Football and money have always had an intimate relationship and it has only grown more obvious and grotesque since the dawn of the Premier League.
Last summer saw Premier League clubs spend a remarkable and frankly obscene amount of money in the transfer market, creating a new division record in the process. But this record did not stand for long and has already been toppled by this summer's investments.
Premier League clubs have forked out just shy of £2bn already this summer, with little under a week of the transfer window remaining. With the insane and hectic spending of deadline day still to come, this total is likely to increase significantly in the coming days.
The truly unbelievable thing about such ludicrous wealth being invested into England's top-flight is that it will all happen again next year, and it will be even bigger and more eye-watering.
What was the 2022/23 spending record?
Collectively, Premier League clubs spent a staggering £1.92bn on transfers during last summer's transfer window.
It would be easy to point the finger at Chelsea for this, but a large portion of their spending during last season came in January. Having said that, the Blues did still splash £75m on Wesley Fofana, £63m on Marc Cucurella, £48m on Raheem Sterling and £34m on Kalidou Koulibaly.
But they were not the only big spenders. Arsenal signed Fabio Vieira, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko for a combined £97m, while Liverpool splashed an initial £64m on Darwin Nunez and Manchester City forked out £93m on Erling Haaland and Kalvin Phillips.
Elsewhere, Manchester United spent approximately £200m on the South American trio of Casemiro, Antony and Lisandro Martinez, while Spurs invested just shy of £100m in Richarlison, Yves Bissouma and Djed Spence.
Even clubs like West Ham (£65m on Gianluca Scamacca and Nayef Aguerd), Everton (£68m on Neal Maupay, Amadou Onana and Dwight McNeil) and Nottingham Forest (£62m on Neco Williams, Emmanuel Dennis and Morgan Gibbs-White) added large sums to the £1.92bn total with big fees spent on individual players.
Five most expensive 2022/23 summer signings
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What is the news 2023/24 spending record?
This summer's spending has already usurped that spent by Premier League sides last year, and there is still several days left of the transfer window.
Premier League teams have already spent £1.95bn, with the total likely to pass the £2bn mark. This is the new division record, but may only last until next summer given the situation modern football finds itself in.
There have already been two transfers this summer worth over £100m - Declan Rice's £105m move to Arsenal and Moises Caicedo's £115m switch to Chelsea, the latter being a British record fee. But there have been plenty of significant deals under £100m, and the accumulation of transfers around the £40-80m mark has been one of the factors in setting this new record.
Josko Gvardiol joined Man City for £78m and is accompanied by Jeremy Doku who arrives for £56m, United have splashed £72m on Rasmus Hojlund, £60m on Mason Mount and £47m on Andre Onana, and Liverpool have spent £60m on Dominik Szoboszlai and approximately £35-55m on Alexis Mac Allister.
Chelsea have been at it again, bringing in Romeo Lavia for £58m, Christopher Nkunku for £52m and £39m on Axel Disasi alongside Caicedo, while Arsenal have also spent £65m on Kai Havertz and £38m on Jurrien Timber alongside Rice.
Tottenham have backed new manager Ange Postecoglou with £43m and £40m deals for Micky van de Ven and James Maddison respectively, while Newcastle United's newfound wealth has been spent on £55m and £38m deals on Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes, as well as the signing of Tino Livramento for £32m.
Five most expensive 2023/24 summer signings
Which deals could add to record total this summer?
With several days of the window to go, there is still plenty of time for that astounding £1.95bn total to increase.
For example, Liverpool are still expected to make moves in the market in the coming days. Crystal Palace's Cheick Doucoure has been linked with Anfield but would likely cost around £60-70m, while Fluminense's Andre and Bayern Munich's Ryan Gravenberch have also been touted with Merseyside moves in deals in the region of £30-35m.
The Reds have also been briefly linked with Bayer Leverkusen defender Piero Hincapie, although that deal would likely set the Reds back approximately £70m. Sofyan Amrabat has too been linked with Jurgen Klopp's side, but could also be on his way to Manchester United in a £30m move.
Portuguese midfielder Matheus Nunes is the subject of Man City interest, with the Cityzens expected to improve their £47m offer for the Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder. The champions have also indicated that they may be interested in sparking a deal for Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze, but such a transfer would cost around £70m.
Even the so-called 'smaller clubs' in the Premier League are looking to spend big in the final days of the window. West Ham are closing in on a £38m deal for Mohammed Kudus from Ajax, while Everton are nearing a £25m deal for Udinese forward Beto.
With rumours flying left, right and centre, there is bound to be plenty more transfer activity before the 1 September deadline. That £1.95bn figure is set to get even bigger.
LISTEN NOW TO 90MIN'S TALKING TRANSFERS PODCAST
On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth and Graeme Bailey to discuss Mohamed Salah's huge offer from the Saudi Pro League, Liverpool's stance on a sale, Ryan Gravenberch, Matheus Nunes, Romelu Lukaku, Folarin Balogun & more!
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This article was originally published on 90min as How the 2023 summer transfer window broke the Premier League spending record.