Premier League transfers: Major clubs dominate summer spending

Liverpool, who won the league by 10 points last season, are top of the list with £269m spent so far this summer. That includes the purchases of Wirtz and Ekitike, as well as Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez for £40.8m and right-back Jeremie Frimpong, who cost almost £35m from Bayer Leverkusen.

It has been a contrast to the 2024-25 campaign, when the Anfield outfit’s only major signings were goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili and forward Federico Chiesa, who joined for a combined total of less than £40m.

Chelsea, fourth in the Premier League last season, have spent the second highest total this summer, with just over £212m. Their biggest moves have been a deal worth £60m for Brighton forward Joao Pedro, left-winger Jamie Gittens from Borussia Dortmund for £56m, and Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap for £30m.

Arsenal have been runners-up in each of the past three seasons and they would also pass the £200m mark with the arrival of Gyokeres, having already spent £137m. Their major purchases have included Spain midfielder Martin Zubimendi for £60m from Real Sociedad and Chelsea winger Noni Madueke for just under £50m.

Manchester City finished third last year and did their business early in the summer, with about £127m spent, largely on the trio of midfielder Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan, left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolves and French attacker Rayan Cherki from Lyon.

Manchester United suffered their worst campaign in the Premier League era when they came 15th. They are the only side outside last season’s top four to have spent more than Manchester City this summer, but most of their £133.5m outlay has been on two forwards – Cameroon international Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford and Brazilian Matheus Cunha from Wolves.

Tottenham finished 17th in the table, but salvaged a disappointing season by winning the Europa League – beating Manchester United in the final – although it was not enough to avoid manager Ange Postecoglou getting the sack.

Spurs have since spent £122.5m under new boss Thomas Frank, with almost half of that in one transfer – the £55m purchase of midfielder Mohammed Kudus from West Ham, while it cost £30m to turn attacker Mathys Tel’s loan from Bayern Munich into a permanent deal.