Real Madrid 25th & Man Utd 3rd: Which clubs have spent most on transfers last five seasons?

Five over €1billion 

While football supporters’ attention will be focused on the World Cup for the next six weeks, the transfer window officially opens on June 15th. For months clubs have been working tirelessly behind their scenes to implement their plans to refresh their squads over the summer. Players can officially move clubs from the aforementioned dates and some major deals will be completed immediately like Anthony Gordon’s €80 million move to Barcelona.

The World Cup generally has a significant impact on the transfer window with dealings often pushed back until late July and August after the tournament is finished. Major clubs will be extremely busy this summer with Manchester United and Arsenal expected to invest heavily, while Real Madrid will back José Mourinho in the market following his return to the Santiago Bernabeu. With the transfer window opening, we’ve decided to analyse which clubs have spent the most on new signings across the last five seasons.

Which clubs are the biggest spenders in the transfer market?

Transfermarkt is renowned as the leading source for facts and figures around transfers and fees. Therefore we’ve calculated which clubs had the highest expenditure between the start of the 2021/22 season to the end of 2025/26. Unsurprisingly, English Premier League clubs dominate the top 20 list, occupying all top three spots and Chelsea lead the way with €1.82 billion invested in new players. It’s worth highlighting that Chelsea also have the highest transfer income across the last five seasons as the only club to generate more than €1b. As the graphic below illustrates, Manchester City (€1.10b) have narrowly outspent their rivals Manchester United (€1.09b) to sit second.

Incredibly, PSG are the only non Premier League club in the top eight but unlike some of the English clubs, their investment has secured success with back-to-back Champions League titles. Interestingly, Tottenham have actually outspent their North London rivals Arsenal while Juventus are the only other non-Premier League club in the top ten. Perhaps another surprising factor is that neither Real Madrid or Barcelona feature in the top twenty list with the LaLiga giants ranked 25th and 39th respectively.

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