Clubs from Europe’s five main football leagues made significant investments during the 2026 summer transfer window, totaling more than 7.3 billion euros — approximately R$43.9 billion. The period was notable for the strong performance of the big English teams in the market. The group known as the “Big Six” of the Premier League, which includes Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham, spent around 2 billion euros, the equivalent of R$12 billion, on signings. A detailed balance of movement is presented, with information collected until the night of September 1, 2026.
Manchester City stood out as the club with the highest volume of investments in this period, with 527 million euros, equivalent to R$3.1 billion. This amount represents the biggest spend ever recorded by a single club in a summer window, surpassing the previous record of €483.1 million set by Liverpool the previous season.
Tottenham, in turn, secured a position in the top 10 of clubs that invested the most in reinforcements, marking a historic window for the team. Of the ten clubs with the highest spending, eight are from the Premier League, demonstrating English financial hegemony. Newly promoted Ipswich Town surprised by spending more than 220 million euros. The only non-English clubs to feature in the top ten are Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Clubs with the highest spending in the 2026 window
- Manchester City: 527 million euros
- Chelsea: 406.7 million euros
- Tottenham: 366.3 million euros
- Newcastle: 313 million euros
- Aston Villa: 300.2 million euros
- Liverpool: 264.6 million euros
- Arsenal: 227.1 million euros
- Real Madrid: 225 million euros
- Ipswich Town: €220.6 million
- Barcelona: 184 million euros
The club that earned the most from player sales was Chelsea, with 447.8 million euros. Aston Villa came in second place, with more than 360 million euros, around R$2.1 billion. However, Paris Saint-Germain had the best balance between purchases and sales, with a positive balance of 182 million euros, exceeding R$1 billion.
There is an important distinction between Aston Villa and PSG. The English team saw the departure of important players from its Europa League-winning squad last season, such as midfielders Tielemans and Morgan Rogers, defender Konsa, attackers Malen and Watkins, and goalkeeper Dibu Martínez. The French team managed to keep all the starters who won the last Champions League.
Brazilians among the most expensive reinforcements of the season
The biggest signing in this European summer window was finalized in the last moments before closing. Manchester City will pay 145.8 million euros (R$870 million) for midfielder Enzo Fernández, who was at Chelsea.
This transaction became the fourth most expensive transfer in football history and set a new record for the Premier League market. Enzo had already been the most expensive player in the summer window of the 2022/23 season, when he went from Benfica to Chelsea for 121 million euros at the time. He is the first athlete to surpass the €100 million mark in two transfers.
Manchester City and Tottenham had three signings each among the ten most expensive of the window. City brought in Enzo Fernández, Elliot Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi, while Tottenham signed Tonali, Matheus Fernandes and striker Savinho. Another Brazilian player to appear in this ranking is midfielder Bruno Guimarães, who signed a four-year contract with Arsenal.
Higher value reinforcements in summer 2026
- Enzo Fernández (Manchester City): 145.8 million euros
- Morgan Rogers (Chelsea): 138 million euros
- Elliot Anderson (Manchester City): 135 million euros
- Bradley Barcola (Liverpool): 125 million euros
- Yan Diomande (Real Madrid): 125 million euros
- Sandro Tonali (Tottenham): 108 million euros
- Matheus Fernandes (Tottenham): 99 million euros
- Ayyoub Bouaddi (Manchester City): 95 million euros
- Savinho (Tottenham): 87.7 million euros
- Bruno Guimarães (Arsenal): 87.5 million euros
Among other Brazilians, midfielder Andrey Santos changed clubs in England, leaving Chelsea for Manchester United for 56 million euros. João Gomes left Wolverhampton to join Aston Villa, and striker Allan landed at Manchester City. Another highlight was the departure of center forward Gabriel Jesus to Barcelona, in a deal worth approximately 10 million euros.
Barcelona also generated attention by paying 80 million euros for striker Gordon, an announcement made before the market even opened. Despite persistence, the Catalan club failed to sign Julián Álvarez from Atlético de Madrid. On the other hand, Barcelona brought midfielder Rodri, voted the best in the 2026 World Cup. The scorer of the Spanish team’s winning goal in the World Cup, Ferrán Torres, transferred to PSG.
While Barcelona invested 184 million euros in total in reinforcements, Real Madrid spent 225 million euros. Real signed the most expensive signing in the club’s history this summer: striker Diomande, formerly of RB Leipzig. Furthermore, the Spanish club signed deals with Bernardo Silva, Cucurella, Carlos Espí, Dumfries and Konaté.
The high price paid by Real Madrid for Diomande, a 19-year-old striker with less than 50 professional club appearances, sparked debate. The transfer could cost up to 140 million euros.
The transfer window featured several similar cases of high investment in young talent: Manchester United spent around 76 million euros on 22-year-old midfielder Baleba; Manchester City invested 135 million euros in Elliot Anderson, aged 23, and another 95 million euros in Bouaddi, aged 18; Liverpool paid PSG 125 million euros for 23-year-old Barcola.
Tottenham allocated more than 100 million euros for midfielder Tonali, who did not have a good year at Newcastle. The same Tottenham sold 19-year-old defender Vuskovic, who did not play in 2025/26, to Brighton for 54 million euros. Nottingham Forest bought center forward Liam Delap, who scored two goals for Chelsea last season, for 58 million euros.
This summer window of 2026 saw six signings above 100 million euros and eleven above 80 million euros. This is a significant increase compared to previous years. English football in particular appears to be in a spending bubble.
Record spending in the Premier League boosts market
English Championship clubs invested more than 4 billion euros, the equivalent of R$24 billion, in signings for the season. This value sets a new record in the Premier League and at a global level, surpassing the total of the other four main leagues in Europe combined by around 703 million euros.
This year will be marked especially by the high spending of the so-called “Big Six” of English football, made up of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham. Together, these six clubs invested more than 1.9 billion euros in new names. This represents 48.2% of all investment made by the Premier League in the market.
Despite the moves by Barcelona and Real Madrid, LaLiga remained in fourth place among the leagues that invested the most in the window. In the Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich individually spent more than 100 million euros. France’s Ligue 1 and Italy’s Serie A maintained the investment level of the last two seasons.
Global spending in the transfer market is predominantly driven by these five leagues. Together, they invested more than 7.3 billion euros — R$44 billion — this summer, easily surpassing last season’s record (2025/26). The expectation is that there will also be a new global record, when adding investments from other countries.
The values presented are based on market data and may be updated in the coming hours, as negotiations that have not yet been completely completed are registered in the respective leagues’ systems.
