LONDON, 03 Feb. - (ANA) - There is an enormous difference between being a good footballer and being a good footballer in the Premier League. For recruitment specialists at top-flight clubs, perhaps the most important question is therefore not what a transfer target has done before in his career, but how he might translate that form into the English game.

 

The truth is that even the cleverest scouting departments can never be certain that a player from abroad will adapt to the physical intensity and relentlessness of the Premier League. Every signing is a gamble, and that is especially true of signings from foreign leagues.

 

It should come as no real surprise, then, that Premier League clubs are increasingly reducing these risks by targeting players who already operate in the division. This season, including the winter window which closed on Monday, Premier League clubs have spent more than £1.2 billion ($1.5 billion) on buying players from each other – an increase of more than £400 million ($600 million) from last year.

 

For the biggest clubs in the Premier League, there has been a significant shift in policy. Manchester United, for example, spent more money this season on existing Premier League players (Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, for a combined £128m) ($155 million) than in their previous five seasons combined.

 

Manchester City, too, have done much of their shopping this season on these shores, to the total cost of around £140m (Antoine Semenyo, Marc Guéhi, Rayan Aït-Nouri and James Trafford) ($165 million). It is the most they have spent on Premier League players in a single season during Pep Guardiola’s decade at the club.

 

For Arsenal, it has been a deliberate recruitment strategy under Mikel Arteta for a few years, and it has continued this season with the purchases of Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, Christian Norgaard and Kepa Arrizabalaga (combined fee of around £135m) ($160 million) from other Premier League teams.

 

Two of Chelsea’s biggest summer deals, João Pedro and Alejandro Garnacho, came from Brighton and United respectively. And Liverpool, of course, broke the British transfer record by spending £125m ($140 million)to buy Premier League-proven Alexander Isak from Newcastle United.

 

It all makes for an enormous change from a few years ago, when the so-called “Big Six” clubs were far more attracted to foreign talents than Premier League players. In the 2019-20 season, the combined spend on Premier League players by City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur was just £8m (David Luiz’s move to Arsenal from Chelsea).

 

These intra-Premier League deals are certainly not restricted to the big sides, though. Brentford, Burnley, Everton, Newcastle, Nottingham Forest and West Ham United have all spent more than £50m on buying players from other Premier League teams this season.

 

In the 2018-19 and 2019-20 campaigns, 14 per cent of the league’s total transfer spend was on existing Premier League players. Over the last three campaigns, that percentage has risen to around 35 per cent.

 

Why has this happened? The aforementioned risks around adaptation are an obvious factor. The Premier League is so advanced, physically and tactically, that clubs can be less sure than ever about a player from abroad adjusting to the speed and demands of the game.

 

After all, five of the Champions League’s best eight teams so far this season are Premier League sides. Supporters of other divisions do not like to hear it but the Premier League, as a whole, is simply better (and therefore more difficult to play in) than any other competition in the footballing world. Buying players who know how it operates, and how they can operate within it, is often far more sensible than targeting stars from abroad.

 

Indeed, one of the widely accepted reasons for Wolves struggling this season is that they simply do not have enough Premier League experience in their squad. None of their six summer signings came from within the division, and it took Wolves 20 attempts to win a match.

 

The Premier League’s financial rules are another key factor. Effective player trading has never been more important, and for many clubs that means selling stars for big transfer fees. The majority of teams who can afford big fees for Premier League players (and pay Premier League wages) are, of course, other Premier League teams.

 

In other words, a mid-table Premier League side can afford to spend much more money on new players than a mid-table Italian or Spanish side. This season, the combined total spend of Serie A, Bundesliga, La Liga and Ligue 1 is roughly the same as the Premier League’s total spend. The financial disparity is truly enormous.

 

For many clubs in these other European leagues, there must be a concern that it will become harder and harder to sell players to the Premier League for large fees. If the biggest Premier League sides are more concerned than ever about signing players with experience in top-flight English football, then they will be more reluctant than ever to spend large sums on players from abroad. United, for example, will surely not spend £85.5m on another winger from the Dutch division, as they did with Antony in 2022.

 

It may therefore require the smaller Premier League clubs to bring in the talent from outside the division, to then sell them up the food chain later. That is the direction of travel for the league, it seems, and there can be little doubt that the battle for existing Premier League talent will shape the squad-building of the biggest sides in the years to come.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/03 February 2026 - - -