Summer transfer window breaks records, says Fifa in new ‘snapshot’ report

The International Transfer Snapshot shows fans how much money has been spent on transfers across global professional football in this mid-year transfer window, including insights into contract types and player ages - and it shows that England is leading the way in many metrics.

Spending on transfer fees this window was the second highest ever in men’s professional football with a whopping $6.46bn spent*, and English clubs made up a huge proportion of this with over $1.6bn*. The 11,000 men’s incoming transfers completed or pending worldwide represented a new record and 526 of these were in England - the highest in the world. English transfer fees spent were also far higher than the global average, with the average fee in England being over $8m (lower than the past four years) compared to just under $3m on a global scale.

The most expensive player of the summer was Julián Alvarez, who left Manchester City for Atlético Madrid in a deal worth up to £82m - a staggering profit on the £14m which City originally paid for him two years ago. Tottenham Hotspur take this year’s mantle for biggest purchase by an English club after Dominic Solanke joined from Bournemouth for a £55m fee, plus £10m in add-ons.

Records were smashed in women’s football too, with 1,125 transfers completed or pending - up from 853 last year. The share of transfers that included a fee has risen from 7.9 per cent to nine per cent.

Women’s transfer spending across the world more than doubled, rising from $3.02m to $6.8m* (£2.3m to £5.3m) - again, English clubs were the biggest spenders, splashing $2.33m* (£1.78m) with more than a week remaining until the Women’s Super League transfer window shuts on September 13.

One of the headline buys was Olivia Smith’s arrival at Liverpool in June, with the club spending £210,000 to bring her to Merseyside - though that’s still some way short of the $860,000 (£656,000) that American side Bay FC paid for Racheal Kundananji in February.

*These figures include data from both pending and completed transfers.