Premier League clubs have the greatest spending power – but it comes at a cost…

英超俱乐部拥有最强的购买力——但这需要付出代价……

By Chris Weatherspoon June 26, 2025 12:10 pm

________________________________________

This summer’s transfer window has endured something of a sputtering start, owing to the newly-expanded Club World Cup. Ahead of the tournament’s kick-off, clubs were granted an ‘exceptional registration period’ between 1 and 10 June. The window was then closed for five days before it opened rather more widely last Monday; Premier League clubs can now register new signings up to 7pm on Monday, 1 September.

由于新扩军的世俱杯，今年夏天的转会窗口开启得有些不畅。在赛事开赛前，俱乐部在6月1日至10日之间被授予了一个“特殊注册期”。随后转会窗口关闭了五天，直到上周一才更广泛地重新开放；英超俱乐部现在可以在9月1日星期一晚上7点之前注册新签约球员。

Despite the disjointed beginnings, things quickly settled into a familiar rhythm and, as ever, Premier League clubs lead the way in spending. At the time of writing, according to Transfermarkt, England’s top 20 clubs have already spent more than €760million (£648m) on new signings, more than double Italy’s Serie A, the next highest-spending league.

尽管开局不顺，但事情很快恢复了熟悉的节奏，并且一如既往，英超俱乐部在支出上遥遥领先。截至撰稿时，根据转会市场的数据，英格兰前20家俱乐部已经在新签约上花费了超过7.6亿欧元（6.48亿英镑），是支出第二高的联赛——意大利甲级联赛——的两倍多。

Plenty of deals have been all-domestic affairs; one Premier League club buying from another. But even accounting for those leaves the English top tier’s net spend at €412m. No other league yet tops €100m.

许多交易是纯国内事务：一家英超俱乐部从另一家购买球员。但即使扣除这些内部交易，英格兰顶级联赛的净支出仍高达4.12亿欧元。目前还没有其他联赛的净支出超过1亿欧元。

The reason for English clubs’ preeminence in the transfer market is obvious: the size of the Premier League’s TV deals.

英格兰俱乐部在转会市场上占据主导地位的原因显而易见：英超电视转播合同的规模。

Based on figures detailed in UEFA’s latest European Club Finance and Investment Landscape report, the combined annual worth of the latest TV deals for La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 is €4.998billion. The Premier League’s deal on its own for the coming season stands at €4.53bn — or 91 per cent of the rest of the ‘big five’ leagues combined.

根据欧足联最新的《欧洲俱乐部财务与投资格局报告》中详述的数据，西甲、德甲、意甲和法甲最新电视转播合同的年总价值为49.98亿欧元。而英超联赛自身即将到来的赛季的转播合同价值就高达45.3亿欧元——相当于其他“五大联赛”总和的91%。

The actual proportion could be even higher, dependent on what happens in France this summer after the French league and broadcaster DAZN terminated their deal just one year into its five-year term.

实际比例可能更高，这取决于今年夏天法国的情况，法国联赛与转播商DAZN在五年合同仅执行一年后就终止了协议。

Mulling which league in world football boasts the greatest spending power this summer makes for neither lengthy nor novel conversation. It is, as it has been for a very long time, the Premier League.

思考今年夏天世界足坛哪个联赛拥有最强的购买力，既不需要长篇大论，也非新鲜话题。正如长久以来一样，是英超联赛。

That remains true even after the recent rise to prominence of the Saudi Pro League. Since joining the elite transfer fray in the summer of 2023, Saudi Arabian clubs have spent at a level only the Premier League surpasses. Those same clubs benefit from near bottomless wealth and don’t have to contend with the regulatory morass of English and European clubs, so there’s a case to be made for the Saudi Arabian league sitting above all others.

即使在沙特职业联赛近年来崛起之后，这仍然是事实。自2023年夏天加入精英转会竞争以来，沙特阿拉伯俱乐部的支出水平仅次于英超。这些俱乐部受益于近乎取之不尽的财富，并且不必应对英格兰和欧洲俱乐部面临的复杂监管泥潭，因此有理由认为沙特联赛的购买力高于其他所有联赛。

Yet much of that spending is concentrated at the four clubs the country’s Public Investment Fund took control of in June 2023: Al Hilal, Al Nassr, Al Ahli and Al Ittihad account for around 85 per cent of Saudi club spending since then.

