Spending up on last year as Man City go big in transfer window

Premier League clubs spent almost as much as the other 19 top-flight teams combined in the winter transfer window, up nearly £370 million from the previous year’s £100 million.

While spending is up, it is still way down on the 2023 record of £815m.

Manchester City’s total spending of around £180 million was taken into account by the £50 million signing of Porto’s Nico Gonzalez just before the 23:00 GMT deadline, according to Football Transfers, as manager Pep Guardiola was given the backing to try and improve the defending champions’ current form.

Manchester City’s schedule for this season is iffy.

Their chances of defending the title once more were all but shattered by their terrible run of form in November and December, which saw them lose six of their eight Premier League games.

The outcome of the 115 charges against them for allegedly violating the Premier League’s financial laws is still looming over them.

But they made the biggest moves during the winter window, signing Eintracht Frankfurt’s Omar Marmoush for £59m, Palmeiras ‘ Vitor Reis for £29.6m, and Lens ‘ Abdukodir Khusanov for £33.6m before completing their business with £50m Gonzalez just before Monday’s deadline.

Additionally, they immediately loaned River Plate’s Claudio Echeverri to Argentina Under-17 for £12.5 million.

Their net spend for the 2024-2025 season so far is $67 million, which is helped by Julian Alvarez’s initial $ 64.4 million departure from Atletico Madrid and Joao Cancelo’s $ 1.2 million move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal.

“From a financial perspective, City are in a really strong position”, football finance expert Kieran Maguire told BBC Radio 5 live.

“Under these profitability and sustainability rules, you are allowed to lose £105m over a rolling three-year period. Because of the benefits of qualifying for Europe every year, the bonuses from sponsors and broadcasters, and the fact that Manchester City have won all of these trophies, they have probably made somewhere between £160 and £170 million in profit.

On the charges looming over them, Maguire added: “The 115 charges relates to the period 2009-2018, so that, to a certain extent, is ancient history.

Things slowed down until the very end, as is typical for many recent transfer deadline days.

Only two deals in the Premier League had been made by 18:00 GMT, five hours before the window was closed, and both involved Brighton.

The Seagulls’ striker Evan Ferguson was first on loan for the remainder of the season before Brighton later signed 19-year-old Stefanos Tzimas from Nuremberg for £20.38.

A quiet transfer deadline day necessitated a saga with twists and turns, which Axel Disasi provided.

The Chelsea defender initially wished to remain and fight for his place, but was advised to step down.

Tottenham and Aston Villa both emerged as potential suitors, but Spurs quickly resisted signing the France international because he didn’t want to.

The club and his agents then agreed to a loan deal with the club, though the move had not yet been confirmed by the 23:00 GMT deadline, so Disasi’s agents appeared to convince him that Spurs was a better team.

In the final few hours of the window, Villa also signed Spain midfielder Marco Asensio on loan from Paris St-Germain and sold Jhon Duran to Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr in a deal worth up to £71 million before deadline day.

As the 23: 00 GMT deadline approached, bigger deals went through, led by Gonzalez’s £50m move to City.

Other notable signings made late in the day, including Crystal Palace’s loan signing of full-back Ben Chilwell from Chelsea and Tottenham signing France Under-21s forward Mathys Tel from Bayern Munich.

With only two players arriving and none on deadline day, Manchester United had a quiet window.

With the signing of Lecce for £25 million, Patrick Dorgu became their main signing. The other player to arrive was 18-year-old defender Ayden Heaven from Arsenal.

There were, however, some significant outgoings with Antony, who signed for United from Ajax in August 2022 for £81.3m, joining Real Betis on loan, while there was the aforementioned loan move for Rashford to Villa.

BBC Sport’s chief football news reporter Simon Stone:

Even though head coach Ruben Amorim promised to try to sign new players on deadline day, he had other ideas about Manchester United’s transfer business in place that held sway: don’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

United did research the loan industry, and Tel was the subject of discussions. But, according to United sources, the structure of the deal being offered did not make sense. They actually believed they were taking a chance on a young player because Bayern Munich would gain from his increased value if he did well.

To United, that did not make sense.

However, Old Trafford officials believe there is a bigger point to be made, namely avoiding what they perceive to be “reckless and expensive risks,” which is how United ended up in the mess that Sir Jim Ratcliffe is trying to fix.

The reality is, after years of heavy losses, United were not in a position to buy anyone, without selling someone for a profit.

Football players don’t typically use the word “amortization” when they are talking about the game. In essence, it is a player’s cost and contract length, respectively. When a player is sold for more than their “value,” it is profitable and useful in terms of PSR. If they are sold at a loss, it reduces the scope for spending.

Aston Villa and Real Betis, respectively, are paying a large portion of Rashford and Antony’s wages, which has caused a decrease in expenses this month. But that, presumably, is how they have managed to bring in Dorgu and Heaven.

When their contracts expire in the summer, senior players Victor Lindelof and Christian Eriksen are likely to leave Old Trafford. Rashford, a home-grown player, may depart also. Casemiro’s value will have gone down as well.

United will be in a better position than they are now, despite the fact that it won’t be perfect. That is their thinking.

The average age of the Premier League signings that were made during the wintertime were only 20. % of the signings.

Bournemouth signed 19-year-old left-back Julio Soler and centre-back Matai Akinmboni, 18, while Brighton’s three signings – Tzimas, Diego Gomez and Eiran Cashin – are 19, 21 and 23 respectively.

Manchester United’s main winter window signing was 20-year-old, while defender Ayden Heaven is 18.

Meanwhile, Manchester City’s four new arrivals have an average age of 20.5.

In the winter, Premier League clubs did not move very much.

On deadline day, Somto Boniface joined Chelsea from Chelsea, Chilwell moved to Crystal Palace, Ferguson joined West Ham from Brighton, and Somto Boniface, 18, made a transfer to Crystal Palace.

Prior to that, Rashford moved to Villa and Ipswich signed both Jaden Philogene from Villa for around £20m, and Julio Enciso was signed on loan from Brighton, all of whom had just three Premier League moves throughout January.

It’s true that Premier League teams now have a level of revenue across the league, according to FootballTransfers.com’s Paul MacDonald, who knows how to get a lot of money from the teams at the top.

“Unless profit and sustainability rules (PSR) really demand it, there is no real need to sell or conduct business at a knockdown price.”

” Alexander Isak is a prime example. Newcastle are struggling to spend because of PSR, but there’s absolutely no obligation to sell on their part, either. Arsenal likely had little chance to close that deal.