English soccer flexed its unrivaled spending power by embarking on an unprecedented $4.7 billion outlay on players in the summer transfer window — and Manchester City saved the biggest signing of the lot right to the very end.
Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez became one of the most expensive players in soccer history by completing a marquee move to City from Premier League rival Chelsea for 125 million pounds ($169 million) in the final hours of the window
that closed across Europe on Tuesday.
City’s spending alone on new players this summer — its first in the post-Pep Guardiola era — soared past $600 million, a record splurge by a club in a single transfer window. With the expenditure of Chelsea and Tottenham also well over $400 million, England's top-flight clubs showed they're in a league of their own when it comes to financial might.
That's mainly down to the competition’s huge domestic and international broadcasting deals, which dwarf those of its less-watched European rivals, but also because of a recent tweak to Premier League's financial rules that now allows clubs with the biggest revenues and turnover — like City and others who regularly benefit from Champions League largesse — to have greater spending power in the transfer market.
Deadline day passed with the combined spending of top-flight clubs in Spain, Italy, Germany and France — Europe's other so-called “Big Five” leagues — coming to $3.8 billion, according to figures on soccer industry website Transfermarkt. That's far less than that of the Premier League’s 20 teams.
The previous highest spend by English teams in one window was 3.14 billion pounds ($4.25 billion) in 2025.
Fernandez, who hasn't started a game since being sent off against Spain in the World Cup final in July, became the latest big-money signing as part of City’s $440-million midfield rebuild under Guardiola's successor, Enzo Maresca, that also includes the arrivals of England's Elliot Anderson ($155 million) and Morocco's Ayyoub Bouaddi ($117 million).
Also joining City on deadline day was Senegal winger Iliman Ndiaye from Everton for an initial $81 million.
Abu Dhabi-controlled City recouped almost $400 million in sales this window — among the departures were Spain’s World Cup-winning captain Rodri and midfield stalwart Bernardo Silva — and the club let Jack Grealish leave on another season-long loan to Everton on Tuesday.
The fee for Fernandez is a joint British record, the same as Liverpool paid last year for Alexander Isak.
They are tied in fourth place in the all-time list of most expensive soccer players, after Neymar (Barcelona to PSG for 222 million euros), Kylian Mbappé (Monaco to PSG for 180 million euros) and Ousmane Dembele (Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona for 148 million euros), according to Transfermarkt.
“He is a complete midfielder: technically gifted, hardworking, tenacious and a goalscorer,” City director of football Hugo Viana said of Fernandez, who joined Chelsea for a then-British record 106.7 million pounds ($131.4 million) in early 2023.
Tottenham's summer recruitment has been almost as remarkable as City's and the London club was active right up to the deadline on Tuesday, signing two players from Chelsea. Ukraine winger Mykhailo Mudryk joined on a season-long loan, a month after he was cleared to play again following a doping case, and defender Tosin Adarabioyo moved on a permanent deal.
Chelsea responded to its sale of Fernandez by attempting to sign Senegal midfielder Lamine Camara from Monaco, but Sky Sports reported that the French club backed out of the deal.
Liverpool signed 18-year-old goalkeeper Lucca Brughmans from Belgian team Genk in a deal that reportedly could be worth up to 30 million pounds ($35 million). Brughmans has gone back to Genk on loan for the rest of the season.
Newcastle signed Belgium forward Matias Fernandez-Pardo from Lille for a reported 51 million pounds ($59 million) and sent Nick Woltemade on loan to Juventus, with the Germany striker having spent just one season in the Premier League after a 69 million pounds ($93 million) move.
It has been a summer of heavy change at Aston Villa, with a number of star players — Ollie Watkins, Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa and Emi Martinez, among them — leaving and a slew of new arrivals. Its business continued Tuesday with the signing of Ibrahim Mbaye, a two-time Champions League-winning winger from Paris Saint-Germain.
There were some late signings still to be announced as clubs finalized the paperwork.
The deadline passed with Everton not concluding the signing of U.S. striker Folarin Balogun from Monaco, and neither club made an official comment about the proposed deal. British broadcaster Sky Sports reported there were some last-minute hitches.
Italy was second in spending to England, with an outlay of $1.34 billion, according to Transfermarkt.
As well as signing Woltemade, Juventus brought in midfielder Pape Matar Sarr on loan from Tottenham.
Beto moved to Fiorentina from Everton as the replacement for Moise Kean, who joined Como — the team coached by Cesc Fabregas and in the Champions League this season — on loan.
Robinho Junior, the 18-year-old son of the former Brazil player Robinho, signed with Genoa and English forward Jonathan Rowe was loaned from Bologna to Atalanta.
With Real Madrid quiet — having already made its signings like Yan Diomande and Denzel Dumfries earlier in the window — rival Barcelona made a notable purchase by bringing in striker Gabriel Jesus from Arsenal on a three-year deal.
The Brazilian endured an injury-disrupted time at Arsenal, but was part of last season's title-winning squad.
He is the latest forward to leave the Emirates Stadium during this window, following Leandro Trossard's move to Besiktas and teenager Ethan Nwaneri joining Borussia Dortmund on loan. Gabriel Martinelli is also expected to depart to Saudi Arabia.
Canada striker Jonathan David joined Atletico Madrid on loan from Juventus.
Bayer Leverkusen made the biggest splash in Germany on Tuesday by announcing the signing of Ivory Coast right back Guéla Doué – the older brother of France star Désiré Doué – and the return of winger Moussa Diaby three years after he left for Aston Villa.
Leverkusen was reportedly paying an initial 30 million euros ($35 million) to Strasbourg for Doué and 27 million euros ($31 million) to Al-Ittihad for Diaby.
Diaby scored 49 goals in 172 games for Leverkusen between 2019-23. He spent just one year in England before his move in 2024 to Al-Ittihad, where he won the Saudi title in 2024-25.
Spanish youngster Marc Guiu left Chelsea for Leipzig for a reported fee of up to 17 million euros ($19.7 million).
Lille signed Maurits Kjaergaard, a 23-year-old Dane from Salzburg as a replacement for Bouaddi.
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AP Sports Writers James Robson from Manchester, James Ellingworth from Dusseldorf, Ciarán Fahey from Berlin and Samuel Petrequin from Paris contributed to this report.
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See AP’s full soccer coverage here
