Blockbuster deals such as Elliot Anderson joining Manchester City, Morgan Rogers joining Chelsea or Sandro Tonali joining Tottenham show a clear trend in the transfer market. That is that clubs in the "Big Six" group are increasingly prioritizing buying players from other rivals in the Premier League.
According to statistics, since the summer of 2016, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham have spent a total of 2.8 billion pounds to recruit players from clubs outside the "Big Six" group but still playing in the Premier League.
This trend is accelerating strongly. In the previous season alone, the "Big Six" teams spent up to 647 million pounds, the highest level in history, while in this summer transfer window the figure reached 420 million pounds.
Not only the "Big Six", the entire Premier League is also witnessing an explosion of internal deals. The total amount of money clubs spent to buy players from the league last season reached 1.29 billion pounds, breaking the record in league history.
The clearest reason is that clubs are willing to pay a higher price to own players who have proven their ability in the Premier League, instead of accepting risks with new players from abroad.
If considering the spending ratio for players playing in the Premier League, this figure once decreased to a record low of 14% in the 2018-2019 season, but has now increased to 41% in this summer transfer window.
Chelsea is the team most dependent on the domestic market. Since 2016, the Stamford Bridge team has spent up to 862 million pounds to buy players from Premier League teams, mostly under the BlueCo group.
Notably, Brighton is the biggest player-selling partner for Chelsea with a total value of deals up to 263 million pounds. Leicester brought Chelsea contracts worth 222 million pounds, while Aston Villa contributed about 156 million pounds.
In the opposite direction, Chelsea is also the team that earns the most money from selling players to Premier League teams, with a total revenue of 683 million pounds since the 2016-2017 season.
This summer's transfer market continues to record a strong increase in value. On average, each major contract currently costs about 68 million pounds, while 6/10 of the most expensive deals take place between Premier League clubs.
As of now, Tottenham is the team that spends the most with 237 million pounds, followed by Chelsea (203.5 million pounds) and Man City (129 million pounds).
In the context of increasingly stringent financial regulations, many "Big Six" clubs believe that investing in players who have adapted to the Premier League is a safer and more effective option. This trend not only helps reduce professional risks but also makes cash flow circulate more and more strongly within the UK's number one league.
