Kingsbridge

Transfer spending by English clubs smashed through the £500m barrier this summer, a report by business advisory firm Deloitte has found.

Clubs have spent a staggering £530m on new players - around two-thirds higher than the previous record of £300m set in summer 2006.

New owners and a whopping television broadcasting deal were the key drivers behind the record levels of spending, the study said.

"This summer's transfer spending by English clubs has beaten all previous records," said Paul Rawnsley of Deloitte.

"But as Premier League clubs will receive around £300m of extra broadcast payments during the 2007/08 season the increase in transfer spending is not a surprise."

Total spending by Premier League sides exceeded £520m during the 2007 January and summer transfer windows, up by around 60 per cent on 2006.

The increase in transfer spending is a result of both higher average transfer fees and an increased number of transfers.

The average transfer fee paid by Premier League clubs increased from about £3.5m in summer 2006 to £4m in summer 2007.

Paul Rawnsley, Deloitte: "This summer's transfer spending by English clubs has beaten all previous records."

The number of transfers grew from about 80 a year ago to more than 100.

The Deloitte report shows that 12 Premier League clubs spent more than £20m on new players this summer, up from just 3 a year earlier.

Manchester United topped the Premier League spending table on £51m, closely followed by Liverpool on £50m.

Tottenham Hotspur spent a cool £40m to finish third, with Manchester City (£37m) fourth and newly promoted Sunderland (£35m) fifth.

Net transfer spending - when sales of players were also taken into account - by Premier League clubs increased to around £270m in summer 2007, up from £190m a year ago.

Of the money spent by Premier League sides, nearly £110m went to Football League clubs, while £265m was spent outside of England.

In Europe, Real Madrid were the top spenders with around £80m invested on new players in summer 2007, including the signings of Gabriel Heinze and Arjen Robben from Manchester United and Chelsea respectively.

Thierry Henry's £16m transfer from Arsenal helped push Barcelona’s transfer spending up towards £50m, with Athletico Madrid also spending around £50m.

Outside England, Spain’s Primera Liga was the next highest spending league this summer, with total transfer spending around half that spent by Premier League clubs.

Clubs in the top five European leagues (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France) spent around £1bn on transfers in summer 2007.

Alan Switzer, director in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said: "Looking further afield, it comes as no surprise to see Real Madrid and Barcelona spending at least as much as their English rivals on transfers, given that they have the highest revenues in world football in 2005/06.

"Broadcast revenues are again the key to explaining the high transfer spending by the two giants of Spanish football, who unlike their Premier League counterparts can sell their own broadcast rights.

"Both clubs have signed new deals which will generate significant increases in broadcast revenues for each club, to around £100m per season from 2008/09 - around twice the highest amount that a Premier League club is likely to receive."

The article English clubs splash the cash originally appeared on 999 Today