Premier League summer spending exceeds £2bn for the first time

The Premier League’s summer spending of £2.36billion demonstrates the “incredible pace of growth” in the league’s wealth, according to finance company Deloitte.

The £2bn milestone was surpassed for the first time in advance of Friday’s deadline with moves such as Manchester City’s £53million capture of Wolves’ Matheus Nunes then driving the total to new heights.

Calum Ross, assistant director in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, told the PA news agency: “It took 14 summer transfer windows to exceed £1bn and it’s only taken seven more to surpass £2bn, so that just reflects the incredible pace of growth that we’re seeing.”

Deloitte’s analysis showed the 2023 summer transfer window exceeded the previous record of £1.92bn – set only last summer – by almost £440m.

Chelsea’s spending under Todd Boehly’s ownership group has continued with the £100m signing of midfielder Moises Caicedo from Brighton, £63m for forward Christopher Nkunku and Friday’s £40m capture of Cole Palmer from Manchester City.

With Newcastle beating the Blues, Tottenham and Liverpool to a place in this season’s Champions League and Brighton – who pulled off a deadline-day coup with a loan deal for Barcelona star Ansu Fati – also challenging, there are as many as eight teams with realistic top-four ambitions.

Arsenal signed West Ham captain Declan Rice for a similar fee to that for Caicedo and Manchester City spent £77m on Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol, while Spurs’ £47.5m move for Nottingham Forest forward Brennan Johnson was another standout move on deadline day.

Ross said: “You’ve got that intensity of competition across the league. There are 10 clubs that have spent more than £100m so it’s not all those top clubs.

“I think at the moment, more than half