Saudi Arabia’s giant leap in the football market: Transfer records in the Premier League

The influx of money from Saudi Arabia triggered an unprecedented summer transfer window for European football, with English Premier League clubs spending more than £2bn on new players for the first time.

At the close of the transfer market on Friday night, top English clubs paid a fee of £2.36bn, surpassing the previous record of £1.92bn set last summer, according to figures from consultancy Deloitte. The average salary paid per player by Premier League clubs increased from £18.8 million last year and £14 million in 2018 to £24 million.

Total sales revenue for Premier League clubs reached £550 million, more than double the previous record. Several major transfer deals have been made this summer between England’s top clubs, including Chelsea’s signing of Moisés Caicedo from Brighton and Arsenal’s signing of Declan Rice from West Ham. Both midfielders were transferred for over £100m.

The Premier League broke a record for summer transfers, surpassing £2 billion.

THE MOVEMENT OF SAUDI ARABIA CHANGED THE BALANCES

English clubs have long been the biggest spenders on football, thanks to lucrative Premier League broadcast deals both at home and abroad. Many teams also have deep-pocketed owners drawn from hegemonic Gulf wealth, American private equity, or billionaires.

But the sudden spate of spending by Saudi Arabian soccer clubs has proven to be a major new market driver. In June, Riyadh transferred control of the country’s four main soccer clubs to the state-backed Public Investment Fund. Since then, these clubs have paid hundreds of millions of euros to attract top talent to the Saudi Professional League.

CHELSEA COMPES WITH SAUDI

While American owner Chelsea FC has been the club with the highest gross spending in soccer for the second year in a row, Saudi team Al-Hilal is in second place and comfortably the club with the highest net spending. According to Transfermarkt, the Riyadh team spent 345 million euros on new players, including 90 million euros for Brazilian striker Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain and 55 million euros for Ruben Neves from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Saudi Arabian clubs Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli and Al-Nassr are among the biggest spenders in Europe.

According to Deloitte, the Saudi Pro League clubs have so far spent a total of 805 million euros. The Saudi transfer window will remain open for another week. And it has been the fourth country that has spent the most on soccer this summer.

THE LAST OFFER IS FOR SALAH

Much of that money went to the Premier League, which is more than what English clubs charge for transfers abroad. On the final day of transfer from Jeddah-based Al-Ittihad, it was reported that Liverpool offered £150m for Egyptian striker Mo Salah. The offer was rejected.

Calum Ross, deputy head of Deloitte’s sports business group, said the Saudi spending “has caused confusion in terms of the spending capabilities of Premier League clubs” but said the new source of activity will make the windows more “increasingly competitive”.

FROM 4,500 MILLION EUROS TO 5,700 MILLION EUROS

Last year, thanks to the big money transfers, such as the total spending in the five major leagues in Europe, England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France, the transfer of Harry Kane to Bayern Munich and the arrival of Jude Bellingham at Real Madrid, there were 4 that increased from 5.5 billion euros to 5.7 billion euros. The fees paid by both British citizens exceeded 100 million euros.

In France, Qatar-owned PSG were once again the top spenders, with a last-minute deal worth €95m for French international Randal Kolo Muani from Eintracht Frankfurt.

The highest transfer fees this summer were in the Premier League and Saudi Pro.

UEFA PRESENTS NEW RULES

As spending continues to rise, soccer officials are looking for ways to control costs. UEFA, the governing body for European soccer, has introduced rules requiring teams participating in continental competitions this summer to limit the cost of their players to 90 percent of their revenue. This limit is expected to fall to 70 percent in the next two years. The Premier League is exploring a similar system.

Ross said the impact of these new rules will gradually be felt in the transfer market as clubs start to adapt:

“We are currently in a transition period. I think it has an impact on operations in terms of the time it takes to get a deal done. Clubs need to know better where they are financially and where they stand against the rules.”