Premier League clubs spent less during the 2021 January transfer window that Liverpool spent on just one in 2018.
In same month which saw Virgil van Dijk join Liverpool for £75million three years ago, Premier League clubs spent a collective £70m this time around.
Welcome to #EFC, Joshua King!
pic.twitter.com/LvSTScOsJa
— Everton (@Everton) February 2, 2021
It says a lot that the most exciting news on Deadline Day centred around Bournemouth striker Josh King’s late decision to join Everton instead of Fulham, while Southampton snapped up Liverpool forward Takumi Minamino on a temporary deal.
Liverpool were busy, signing Preston defender Ben Davies for £2m and securing a loan deal for Schalke’s Ozan Kabak to ease their centre-back crisis after Joel Matip was ruled out for the rest of the season.
King and Davies were two of just three permanent moves on Deadline Day, the other being Moises Caicedo to Brighton for £4m, while six loan deals took place.
In addition to Kobak and Minamino, Arsenal duo Joe Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles were sent on loan to Newcastle and West Brom respectively, Okay Yokuslu also joined the Baggies on a temporary move from Celta Vigo, while Fulham secured a short-term deal for striker Josh Maja from Bordeaux.
Loans dominated a window in which the only big purchases were Man United buying Amad Diallo for £18.7m (which a further potential £18m in add-ons) and West Ham turning their temporary deal for Said Benrahma into a £25m permanent signing.
And both of those moves were already agreed in the summer!
Aston Villa’s signing of Morgan Sanson from Marseille for a reported £14m was the only other major deal done in January.
Those three signings amounted for 75% of the total spend of Premier League clubs during the window.
Overall, there were only 24 Premier League transfers, compared to the average of 46 across the previous three years’ January windows.
While January is usually quieter than the summer market, recent deals such as Van Dijk to Liverpool and Bruno Fernandes to Man United show big clubs aren’t always so reluctant to spend.
This time around – Liverpool, United and Arsenal were the only ‘big six’ Premier League clubs to spend at all during the window.
In short, spending was way down from the £230m splashed by Premier League clubs in January 2020 and the £70m spent in the latest winter window is the lowest total since 2012.
Why? Mainly because the COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on clubs’ finances, not just in England, but across all the big European leagues.
New restrictions on signing overseas players as a result of Brexit may have also contributed, but not nearly as much as coronavirus, according to Deloitte.
Dan Jones, partner at the Sports Business Group, commented: “Premier League clubs were understandably cautious in the January transfer window given the ongoing financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Despite this, Premier League clubs’ very busy summer window, at a time when the rest of European football was more restrained, saw total net expenditure for the 2020/21 season reach a new record level of £950m.
“It remains to be seen if the relatively low activity in January will continue throughout 2021. We certainly do not expect to see another new record this summer.”
Jones added: “During the January 2021 window, Premier League clubs’ expenditure on players from non-English clubs fell to just £45m.
“In the previous two January transfer windows, Premier League clubs’ spend on this category of expenditure averaged £165m.
“While new post-Brexit rules on acquiring players from overseas may have contributed to this, the financial impact of the pandemic was, by far, a more important factor.”
Every Premier League done deal from the 2021 January transfer window