Let’s analyze the activity of the clubs Premier League on the market in the last 5 seasons.

Domination of Manchester City Premier League not the first year – now the “citizens” have reached the Champions League. The Sky Blues may be pushing transfers through status and lucrative offers, but surprisingly, in each of the past five seasons, there have been clubs that have invested more in stepping up.

Chelsea are a brilliant anti-example

The last scudetto “aristocrats” took in the 2016/17 season. If we take into account the segment over the past 5 seasons, then in the assets of the “blue” – Champions League-20/21 e THE-18/19. By comparison, City have won 4 league titles Premier League1 silver, 2 FA Cups, 3 English League Cups, National Super Cup e Champions League.

At the same time, it was the Londoners who, according to the results of three seasons of the last five, were the first in terms of transfer costs. For two transfer windows of the 18/19 campaign, the “aristocrats” acquired Kepa Arissabalaga for 80 million euros for the goalkeeper, Christian Pulisic – for 64 million, Jorginho – for 57. Of these, only the Italian has fully recovered Costs – the Spanish goalkeeper failed to become a reliable first number for a long time, which resulted in another signing of the goalkeeper.

The 2020/21 season has already signed Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Ben Chilwell, Hakim Ziyech and Kepa’s own replacement, Edouard Mendy. In total, this is almost 250 million euros. At the same time, Mendy is preparing to move to Saudi Arabia two seasons later, Ziyech still cannot be removed from anyone, Werner returned to Leipzig. And only Havertz and Chilwell joined the starting team.

But all templates have been broken since the last transfer campaign – and the winter one. Chelsea have shown a pattern of activity with minimal discharge. Fernandez and Mudrik are deals worth over 100 million euros, but Mihail is still lost and Enzo has not played well with Lampard. But Badyashil, Madueque, Gusteau, Santos, Fofana, Felix also arrived. Remember, this is only in the winter.

City have not even finished in the top 5 twice

To complete the comparison with the champions, two of the three times Chelsea have topped the list in terms of player spend, City have actually been outside the top five. Citizens don’t look to upgrade the backbone every transfer window and have focused on strengthening points. The most expensive transfer of the 2018/19 season for the Sky Blues was Riyad Mahrez – Leicester received about 68 million euros for the Algerian. And the winger joined Guardiola’s system last season Premier League scored 5 goals and gave 10 assists, before that he showed a similar performance.

The recent campaign is generally a landmark. Erling Holland has become the last piece of the puzzle for the big, but the cost SM only 60 million euros. Signed from Borussia Dortmund, Manuel Akanji quickly became the main of the three centre-backs, and Calvin Phillips was gradually brought into the main squad.

“Arsenal” – a model of healing moneybags

Once upon a time, the Gunners also tried to keep up with top deals and blundered after a blunder. Londoners have recently changed their strategy. Now expensive acquisitions are at a minimum. The club is stepping up sharply and acquiring players for the future, then loaning them to their home league so they can progress in their familiar environment.

There was a brilliant failure with Nicolas Pepe (80 million euros), who did not play for the transfers of Lucas Torreira and Sokratis Papastathopoulos. But among them, there are great deals for William Saliba, Gabriel Martinelli, Thomas Partey, Gabriel Magales, Martin Odegor, Ben White, Gaby Jesus, Alexander Zinchenko. Each of them formed the basis of the backbone, which this season allowed them to fight for the championship with Manchester City. At the same time, the Gunners have spent more than 100 million on transfers in three out of five seasons.

IN Premier League good to spend it all

It should also be understood that not only tops can invest in transfers, big expenses are the reality of the entire league. In the 2018/19 season, the top 5 in terms of transfer fees included Fulham and Wolves, sides who qualified for Premier League at the end of the previous season. And both teams have invested more than 100 million euros.

In the next championship, Aston Villa became such a team – 159.5 million euros. A year later – Leeds (127.8 million), and in the completed draw – Nottingham (195.25 million euros).

The explanation is quite simple: clubs feel the need to prepare their team to the strength level of the elite division, and the championship itself allows it – Aston Villa, having won the championship play-off final in 2018 /19, earned £160 million. With such a large amount of prize money, teams would need to invest in buffs to stay in the Premier League. Moreover, if the top clubs fill large sums with expenses for the purchase of the best players, then those from the second division buy a group of players who can become leaders in the future (by the way, such a policy does not always work).

The reality is that the conditional “Huddersfield” is also in play Premier League, was bought for 50 million – and this is the 15th place in spending in the 2018/19 season. According to the results of that championship, the team took the last place and flew to the championship. The same thing happened to Fulham. Until the next draw Premier League Norwich, Bournemouth and Watford were relegated. The last two teams have spent 100 million euros for two. And then by analogy: Fulham, West Bromwich, Sheffield United (2020/21), Watford, Burnley, Norwich (2021/22), Leeds and Southampton (2022)/23).

Practice shows that large investments for Premier League the norm – at the same time they do not guarantee not only the championship, but also the preservation of a place at the top. At the same time, with proper management, it is possible to dominate without always being first in terms of spending on new players.