UEFA warns of Premier League transfer dominance
UEFA executive director Andrea Traverso highlights a 'two-speed system' in European football, citing the £4bn Premier League spend as larger than the next eight countries combined.
In its latest European club talent and competition landscape report, the organisation stated that the estimated €4.6bn (£4bn) spend by Premier League clubs is "larger than that of the next eight largest European countries combined". Andrea Traverso, Uefa's executive director of finance, noted that "transfer values continue to rise sharply, particularly in the English market, increasing future pressure on club financial results".
Traverso wrote that these developments point to an "increasing concentration of talent and a growing polarisation of the market". English clubs were involved in more than 60% of the deals and paid an average of around €24m (£20.7m) per inbound player, compared with only around €4m (£3.4m) to €5m (£4.3m) in the other major European leagues.
The report added that the transfer spend of the 20 Premier League clubs this year is "equivalent to 56% of their annual revenue" — much higher than the 33% average of the pre-Covid decade. Uefa also highlighted the increasing trend for English clubs to do big-value transfers between each other, which showed a 44% increase to €1.55bn (£1.33bn).
Traverso said that any "correction in transfer values" or "slowdown in buyer demand" could have serious implications for any club carrying debt. The English domestic market was described as "as large in fee value as the next five market flows combined", underlining the widening gap in purchasing power.
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