Deadline Day celebrates its 20th anniversary on Wednesday – but which summer windows stand out most and how much have clubs in English leagues spent on the final day for transfer business?
It has been two decades since Ivan Campo headlined the first-ever Deadline Day and made the switch from Real Madrid to Bolton, with Premier League legends Claude Makelele, Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen and Carlos Tevez making moves in the years that followed.
English clubs have splashed around ?1.4bn on transfer fees in the 20 Deadline Days combined – and that sum excludes undisclosed fees. As the graphic below shows, the outlay has increased steadily since the inception of the transfer window, with a notable spike in 2008 and 2016, culminating in an all-time record of ?153.9m spent last summer.
Clubs have also recouped considerable sums from player sales, but these still pale in comparison with outlays – with the exception of 2019, when English teams recorded a combined negative net spend and recouped more than they spent. You can tap the tabs on the graphic below to reveal annual figures for total spent, sold and net spend.
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From the return of Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United and Antoine Griezmann at Atletico to Chelsea’s late swoop for Saul Niguez – here’s how the final day of the 2021 summer transfer window unfolded…
In terms of the number of transfers, that figure has held reasonably steady since 2005, with the exception of 2016 and 2020, while last summer also generated above-average deals on the final day. During that period, the average window has generated 68 incomings and 59 outgoings from recorded transfers at clubs plying their trade in the English leagues.