然而，这些支出大部分集中在2023年6月该国公共投资基金（PIF）接管的四家俱乐部：利雅得新月、利雅得胜利、吉达国民和吉达联合。自那以后，这四家俱乐部占据了沙特俱乐部总支出的约85%。

On the contrary, Premier League clubs spend heavily across the board. Recently promoted (and swiftly relegated) Ipswich Town spent more than £100m last summer. Bournemouth, whose average home crowd only just tops 11,000, spent £271.1m across 2022-23 and 2023-24, recouping just £5.1m in the process. That gave them the fifth-highest net spend in England over that time.

相反，英超俱乐部的支出是普遍性的。最近升入英超（又迅速降级）的伊普斯维奇镇去年夏天花费了超过1亿英镑。平均主场观众人数勉强超过11000人的伯恩茅斯，在2022-23和2023-24赛季共花费了2.711亿英镑，期间仅收回了510万英镑。这使得他们在英格兰同期的净支出排名第五。

The sway of English clubs has become all too obvious in recent years. Bournemouth’s ability to coax Dean Huijsen from Juventus last summer was a pretty stark example of how a Premier League side’s appeal now compares to some of Europe’s most illustrious clubs. Huijsen has since been sold on to Real Madrid for more than triple what Bournemouth spent.

近年来，英格兰俱乐部的影响力变得非常明显。伯恩茅斯去年夏天能够从尤文图斯签下胡伊森，就是一个鲜明的例子，表明英超球队的吸引力如今如何与欧洲一些最负盛名的俱乐部相媲美。胡伊森后来以伯恩茅斯支付价格三倍多的转会费被卖给了皇家马德里。

Bournemouth plainly did well in that deal but there is a price to be paid, quite literally, for Premier League supremacy. The ignition of interest from England’s shores alerts clubs to the possibility of a bumper payday — if Premier League clubs are interested, they can seek to push the price up.

伯恩茅斯显然在这笔交易中做得很好，但英超的霸主地位是要付出实实在在的代价的。来自英格兰的兴趣点燃了其他俱乐部获得丰厚回报的可能性——如果英超俱乐部感兴趣，他们就可以试图抬高价格。

It is why, for example, Bayer Leverkusen could command a club-record fee from Liverpool for Florian Wirtz earlier this month. If Wirtz had admirers only from within Germany, or, worse still, only from leagues of lesser quality than the Bundesliga, Leverkusen would have found it much more difficult to summon up the €136m they ultimately got from Liverpool for Wirtz’s services.

这就是为什么，例如，勒沃库森本月早些时候能够为弗洛里安·维尔茨向利物浦索要创俱乐部纪录的转会费。如果维尔茨的追求者仅限于德国国内，或者更糟，仅限于水平低于德甲的联赛，勒沃库森要获得他们最终从利物浦为维尔茨服务得到的1.36亿欧元，就会困难得多。

That’s a fairly obvious point to make, one which tacks to the simple law of supply and demand. There are few world-class footballers who will command the biggest fees. Wirtz might well prove worth the nine figures Liverpool have spent but transfers are hard to compare on a like-for-like basis because a whole array of circumstances dictate the size of the eventual fee. Does the seller need to sell? Is the buyer desperate? Does the player want to move?

这是一个相当明显的观点，遵循了简单的供求定律。能够要求最高转会费的世界级足球运动员寥寥无几。维尔茨很可能值利物浦花费的九位数，但转会很难在完全等同的基础上进行比较，因为一系列情况最终决定了转会费的高低。卖方是否需要出售？买方是否迫切？球员本人是否想转会？

Nevertheless, in an attempt to bring some specificity and comparability to proceedings, Twenty First Group (TFG), a sports intelligence firm, have developed an in-house player price model, trained on historical transfers with the aim of estimating how much a player might be sold for in the present-day transfer climate.

尽管如此，为了给转会过程带来一些具体性和可比性，体育情报公司Twenty First Group（TFG）开发了一个内部球员价格模型。该模型基于历史转会数据进行训练，旨在估算球员在当今转会环境下的可能售价。

To showcase different leagues’ spending power this summer, TFG pointed their model at an existing Premier League player who enjoyed a stellar season in 2024-25 (we’ll keep him nameless, as Player X, for fear it looks like we’re encouraging a move for him). In doing so, they highlighted clear differences in expected player values, dependent upon the purchasing club.

为了展示今年夏天不同联赛的购买力，TFG将其模型应用于一位在2024-25赛季表现出色的现有英超球员（我们将其匿名，称为球员X，以免看起来像是在鼓励他转会）。通过这种方式，他们强调了预期球员价值的明显差异，这取决于购买俱乐部的所属联赛。

Per TFG’s example, Player X’s existing club could command an estimated €58m transfer fee if they were to sell to a fellow Premier League club this summer. That amount dips to €51m if a Saudi Pro League club were the buyer, €37m from a La Liga club, €35m from the Bundesliga, €34m from Serie A and €28m from Ligue 1.

