Nottingham Forest brought in an incredible 21 players this summer – a Premier League record
(Image credit: Getty)
Nottingham Forest can be forgiven for getting a little over-excited. Promotion through the Championship play-offs last season earned Steve Cooper’s side a ticket to their first Premier League campaign in 23 years – and they’ve since done everything they can in the transfer market to ensure they make the most of the opportunity.
By the time the summer transfer window closed on Thursday, Forest had signed a remarkable 21 players – a Premier League record – and splashed out almost £150 million in fees. It was a record-breaking transfer window all round, with a staggering £2.1 billion being spent by clubs in England’s top flight.
But how does the newly-promoted Nottingham club’s spending compare to other teams in England and Europe?
Nottingham Forest have a bigger net spend than Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 combined
(Image credit: Getty Images)
One bit of trivia that has been doing the rounds since the window closed is that Nottingham Forest’s net spend was more than every club in Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 combined.
This is true. But it’s also true for another 17 Premier League clubs. In fact, the only teams in the English top-flight who didn’t finish the window with a bigger net spend than those leagues combined were Brighton and Leicester.
The figures, via Transfermarkt, show that Forest spent £145.8m and earned £6.3m, leaving them with a net spend of £139.5m.
Here's how that compares with Europe’s top-five leagues:
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
Premier League: Expenditure £2bn, income £796m. Balance = -£1.2bn
Ligue 1: Expenditure £502m, income £539m. Balance = -£37m
La Liga: Expenditure £455m, income £408m. Balance = +£47m
Bundesliga: Expenditure £436m, income £476m. Balance = +£40m
Serie A: Expenditure £674m, income £671m. Balance = +£3m
Total balance of Ligue 1, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A = +£27m
So the net transfer activity of the other four major leagues combined came out with a profit. Only three clubs in the Premier League could say the same thing: Brighton, Leicester and Man City.
And only the Seagulls (£59.5m) and Leicester (£58m) came out with a better figure than that combined total.
(Image credit: PA)
Forst are bigger spenders than any team in Germany, France, Italy or Spain
Forest’s club record expenditure of £146.8m also puts them among the biggest spenders on the continent.
Although no deals were eye-wateringly expensive by modern Premier League standards – Morgan Gibbs-White was the priciest at an initial £25m and his was the only deal above £20m – the sheer quantity of players brought in saw Cooper’s side outspend some illustrious clubs.
In fact, no club in Europe’s other top-five leagues spent as much as Forest:
Nottingham Forest total gross spend: £146.8m
Barcelona (biggest spenders in La Liga): £137.7m
PSG (biggest spenders in Ligue 1): £132.8m
Bayern Munich (biggest spenders in the Bundesliga): £123.8m
Juventus (biggest spenders in Serie A:) £92.2m
Forest are one of Europe’s top five biggest-spending clubs
Of course, there were several clubs in England that forked out more on transfer fees than Forest. Indeed, the top five clubs for gross spend are all Premier League sides, and seven of the top 10 hail from England.
Chelsea: £253.8m
Manchester United: £214.2m
West Ham: £163.8m
Tottenham: £153m
Nottingham Forest: £145.8m
Barcelona: £137.7m
PSG: £132.8m
Manchester City: £125.6m
Bayern Munich: £123.8m
Wolves: £123m
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Alasdair Mackenzie is a freelance journalist based in Rome, and a FourFourTwo contributor since 2015. When not pulling on the FFT shirt, he can be found at Reuters, The Times and the i. An Italophile since growing up on a diet of Football Italia on Channel 4, he now counts himself among thousands of fans sharing a passion for Ross County and Lazio.
