Serie A teams often lament the state of their finances, but that has not prevented them from splurging in the transfer market. According to a FIFA document, the Italian clubs collectively spent $667,7M in 2021. Only the Premier League invested more.
The podium is completed by France with $511,8M, while Germany tallied $451,9M and Spain $347,8M. The English championship predictably blew the competition out of the water by disbursing $1386,2M in the past calendar year.
Serie A had some of the richest moves. The wealthiest one overall was Romelu Lukaku’s return to Chelsea, as the Blues paid €115M. The Achraf Hakimi deal between Inter and PSG came in third with its €60M fee. The second one was Manchester United’s bid to acquire Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund. The biggest acquisition by an Italian side was Tammy Abraham. Roma signed him for €40M, the fifth-highest fee across the board.
The Giallorossi were the Serie A side that spent the most by a decent margin. They were fourth in Europe behind Manchester United, Chelsea, and RB Leipzig. Milan are tenth in the standing, Juventus 12th. Serie A outfits cashed in $540,4M from departures, with Premier League and Ligue 1 slightly ahead.
According to the Global Transfer Report, there were 18.068 transfers in 2021, with a 5.1 percent increase compared to the previous season. Instead, the total amount of money moved went down for the second consecutive year. It dipped 13.6 percent compared to 2020 and 33.8 from 2019, the last pre-pandemic year.