Listen: Is the Premier League immune to Covid recession?

While businesses around the world are still counting the costs of COVID-19, football clubs across Europe are using this summer to reassess their transfer spending and try to balance the books. However, the Premier League is continuing to splash the cash despite already accounting for the biggest transfer deficit in Europe last season.

This summer’s big spenders have been Chelsea with club owner Roman Abramovich showing the kind of desire in the transfer market that he first demonstrated when taking over the reins in west London. New record signing Kai Havertz has been joined by Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Ben Chilwell as part of manager Frank Lampard’s £200m spending spree.

However, it’s not just Chelsea rolling the dice by spending big this summer. Premier League returning Leeds, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Aston Villa, who narrowly escaped the drop last season, are among the clubs to have broken their transfer records on new signings this summer.

With just six days left before the Premier League transfer window closes, the 20 clubs that make up England’s top-flight are expected to be busy with millions changing hands as the 11pm Monday 5^th October deadline approaches.

A new report, commissioned by Football Index and conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), has predicted that Europe’s top five leagues will spend a third less (37%) this summer compared to 12 months previously (£3.15bn vs. £4.97bn). This would result in a trade deficit of £717m, which is £510m lower than the £1.2bn deficit recorded during last summer’s transfer window.

Aston spoke to Mike Bohan, co-founder and CMO of Football Index to discuss the report in further and also the future of how Premier League clubs could fare in the next transfer window.

Photo by Sandro Schuh on Unsplash