Fernandez move caps Premier League spending spree as clubs spend US$4.7bn on players

Enzo Fernandez makes switch from Chelsea to Manchester City for US$125 million, as club spends US$600 million on midfield makeover

English football flexed its unrivalled spending power by embarking on an unprecedented US$4.7 billion outlay on players in the summer transfer window — and Manchester City saved the biggest signing of the lot right to the very end.

Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez became one of the most expensive players in the game’s history by completing a marquee move to City from Premier League rivals Chelsea for £125 million (US$169 million) in the final hours of the window that closed across Europe on Tuesday.

City’s spending alone on new players this summer — its first in the post-Pep Guardiola era — soared past US$600 million, a record splurge by a club in a single transfer window. With the expenditure of Chelsea and Tottenham also more than US$400 million, England’s top-flight clubs showed they’re in a league of their own when it comes to financial might.

That’s mainly down to the competition’s huge domestic and international broadcasting deals, which dwarf those of its less-watched European rivals, but also because of a recent tweak to the Premier League’s financial rules that now allows clubs with the biggest revenues and turnover — like City and others who regularly benefit from Champions League largesse — to have greater spending power in the transfer market.

Deadline day passed with the combined spending of top-flight clubs in Spain, Italy, Germany and France — Europe’s other so-called “Big Five” leagues — coming to US$3.8 billion, according to figures on soccer industry website Transfermarkt.

The previous highest spend by English teams in one window was £3.14 billion in 2025.