根据TFG的示例，如果球员X的现有俱乐部今年夏天将其出售给另一家英超俱乐部，他们可以要求大约5800万欧元的转会费。如果买家是沙特职业联赛俱乐部，这个数字会降至5100万欧元；西甲俱乐部出价则为3700万欧元；德甲俱乐部3500万欧元；意甲俱乐部3400万欧元；法甲俱乐部2800万欧元。

If that sounds strange — why should imminent destination change a player’s transfer value? — then consider that transfers don’t happen in a bubble. Just by virtue of a Premier League club being interested, a player’s value rises. Selling clubs are fully aware of the riches England’s top-tier clubs have and barter for as big a slice as they can muster. Linked to that, since 2018-19, Premier League spending as a proportion of the ‘big five’ has risen from 32 per cent to 45 per cent.

如果这听起来很奇怪——为什么即将加盟的目的地会改变球员的转会价值？——那么请考虑到转会不是在真空中发生的。仅仅因为有英超俱乐部感兴趣，球员的身价就会上涨。出售俱乐部完全清楚英格兰顶级俱乐部拥有的财富，并会尽其所能争取最大利益。与此相关的是，自2018-19赛季以来，英超支出在“五大联赛”中所占的比例已从32%上升到45%。

At the other end of the scale, the financial chaos which has enveloped French football in recent years, and shows little sign of abating any time soon, has dramatically reduced Ligue 1 clubs’ spending power. Paris Saint-Germain are a clear outlier (and the fact they are can be held up as at least one reason for the diminishing financial power of the league as a whole — TFG rate the spread of quality in Ligue 1 as the least even across the ‘big five’ European leagues), but in general French clubs simply cannot afford to spend anywhere close to what their rivals across the English Channel manage. In 2023-24, PSG accounted for 39 per cent of Ligue 1’s gross spend.

在另一端，近年来笼罩法国足坛的财务混乱几乎没有减弱的迹象，这大大降低了法甲俱乐部的购买力。巴黎圣日耳曼是一个明显的例外（而他们本身的存在至少可以视为整个联赛财力下降的一个原因——TFG评估法甲各队实力分布是欧洲“五大联赛”中最不均衡的），但总的来说，法国俱乐部根本无法负担接近英吉利海峡对岸竞争对手所能达到的支出水平。在2023-24赛季，巴黎圣日耳曼占法甲总支出的39%。

While PSG might operate on a different plane to their domestic rivals, they do help highlight why it is difficult to talk about divisions as homogeneous entities when it comes to transfers.

尽管巴黎圣日耳曼的运作水平与其国内竞争对手不同，但它们确实有助于说明，在转会问题上，很难将整个联赛视为同质的整体。

Leverkusen again offer a relevant example. Their hefty takings from Liverpool this summer for Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong have, naturally, boosted their coffers. In turn, they have more buying power than ever before. Already, they look set to break their transfer record, last set six years ago, sending in excess of £30m back to Anfield for Jarell Quansah. Big, one-off sales, or a flurry of good deals, can elevate a club’s spending power well beyond what might normally be expected.

勒沃库森再次提供了一个相关例子。今年夏天，他们通过将维尔茨和杰里米·弗林蓬出售给利物浦获得丰厚收入，自然充实了他们的金库。反过来，他们拥有了比以往任何时候都强的购买力。目前看来，他们即将打破六年前创下的转会纪录，向安菲尔德支付超过3000万英镑以引进贾雷尔·宽萨。一笔大的、一次性的出售，或一连串成功的交易，可以将俱乐部的购买力提升到远超通常预期的水平。

That’s not always the case; good sales are sometimes needed to plug gaps elsewhere. The Primeira Liga in Portugal is routinely one of the best selling leagues in world football, driven by big player profits at the trio of Benfica, Porto and Sporting.

但情况并非总是如此；有时良好的出售是为了填补其他地方的亏空。葡萄牙超级联赛通常是世界足坛最好的球员出售联赛之一，这得益于本菲卡、波尔图和葡萄牙体育这三家俱乐部通过出售球员获得的高额利润。

Relative to the rest of Portugal, none of those clubs skimp on signings, but they trail most European rivals — only Benfica have broken into the top 25 spenders in Europe in any of the past three seasons. Those clubs require big sales to offset operating losses. Much the same is true of clubs in England’s second tier, another division that has posted large net transfer income in recent seasons.

