Uefa believes a “clear two-speed system” is emerging in the transfer market as a result of the huge spending by Premier League clubs this summer. In its latest European club talent and competition landscape report, European football’s governing body set out just how dominant the transfer activity of English clubs has become.
The report said the estimated €4.6bn (£4bn) spend by Premier League clubs is “larger than that of the next eight largest European countries combined”.
Andrea Traverso, Uefa’s executive director of finance, said the trend “raises concerns”. Writing in the report, he said: “Transfer values continue to rise sharply, particularly in the English market, increasing future pressure on club financial results.”
Traverso added that the developments “also point to an increasing concentration of talent and a growing polarisation of the market, with the emergence of a clear two-speed system”.
The figures behind that assessment show English clubs were involved in more than 60% of deals and paid an average of around €24m (£20.7m) per inbound player, compared with only around €4m (£3.4m) to €5m (£4.3m) in the other major European leagues – what the report described as a widening gap in purchasing power.
Traverso also warned of the risks should the market turn, saying that any “correction in transfer values” or “slowdown in buyer demand” could have serious implications for any club carrying debt.
The scale of English spending relative to income was laid out in the report, which found the transfer spend of the 20 Premier League clubs this year is “equivalent to 56% of their annual revenue” – much higher than the 33% average of the pre-Covid decade.
Uefa also highlighted the increasing trend for English clubs to complete big-value transfers between each other, a category that showed a 44% increase to €1.55bn (£1.33bn). The English domestic market was “as large in fee value as the next five market flows combined”, with a market flow describing league-to-league deals. After the English domestic market, the next most lucrative flow was from the German Bundesliga to the Premier League, at €690m (£594m).
The report recorded a significant rise in the number of European transfer fees paid above €50m, from 14 in the summer of 2024 to 23 in 2025, with another jump to 35 such deals in 2026 – of which Premier League clubs were responsible for 29.
With pressure to pass financial regulations, the report found clubs have increasingly looked to sell academy players, as they provide pure profit on the books. European clubs generated an estimated profit of €6.8bn (£5.85bn) on these sales over the summer, an increase of €655m on 2025.
Uefa also examined multi-club ownership, finding little evidence of clubs using such structures to move players for inflated or reduced fees. The total transfer fees of those deals were €152m (£130.8m), against an estimated market value of €159m (£136.8m). More than half of that spend came from transfers between Chelsea and Strasbourg.