The 2021-22 football season is in its closing stages, and soon, the football media will turn its focus toward the upcoming transfer window. For the last couple of seasons, the transfer market has faced the brunt of the pandemic. Due to the impact of COVID, most football clubs have refrained from spending ludicrous amounts of money on transfers. However, the impact of COVID was minimal on Premier League clubs when compared to other major leagues.
According to the numbers put forward by Sportlesns.com, English clubs were at the buying end of the top three transfer streams during 2021.
English clubs pent 258m on Italy-based players in 2021
In 2021, English clubs were the spenders in the three biggest transfer routes. The English clubs spent 257.8m USD on signings of Italy-based players. Romelu Lukaku’s big-money move from Inter Milan to Chelsea was the most high profile transfer from Italy to England.
The German clubs were the second-biggest recipient of the generosity of English clubs. German clubs received a total of 249m USD from English clubs as transfer fees in 2021. The tarnsers of Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund to Manchester United) and Ibrahima Konate (RB Leipzig to Liverpool) were arguably the most significant ones on this route.
English clubs also spent 227.9m USD on buying players based in Spain last year. The transfers of Raphael Varane (Real Madrid to Manchester United), Martin Odegaard (Real Madrid to Arsenal), and Emerson Royal (Barcelona to Tottenham) were the most prominent moves on this route in 2021.
The England to Italy transfer stream occupies the fourth spot. This route is the first and only one in the top five on the list in which English clubs are not at the buying end. Italian clubs spent 207.8m USD on transfers of players based in England. The transfers of Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori from Chelsea to AS Roma and AC Milan, respectively, were the major highlights of this route.
In the fifth spot, the France to England transfer stream cost a total of 198.7m USD to English clubs. This amount means that four out of the top five transfer streams saw English clubs buying talents from the remaining four major leagues.
Furthermore, no top ten transfer stream features a league outside the major five European leagues. This list shows the financial dominance of the major European leagues and the dominance of the Premier League among those major leagues. The impact of COVID-19 has further highlighted the gulf between various European leagues.
However, normalcy has returned to the footballing world with the return of fans to stadiums. After two years of austerity, one can expect non-English clubs to be active in the upcoming window.
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