相对于葡萄牙其他俱乐部，这三家俱乐部在引援上并不吝啬，但它们仍落后于大多数欧洲竞争对手——在过去三个赛季中，只有本菲卡曾跻身欧洲支出前25名。这些俱乐部需要大笔出售来抵消运营亏损。英格兰第二级别联赛的俱乐部情况也大致相同，这是另一个近年来录得高额转会净收入的联赛。

One league on the rise in terms of spending power is Serie A. The division was third for net spend in 2024-25 and, already this summer, six of the top 20 spending clubs hail from Italy's top division.

在购买力方面呈上升趋势的一个联赛是意甲。该联赛在2024-25赛季的净支出排名第三，并且今年夏天，支出排名前20的俱乐部中已有六家来自意大利顶级联赛。

Buoyed by improving performances in Europe and the attendant wealth that brings (Italian clubs should have topped a collective €400m in UEFA prize money last season for the first time), as well as a competitive domestic league where there’ve been four different winners in six years, Serie A revenues are improving and their ability to buy likewise. That said, a stagnant TV deal and continued huge losses at some of its biggest clubs — Juventus lost nearly €200m pre-tax in 2023-24, Roma lost €76m — will limit how far that goes.

受惠于欧洲赛场表现改善及其带来的财富（意甲俱乐部上赛季应首次获得总计超过4亿欧元的欧足联奖金），以及一个在六年内诞生了四位不同冠军的竞争激烈的国内联赛，意甲的收入正在增长，其购买能力也随之提升。话虽如此，停滞不前的电视转播合同以及一些最大俱乐部持续的巨大亏损——尤文图斯在2023-24赛季税前亏损近2亿欧元，罗马亏损7600万欧元——将限制这种增长的程度。

According to TFG’s model, Italian clubs get more bang for their buck than elsewhere too. When spending €20m, they estimate Serie A sides would, on average, be able to buy a player worthy of being a starter for the 12th-best Premier League club. In England, where clubs have to put up with paying a premium, €20m would only be enough for a starter at the 18th-best Premier League club. In other words, based on their analysis, Premier League clubs need to spend in excess of €20m if they want starters worthy of sides that will survive relegation.

根据TFG的模型，意大利俱乐部在引援上的性价比也高于其他地方。当花费2000万欧元时，他们估计意甲球队平均能够买到一位足以在英超排名第12的俱乐部担任首发的球员。在英格兰，俱乐部不得不支付溢价，2000万欧元仅够为英超排名第18的俱乐部购买一名首发球员。换句话说，根据他们的分析，如果英超俱乐部想要获得足以帮助球队保级的首发球员，他们需要花费超过2000万欧元。

Obviously, that’s not a set rule for every deal, and the source of those players has a bearing on their value. Premier League clubs enjoy the benefit of their players’ values increasing by virtue of having played in the Premier League, as proven by the huge player profits relegated clubs like Southampton have been able to generate in recent years. Players reared in the league's best academies can go for huge fees. Those factors help offset the premium paid on new signings, but it remains that English football’s well-known wealth means its clubs have to stomach paying more than their European peers.

显然，这并非每笔交易的铁律，球员的来源地也会影响其价值。英超俱乐部享有其球员因在英超效力而身价上涨的好处，近年来像南安普顿这样的降级俱乐部能够通过出售球员获得巨额利润就证明了这一点。在英超顶级青训营培养的球员也能卖出高价。这些因素有助于抵消引进新球员所支付的溢价，但不可否认的是，英格兰足球众所周知的财富意味着其俱乐部不得不接受比欧洲同行支付更多费用的事实。

Thankfully for them, they tend to be able to afford it. English Premier League clubs retain their spending power, with a new TV deal only likely to add further heft to their transfer sprees. Liverpool and Manchester City top the transfer charts already, spending nearly €300m between them even before we’ve reached July.

对他们来说幸运的是，他们通常负担得起。英超俱乐部保持着其购买力，新的电视转播合同只会进一步增加他们在转会市场上的豪购力度。利物浦和曼城已经领跑转会支出榜，甚至在七月到来之前，两家俱乐部的支出总和就已接近3亿欧元。

They and their Premier League peers will generally be able to buy as they please this summer — but that doesn’t mean it’s as simple as it looks. English clubs will continue to dominate transfer spending, but the huge sums they spend are in part because everyone knows they have to ability to spend it in the first place.

他们及其英超同行们今年夏天基本上可以随心所欲地购买——但这并不意味着事情像看起来那么简单。英格兰俱乐部将继续主导转会支出，但他们花费的巨额资金，部分原因恰恰在于所有人都知道他们首先就拥有这样的消费能力。