WITH Aston Villa and Newcastle spending more than Spanish giants Real Madrid this summer, it shows not just Premier League sides are splashing the cash.
England’s top flight grabbed the headlines spending more than a staggering £1.2billion, but the Championship also broke their own record.
IMAGE: Getty Images
IMAGE: Getty Images
£215m was spent in the second tier this summer – more than double the previous record fee.
Recently relegated Newcastle were the biggest contributors to that figure spending a whopping £50m whilst Aston Villa broke a Championship record to sign Jonathan Kodjia from Bristol City for £15m.
Wolves also pulled off a major coup in landing former Monaco winger and Portuguese international Ivan Cavaleiro for a rumoured £7m fee.
With rewards of £100m to finish bottom on the Premier League, it is no surprise that Championship sides are going for broke in the hope they reach the promised land.
But how does Championship spending compare to that of Europe’s top leagues who aren’t blessed with the same TV riches?
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NEWCASTLE AND VILLA VS EUROPE'S BIG BOYS
Newcastle – £55m
Paris Saint-Germain – £54m
Aston Villa – £51m
Roma – £30m
Real Madrid – £25m
Napoli – £9.5m
AC Milan – £7.5m
French Ligue 1 – Approx spend £190m
Unbelievably the 24 clubs in the Championship spent more money than the whole of France’s top division.
Their approximate spend is valued around £190m with mega-rich Paris-Saint Germain splashing £64m on the likes of Jese Rodriguez (£21.25m) from Real Madrid and Grzegorz Krychowiak (£25m) from Sevilla.
Taking away PSG and Marseille’s combined spend, just £90m was spent by the remaining 18 clubs averaging just £5m per club.
Teams in France can’t compete with wages English sides are able to offer which has seen some of the country’s brightest talents cross the channel for a bigger pay-day. The latest being Sofiane Boufal as the 22-year-old completed his £21m move to Southampton.
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IMAGE: EFE
Spanish La Liga – Approx spend £370m
In previous windows, Barcelona and Real Madrid have been renowned for spending their huge wealth in the transfer window.
And although Barcelona spent around £115m on the likes of Andre Gomes and Paco Alcacer, surprisingly that wasn’t the case for Real Madrid who only spent £25m on striker Alvaro Morata.
That’s just £4m more than Fulham.
Like other leagues in Europe, TV rights money is filtered down with a large chunk of the cash heading to the top sides with very little left over handed over to La Liga minnows.
Athletic Bilbao were the only side not to make any signings whilst six other sides spent less than £5m.
IMAGE: ANSA
Italian Serie A – Approx spend £470m
Juventus used the £89m they received from Manchester United for Paul Pogba to splash the cash on the likes of Gonzalo Higuain (£79m) and Roma’s Miralem Pjanic (£25m).
Taking out the transfer fees from the six Serie A clubs in Europe, the remaining 14 sides spent approximately £57m between them averaging just £4m per team.
Whilst Juventus receive around £87m in TV revenue, teams towards the foot of the table including Palermo and Crotone will be lucky to receive £20m for the season.
IMAGE: Reuters
German Bundesliga – Approx spend £370m
German giants and reigning champions Bayern Munich brought just two players in Mats Hummels and former Benfica midfielder Renato Sanches spending a total of £58m – just £8m more than Newcastle.
Borussia Dortmund were the league’s biggest spenders as they look to close the gap on Bayern having splashed out £93m on the likes of Mario Gotze and Andre Schurrle.
Between Dortmund and Bayern, the Champions League duo spent £151m and in stark contrast Aston Villa, Newcastle, Fulham and Wolves spent just £19m less.
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