Top Five Premier League Clubs With The WORST Transfer Net Spend Over The Past 5 Years

David Tully

1 year ago

Tags: Arsenal, aston villa, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Leeds, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Sheffield United, Southampton, Spurs, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham, Wolves

In today’s post, we will be looking at the teams with the worst transfer net spend in the Premier League since the beginning of the 2018/19 season.

Transfer net spend has become a major bone of contention since the introduction of Financial Fair Play (FFP), and it can lead to heated debates about how some teams fund their purchases.

The five clubs that have made our list today are mostly the names that you would expect, although there is one team that may surprise you.

Press the next page as we look at the worst net spends over the past five seasons (based on data from CIES Football Observatory).

5) West Ham (-€435m)

The Hammers have rocketed up this list over the past year after a lavish spending spree during the 2022 summer transfer window.

Significant outlays on Lyon’s Lucas Paqueta, Sassuolo’s Gianluca Scamacca and Rennes’ Nayef Aguerd have been made but results haven’t followed.

As a consequence, manager David Moyes is under huge pressure, with West Ham currently sitting 17th in the table.

4) Tottenham (-€477m)

Plenty of Spurs supporters have complained about Daniel Levy’s running of the club, with question marks about the team’s lack of spending in the transfer market.

However, that isn’t borne out in the statistics. Tottenham’s net spend deficit is €349m more than Manchester City’s during the same period. The fact is, Spurs just haven’t spent wisely enough.

Sizeable funds were invested in the likes of Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso, Steven Bergwijn and Sergio Reguilon; all of whom turned out to be flops.

3) Arsenal (-€544m)

In contrast to Tottenham, Arsenal have made much better decisions in the transfer market, over the past two years especially.

While they have certainly spent a lot, technical director Edu and manager Mikel Arteta have got most of the big calls right, with the likes of Aaron Ramsdale, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ben White, Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey and Gabriel Jesus all being success stories.

They have managed to cancel out some of the major failures of the previous regime, most notably Nicolas Pepe.

2) Manchester United (-€670m)

The decisions that the Red Devils have made in the transfer market over the past five years have been hard to make heads or tails of.

There have been some successes, including Bruno Fernandes, but there have been a string of poor purchases that have limited their progress in the Premier League.

Sizeable fees have been spent on Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Jadon Sancho; none of which have paid off. If new owners take charge, they will certainly prioritise an overhaul of the recruitment department.

1) Chelsea (-€749m)

After spending over £600m in the last two transfer windows, it is not a surprise to see the Blues top this list.

It remains to be seen whether the lavish spending on the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk, Wesley Fofana and Marc Cucurella will pay off.

They have very much backed themselves into a corner with regards to Financial Fair Play, and they are expected to sell a number of first-team players this summer.