signing of Andre Onana from Inter Milan. They will need to go even further to add a centre-forward too.
7) Liverpool – £95.5m (€112m)
Biggest purchase: Dominik Szoboszlai (from RB Leipzig, £60m)
The long-awaited midfield rebuild is under way as Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister have freshened things up in the Liverpool engine room. The unexpected movement around Jordan Henderson and Fabinho means Jurgen Klopp will almost certainly continue his splurge on his midfield.
8) Chelsea – £95.8m (€112m)
Biggest purchase: Christopher Nkunku (from RB Leipzig, £51.1m)
Chelsea are among the biggest earners but they aren’t saving all their pennies for FFP. Nkunku was first through the door, followed by Nicolas Jackson from Villarreal. Now they need midfielders but they’ll have to spend at least the same again to get Moises Caicedo.
9) Juventus – £66.2m (€77.6m)
Biggest purchase: Manuel Locatelli (from Sassuolo, £25.6m)
The vast majority of Juve’s spending so far has been to honour previous commitments. Finally they have to cough up for Locatelli, two years after he joined, and it’s a similar situation with Moise Kean. Juve have also been shopping in France for Arkadiusz Milik and Timothy Weah.
10) Newcastle – £58.8m (€72m)
Biggest purchase: Sandro Tonali (from AC Milan, £52m)
There is some debate over how much Newcastle have paid for Tonali – it seems to be £52million rising to £60million. The only other arrival, so far, is Yankuba Minteh from Odense, who’s already been parked at Feyenoord.
Read next: Top 10 biggest-earning clubs in the 2023 summer transfer window
