No surprise as Premier League clubs break the transfer spending record again
In the least surprising news of the year, Premier League clubs have broken their transfer spending record for a season in the summer window alone.
Estimates from Deloitte's Sports Business Group show gross spending this summer of £1.9billion, surpassing the record by a margin of £487.8million in the summer and January windows combined in the 2017/18 season.
New ownership acted as a catalyst for increased spending this summer, with Chelsea spending more than any other Premier League club; £157.8m more than they did last summer (2022's £255.3m; 2021's £97.5m), and £53.3m more than the next biggest spenders (Manchester United's £202m).
Liverpool and Manchester United's respective moves for forwards Darwin Nunez and Antony are the most expensive of this summer, both worth around £85m, with Chelsea signing defender Wesley Fofana from Leicester for an initial £70m.
The Blues and United were two of the league's biggest spenders, with Chelsea's new owner Todd Boehly also funding moves for Marc Cucurella (£60m), Raheem Sterling (£47.5m) and Kalidou Koulibaly (£34m) while Casemiro (£60m) and Lisandro Martinez (£57m) join Antony in United's top 10 most expensive signings of all time.
Zal Udwadia, assistant director in Deloitte's Sports Business Group, said earlier in the window: "What you've really seen this summer is you've got the return of fans in full force and new broadcast deals coming into play, you've really got clubs with high amounts of confidence and certainty going into this window.