Transfer news: English clubs boast highest combined spend on international summer signings

Chelsea paid £97.5m to re-sign Romelu Lukaku while Man Utd spent in excess of £100m on Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo; WSL sides Everton and Arsenal broke their transfer records over the summer

Image: Romelu Lukaku and Jadon Sancho signed for Chelsea and Manchester United respectively during the summer

English clubs had the highest combined spend on international transfers during this summer's transfer window, analysis conducted by FIFA has shown.

According to the world governing body's International Transfer Snapshot published on Tuesday, in the men's game English clubs spent a total of $1,146.6m (£832.4m) between June 1 and August 31 this year.

England topped the list with a figure that was greater than that of the countries who were second and third put together Italy and France at $473.8m (£343.9m) and $428.9m (£311.4m) respectively.

That total spend by English clubs included Romelu Lukaku rejoining Chelsea from Inter Milan for £97.5m and Jadon Sancho moving to Manchester United from Borussia Dortmund for £73m.

Image: Raphael Varane was presented to Manchester United fans at Old Trafford ahead of their game against Leeds after signing from Real Madrid

In some of the other big international deals, Cristiano Ronaldo sensationally re-joined Manchester United from Juventus for £12.9m plus £6.9m in add-ons, Raphael Varane arrived at Old Trafford in a £41m deal from Real Madrid, while Ibrahima Konate signed for Liverpool from RB Leipzig for a £36m fee.

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England also led the way in terms of the number of incoming transfers (380) and outgoing ones (494).

Regarding money received from transfer fees, England was third with $409.8m (£297.5m) - German clubs recouped the most, $462.7m (£335.9m).

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The report said the overall total spend on fees in the men's game had dropped by 7.5 per cent from the figure from last year, from $4.02billion (£2.9billion) to $3.72billion (£2.7billion) - it had been a record-breaking $5.8billion (approximately £2.1billion) in 2019, prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

The number of international transfers agreed was very similar to last year, at 7,748 compared to 7,771 - 6,549 had fees, compared to 6,498 in the 2020 statistics.

Image: England international Nikita Parris joined Arsenal for a club-record fee during the summer

In the women's game, the total number of international transfers completed was 576, representing an 8.7 per cent increase from 2020 (530), and the number of deals involving a fee was up by 72.2 per cent, jumping from 18 to 31.

Everton broke their transfer record to sign Sweden international midfielder Hanna Bennison from Rosengard, Nikita Parris left Lyon for Arsenal for a club-record fee, while Manchester City signed Champions League-winning captain Vicky Losada from Barcelona, in some of the most high-profile deals.

The total spend on transfer fees was $1.24m (£899,378), the first time that figure had exceeded $1m (£725,405). That was a 51.4 per cent increase on the 2020 sum ($821,800, or £596,565).

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