Uefa warns Premier League summer spending risks a two-speed transfer market
Uefa warned on 24 September 2026 that heavy summer transfer spending by Premier League clubs is creating a "clear two-speed system" in the European transfer market, the governing body said in its latest European club talent and competition landscape report. The report cited high-profile moves such as Morgan Rogers joining Chelsea from Aston Villa in a deal worth £118m as examples of the scale of English market activity.
Uefa estimated Premier League clubs spent €4.6bn (£4bn) this summer, a figure it said is "larger than that of the next eight largest European countries combined." Andrea Traverso, Uefa's executive director of finance, said the trend "raises concerns." The report added that English clubs were involved in more than 60% of the deals and paid an average of around €24m (£20.7m) per inbound player, compared with only around €4m (£3.4m) to €5m (£4.3m) in the other major European leagues.
"Transfer values continue to rise sharply, particularly in the English market, increasing future pressure on club financial results," Traverso wrote. "These developments also point to an increasing concentration of talent and a growing polarisation of the market, with the emergence of a clear two-speed system."
Uefa reported the transfer spend of the 20 Premier League clubs this year is "equivalent to 56% of their annual revenue" — markedly higher than the 33% average of the pre-Covid decade. The governing body also highlighted a 44% increase in big-value transfers between English clubs, rising to €1.55bn (£1.33bn), and described the English domestic market as "as large in fee value as the next five market flows combined."
After the English domestic market, the next most lucrative market flow was from the German Bundesliga to the Premier League, at €690m (£594m). The number of European transfer fees paid above €50m rose from 14 in the summer of 2024 to 23 in 2025 and then jumped to 35 in 2026, of which Premier League clubs were responsible for 29.
The report said European clubs generated an estimated profit of €6.8bn (£5.85bn) from academy-player sales over the summer, "an increase of €655m (£564bn) on 2025." Uefa found little evidence that multi-club ownership structures were being used to move players for inflated or reduced fees, reporting total transfer fees of such deals at €152m (£130.8m) with an estimated market value of €159m (£136.8m), and noting more than half of that spend came from transfers between Chelsea and Strasbourg.
Traverso warned that any "correction in transfer values" or "slowdown in buyer demand" could have serious implications for any club carrying debt, a risk the report says follows from the current concentration of spending in the English market.