Transfer spending first became a big topic of discussion 20 years ago, when Roman Abramovich became the owner of Chelsea. The Blues’ substantial investment in the market destabilised the traditional hierarchy at the top of the English game and, initially, other teams had to play catch up.
Since then, there have been high-profile takeovers of the majority of clubs in the top flight (most notably at Manchester City) and, along with television revenue, it has fueled the signing of players for ever-larger sums over the past decade.
Today, we will be looking at the net spend of every current Premier League side since 2012. Using figures from the CIES Football Observatory, there are some surprising teams that don’t make the top five.
Press the next page as we count down the five Premier League clubs with the worst net spend in the transfer market over the last ten years.
