Biggest transfers in Big 5 leagues: City spent on single player as much as whole La Liga!?
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Reading Time: 4min | Tue. 03.02.26. | 20:30
This was one of the quietest January Transfer Windows in years...
The curtain has come down on the January Transfer Window in Europe's top leagues. Across the so-called Big Five, close to €1bn was spent - a figure that certainly sounds impressive. But once you break it down by countries and clubs, it becomes clearer why this January felt strangely low on excitement.
First, the giants were mostly in deep sleep. Second, the biggest deals were heavily concentrated in England. Italians kept up with the Premier League in volume rather than glamour, while Spain, Germany and France - even combined - couldn't come close to matching Premier League spending.
For example, behind the Premier League and Serie A on the list of biggest spenders come Brazil (€201.6m) and the USA (€144.3m), with transfer windows there still open for another month - or almost two in the case of MLS.
Saudi Pro League also ranks high (€93.1m), while La Liga sits at roughly the same level as Turkish Super Lig, between €70-75m.
Looking at individual clubs, the biggest spenders included Manchester City, Crystal Palace, Al Hilal, West Ham, Flamengo and Bournemouth. Full respect to all of them, especially the Brazilian giant, but these are not clubs that spark global excitement like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, Liverpool, PSG or Manchester United.
That's why the whole window passed by rather quietly. Let's take a closer look...
ENGLAND - PREMIER LEAGUE
Spent: €453.2m
Earned: €288.9m
TOP 10 TRANSFERS
Antoine Semenyo - €72m
(Bournemouth → Manchester City)
Jorgen Strand Larsen - €49.7m
(Wolverhampton → Crystal Palace)
Conor Gallagher - €40m
(Atletico Madrid → Tottenham)
Brennan Johnson - €40m
(Nottingham Forest → Crystal Palace)
Oscar Bobb - €31.2m
(Manchester City → Fulham)
Taty Castellanos - €29m
(Lazio → West Ham)
Rayan - €28.5m
(Vasco da Gama → Bournemouth)
Marc Guehi - €23m
(Crystal Palace → Manchester City)
Pablo - €23m
(Gil Vicente → West Ham)
Tammy Abraham - €21m
(Besiktas → Aston Villa)
Eight of the ten biggest deals involved English clubs - seven incomings and one outgoing. Still, this is the lowest January spending in the Premier League over the last three seasons. For comparison, January 2023 saw almost €900m spent - nearly as much as all five major leagues combined this winter. The reason is simple: Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle and others didn't spend a single penny.
SPAIN - LA LIGA
Spent: €75.5m
Earned: €121.7m
TOP 5 TRANSFERS
Ademola Lookman - €35m
(Atalanta → Atletico Madrid)
Rodrigo Mendoza - €16m
(Elche → Atletico Madrid)
Raul Moro - €5m
(Ajax → Osasuna)
Umar Sadiq - €5m
(Real Sociedad → Valencia)
Alex Freeman - €3.5m
(Orlando → Villarreal)
Think the Spaniards did very little? Correct, but that's becoming tradition. Last January, they spent half as much. That negative record would've stood if Atletico hadn't closed the Lookman and Mendoza deals on deadline day. What more needs to be said when third place is shared by Raul Moro and Umar Sadiq at just €5m?
ITALY - SERIE A
Spent: €243.5m
Earned: €186.8m
TOP 5 TRANSFERS
Lorenzo Lucca - €26m
(Udinese → Napoli)
Giacomo Raspadori - €22m
(Atletico Madrid → Atalanta)
Robinho Vaz - €22m
(Marseille → Roma)
Kenneth Taylor - €16.9m
(Ajax → Lazio)
Petar Ratkov - €13m
(RB Salzburg → Lazio)
Serie A clubs completed 80 incoming transfers, more than Premier League sides (78). Naturally, most were far smaller deals. Serbia international Petar Ratkov made the Serie A top five, with Lazio paying Salzburg €13m for his signature.
GERMANY - BUNDESLIGA
Spent: €99m
Earned: €22.4m
TOP 5 TRANSFERS
Abdul Kone - €17m
(Reims → RB Leipzig)
Kento Shiogai - €9.5m
(NEC → Wolfsburg)
Jonas Adjetey - €9.5m
(Basel → Wolfsburg)
Younes Ebnoutalib - €8m
(Elversberg → Eintracht Frankfurt)
Jeremie Arevalo - €7.5m
(Racing Santander → Stuttgart)
As usual, Germans don't care much for January - especially when Bayern and Dortmund stay inactive. RB Leipzig struck the biggest deal, signing defender Abdul Kone for €17m and loaning him back to Reims until the end of the season. Interestingly, Bundesliga clubs barely sold anyone: total earnings were just €22m, compared to €145m last year.
FRANCE - LIGUE 1
Spent: €105.1m
Earned: €147.9m
TOP 5 TRANSFERS
Rudi Matondo - €15m
(Auxerre → Paris SG)
Yassir Zabiri - €10m
(Famalicao → Rennes)
Sebastian Szymanski - €9.5m
(Fenerbahce → Rennes)
Dro Fernandez - €8.2m
(Barcelona → Paris SG)
Noah Narti - €7.5m
(Brondby → Lyon)
Ligue 1 once again earned far more than it spent, reinforcing its status as a development league. This January, France was the top seller in the world, netting nearly €73m - not just among the big five. Sweden followed with €53m.
TOP 5 - OTHER LEAGUES
Lucas Paqueta - €42m
(West Ham → Flamengo)
Khader Meite - €30m
(Rennes → Al Hilal)
Matteo Guendouzi - €28m
(Lazio → Fenerbahce)
Gerson - €27m
(Zenit → Cruzeiro)
Simon Boabre - €23m
(NEOM → Al Hilal)
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