For the 5th consecutive season, La Liga has been ranked last in the top 5 national championships in Europe in terms of spending. Even Spain's top flight was overshadowed by the Saudi Pro League's spending.
Up to this summer, transfer spending is at a moderate level. Clubs in five major tournaments (La Liga, Premier League, Serie A, Ligue 1 and Bundesliga) have spent €2.6 billion on players, less than half of last season's ( €5.7 billion).
The record in recent years was recorded in the 2019-2020 season, with a whopping 6.5 billion Euros spent on player procurement.
In another season, the Premier League has shown superior financial strength and is the tournament that spends the most money on transfers.
20 Premier League teams have surpassed £1 billion for the 10th consecutive season. The last campaign they did not reach that number was in the 2013-14 season, with 873 million Euros. Of course, the current 1.2 billion Euros are still far from the 3.1 billion Euros they accumulated last season.
Serie A with 457 million Euros, takes second place in this ranking. Bundesliga is in 3rd place (403 million Euros) and Ligue 1 (395 million Euros) is in 4th place. Meanwhile, La Liga dropped to 5th place with nearly 237 million Euros.
The Spanish tournament has always been behind in spending in recent years. The 2019-2020 season is the last campaign in which La Liga can dominate the player market with 1.5 billion Euros.
Real Madrid, with 128.5 million Euros invested, accounted for 54.3% of the money spent on new contracts in La Liga this summer. Atletico de Madrid followed in second place, but with only 27.7 million. Almeria surprisingly ranked third with only 12.5 million Euros.
The current Barcelona championship, spending only 3.4 million Euros and like the majority of other clubs, they choose free players to strengthen their squad. The Blaugrana also prioritize borrowing players to optimize costs in the context of a tight budget.
Furthermore, the five teams ( Athletic Bilba, Real Betis, Osasuna, Rayo Vallecano and Real Sociedad) have not paid any transfer fees. La Liga has spent just over €25 million on the Saudi Pro League, an alarming decline.
Meanwhile, Arsenal spent €231.6 million on transfers and were behind in first place. Paris St Germain with 159 million Euros, and Tottenham (136 million Euros) in the next 2 positions. Real Madrid is the 4th highest spending team in Europe.
Declan Rice is so far the biggest deal of the summer 2023. Mikel Arteta's Arsenal have to pay West Ham £120 million to have an English midfielder. This figure is 17 million Euros higher than the amount Real Madrid paid Dortmund to have Jude Bellingham.
Although there is still more than a month left until the end of the player market, there are few signs that La Liga will return.
