La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and Bundesliga break summer transfer records
How Europe has spent heavily this summer after all-English Champions League and Europa League finals
Friday 17 April 2020 09:34, UK
Europe's top leagues have smashed transfer records this summer to strike back at Premier League dominance.
Premier League transfer spending has soared in recent years and hit £1.41bn this summer, according to Deloitte figures - just £20m shy of the record set in 2017.
That sustained injection of cash appears to have boosted English clubs' success in Europe, achieving an unprecedented clean sweep of finalists in the Europa League and Champions League last season.
But Europe's remaining top four leagues have all splashed record-breaking sums to bolster defences and firepower to challenge England's dominance at the elite level - with three recording year-on-year hikes that dwarf those on home soil.
La Liga smashed the 10-figure threshold for the first time ever with £1.24bn spent - leapfrogging Serie A (£1.06bn) as Europe's second-biggest spenders - followed by Bundesliga (£670m) and Ligue 1 (£605m).
Here's how the European empire struck back, in rank order...
La Liga
Summer spending: £1.24bn (+82 per cent)
Top spending club: Real Madrid
Although the much-anticipated return of Neymar to Spain failed to materialise, La Liga clubs still punched heaviest in the battle to reclaim Europe, with Real Madrid prising Eden Hazard from Chelsea, in addition to signing Luka Jovic, Eder Militao, Ferland Mendy and Rodrygo.
Meanwhile, Barcelona did battle with their Clasico rivals, drafting Antoine Griezmann, Frenkie de Jong and goalkeeper Neto while Atletico Madrid bolstered their squad with the likes of Joao Felix and Kieran Trippier.
But La Liga clubs also offloaded a raft of talent, including Rodri, Lucas Hernandez, Mateo Kovacic, Malcom, Pablo Fornals and Andre Gomes - in addition to loaning out stars such as Philippe Coutinho and Dani Ceballos.
Serie A
Summer spending: £1.06bn (+17 per cent)
Top spending club: Juventus
Italy recorded a comparatively low 17 per cent increase in spending, but top incomings included Romelu Lukaku, Danilo, Matthijs de Ligt, Aaron Ramsey, Adrien Rabiot and Diego Godin - with the latter trio on free transfers.
Serie A clubs also reduced spending totals by utilising loan moves, recruiting Alexis Sanchez, Chris Smalling, Davide Zappacosta, Matteo Darmian, Fernando Llorente and Henrikh Mkhitaryan from the Premier League on temporary deals.
Conversely, emerging talents such as Moise Kean and Joao Cancelo travelled in the opposite direction, while Wolves snapped up Pedro Neto and Bruno Jordao from Braga - having both completed loan periods at Lazio.
Bundesliga
Summer spending: £670m (+68 per cent)
Top spending club: Bayern Munich
As was the case last year, there was a notable gulf between the big spenders in La Liga and Serie A and the more modest splurges in the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 - but Germany narrowly edged France.
Headline transfers included Lucas Hernandez, Paco Alcacer, Benjamin Pavard, while Philippe Coutinho, Ivan Perisic, Marko Grujic, Ethan Ampadu and Jurgen Locadia secured loan deals.
Julian Brandt, Mats Hummels and Thorgan Hazard made headline switches on German soil but numerous stars left Ligue 1 permanently, including Jovic, Joelinton, Sebastien Haller, Abdou Diallo, Renato Sanches and Franck Ribery.
Ligue 1
Summer spending: £605m (+73 per cent)
Top spending club: Monaco
Ligue 1 ranked bottom of the spending charts for the second successive summer window, but almost doubled expenditure from last year with a 73 per cent increase.
Paris Saint-Germain signed Idrissa Gueye from Everton for £29m and snapped up Ander Herrera from Manchester United on a free, in addition to drafting Abdou Diallo, Pablo Sarabia and Keylor Navas from outside France.
Other notable Bundesliga incomings included Kasper Dolberg, Wissam Ben Yedder, Abdou Diallo, Gelson Martins and Joachim Anderson - with former Gunner Jeff Reine-Adelaide switching from Angers to Lyon.
Arsenal signed William Saliba from Saint-Etienne but immediately loaned the defender back on a season-long deal, while Tiemoue Bakayoko, Mauro Icardi, Alban Lafont and Jean-Kevin Augustin signed temporary deals at Ligue 1 clubs.
But while PSG retained Neymar, Ligue 1 lost a number of headline players, such as Premier League-bound Nicolas Pepe, Tanguy Ndombele, Youri Tielemans, Giovani Lo Celso, Ismaila Sarr and Allan Saint-Maximin.
Other departing stars included Nabil Fekir, Adrien Rabiot, Ferland Mendy, Mario Balotelli, Grzegorz Krychowiak and Moussa Diaby.
Waves of domination in Europe
Italian sides enjoyed a decade-long period of superiority in Europe from the late 1980s and Spanish sides have predominantly dominated for some 15 years - until Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal made history last season.
