The Premier League transfer market is witnessing an unprecedented wave of inflation, with consecutive deals breaking historical milestones. In just a few days, Elliot Anderson and Morgan Rogers have successively become the most expensive English players of all time after joining Manchester City and Chelsea for fees of 116 million pounds and 117 million pounds.
However, experts believe that these two deals should not be viewed separately. Man City spending a huge amount of money to recruit Anderson has created a chain reaction across the market. Aston Villa quickly used that price as a basis to negotiate with Chelsea in the Morgan Rogers deal, thereby continuing to push the transfer price level to a new level.
Ben Littlemore, a Premier League market valuation coordinator at Transfermarkt, said the Anderson deal has changed the way clubs value players. According to him, although Anderson is a great talent, the fee of 116 million pounds still far exceeds the actual market value before this summer.
Since then, many teams have had difficulty completing deals when sellers have cited Anderson's fee as a new standard. This makes the negotiation process more complicated and leads to widespread price increases.
According to Omar Chaudhuri, Director of Twenty First Group, Premier League clubs are willing to pay 20 to 30% more than other leagues to own players of equivalent quality. The first reason comes from the superior financial strength of the league, making player sellers confidently push prices up.
In addition, competitive pressure in the Premier League also makes teams accept to spend more heavily. Just one Champions League spot or avoiding relegation also brings huge revenue, creating motivation for clubs to invest heavily in the squad with the hope of improving performance.
Another notable trend is that teams are increasingly prioritizing players who have proven their ability in the Premier League. The difficulties of many stars moving from abroad in recent times have led clubs to believe that paying a high price for players who have adapted to the English football environment will significantly reduce professional risks.
According to statistics from Twenty First Group, the proportion of spending for players playing in the Premier League has increased from 14% in 2020 to more than 41% in the summer transfer window this year. This is clear evidence of the increasingly popular trend of "buying people in the league".
Player registration regulations also contribute to increasing the value of players who have grown up from the academy or have played for many years in England. Each Premier League team is only allowed to register a maximum of 17 non-"homegrown" players, making domestic talents a particularly valuable asset.
In addition to transfer fees, teams also have to bear many other costs such as representative fees, contributions to the player retirement fund and FIFA's solidarity mechanism for youth training clubs. These arising costs continue to push the total value of each deal higher.
In addition, the new financial regulation system also has a significant impact on the market. The Premier League has replaced the Profit and Sustainability (PSR) code with regulations limiting team costs to 85% of revenue and football-related profits. This change forces teams to calculate more carefully in investment strategies, while shifting the focus from accounting benefits to professional value and player resales.
However, the spending rate has not shown signs of cooling down. After Premier League clubs spent up to 3.4 billion pounds in the summer of last year, the figure in this year's transfer window has reached about 1.4 billion pounds even though the market still has many weeks to close.
