Hold on…how much?! The Premier League broke the £1 billion barrier, surely not!

In February 2016, The Premier League signed a record TV rights deal with Sky and BT worth £5.136 billion and it seemed the Premier League clubs had the best intention of English football at heart as they agreed to share at least £1bn of their deal with lower league sides and grassroots football. Dan Roan, BBC Sports Editor had praised the league: “With a record new £5 billion TV deal, the Premier League has been under mounting pressure to share more of its wealth for the good of the game. This £1bn ‘giveaway’ will please many who worry about inequality in the sport. Ahead of the result of an Ofcom investigation into how the league sells its TV rights, this also serves as a convenient reminder of the benefits of the status quo. The commitment to pay the living wage will also be welcomed by many.”

Then as the transfer window shut on Wednesday 31st August at 11pm, I’m not sure even Jim White, who has become synonymous with Deadline Day, could have predicted such a record breaking day. As £1 billion was spent on transfer expenditure, smashing the 2015/16 record by £130m, with 14 out of 20 Premier League clubs managing to break their own transfer records –

Manchester United: Paul Pogba (£93.25m)
Liverpool: Sadio Mane (£36m)
Crystal Palace: Christian Benteke (£32m)
Spurs: Moussa Sissoko (£30m)
Leicester: Islam Slimani (£29.8m)
West Ham: Andre Ayew (£20.5m)
Southampton: Sofiane Boufal (£16m)
Swansea: Borja Baston (£15.5m)
Bournemouth: Jordan Ibe (£15m)
Sunderland: Didier N’Dong (£13.6m)
Hull: Ryan Mason (£13m)
West Brom: Nacer Chadli (£13m)
Watford: Roberto Pereyra (£13m)
Burnley: Jeff Hendrick (£10.5m)

Even after finishing a bottle of (Jeff) Hendricks, football fans couldn’t believe their eyes as spending reached a new summer high. Manchester United bought Paul Pogba breaking the individual transfer record, previously held by Real Madrid signing Tottenham winger Gareth Bale on a six-year contract for a fee of £85.3m, for £93m in July. What makes the fee even more astronomical, if you didn’t know before, is that ex-Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson released/sold Pogba for £850,000 to Juventus in 2012 — now that’s some buy back clause!

Everybody knows that £50m used to buy you a player of the quality of Fernando Torres but in a market where, and no disrespect, Crystal Palace can afford to offer Christian Benteke £120,000 per week in wages after a £30m fee, it’s turning into a broken version of Football Manager and in many ways it’s a sign of the times.

Branded as ‘the most exciting league in the world’ the Premier League has slowly become an investment option for businesses as the broadband and television markets continue to grow and the large amounts of money they can generate. The mammoth TV deal signed with Sky and BT mean that there’s even more money floating around and that explains why English Clubs pay a premium on securing a signature on almost anyone.

The top clubs are desperate to improve their position and for the lesser clubs it’s vital to secure their Premier League status. Almost every rumour you read on the BBC football Gossip Column seems to be true, foreign teams will be well aware that any English club approaching one of their players will be willing to pay over the valuation. With the influx of money it means that a club like West Ham can bid £31m and compete with the stature of a club like Arsenal for Alexandre Lacazette and nobody bats an eyelid. Sporting Clube de Portugal must have been rubbing their hands when Premiership Champions Leicester City paid £29.8m on Islam Slimani. Sorry, who?! If it wasn’t for Wikipedia I’d still be wondering who Islam Slimani is but that’s the gamble that these clubs are willing to take. An unknown player who has a good goal scoring ratio in Portugal has tempted the Foxes to take the chance and hope he can replicate that in the Premier League. Although I’m sure the club would say their acquisition is down to superior scouting.

Footballers will see the monetary value of the Premier League as numerous transfers have shown in this transfer window. The calibre of high profile and talented footballers that are happy to collect an increased wage if they have to accept a smaller club — Nacer Chadli being one, a regular Belgium internationalist, and yes he might not have been a regular at Tottenham but still has the ability to play at a top 6 club, dropped down to play for a West Brom arguably a bottom 6 club. He might have an easier life but where is the ambition as a footballer?! Benteke would be another but he’s had enough attention.

Could this start a trend of the Premier League hoovering up a majority of world class talent in the future, could we start to see a shift in the balance of clubs but for ambitious footballers the appeal playing Champions League football will come into contention. In saying that, it’s not like clubs can’t afford it but talent comes at a price. Pogba’s super-agent, who made approximately £24m from the Man United deal, Mino Raiola has claimed: “How the economy is evolving, especially in the Premier League, we’re not too far away in the next three, four years from £200m,” referring to an individual transfer.

Manchester City probably made one of the best acquisitions of the transfer window and a clear statement of intent for the future of the club domestically and in Europe. Pep Guardiola, not only is he one of the coolest characters in the business, he is also the most highly sought of managers. We all know City can offer ridiculous salaries but also giving players the opportunity to work with someone of Pep’s stature creates an even greater pool of players willing to move to Manchester. Manchester United followed suit with their rivals with another key signing in ‘The Special One’, Jose Mourinho. These two key figures certainly contribute towards the Premier League being the most prestigious league in the world.

Saturday 10th September 2016 will be remember for a whole host of reasons but one more than any other that the Manchester derby is set to be the most expensive line-up in the history of football. Not only will Pep and The Special One go head to head for the first time but also the starting XI’s are valued over £670m in transfer fees. That includes a free transfer of one of the most audacious and charismatic characters in the game, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Let’s appreciate ‘I am Zlatan’ for a moment:

The two clubs have spent over £300m between them during this transfer window acquiring talents like Henrikh Mkhitaryan (£26.3m) and John Stones (£47.6) making him the most expensive English defender. We are starting to see more and more English teams are willing to pay for overpriced English players, Stones (22) being one and the same situation happened last year with Raheem Sterling (21) going from Liverpool to Manchester City. Don’t get me wrong, both footballers are fantastic talents with very bright futures ahead but are they worth a combined fee of £100m?

The league still has a hierarchy as the smaller clubs can’t compete with the prestige of the bigger clubs, albeit they do have the money available. No one will forget the Leicester City side who stormed away with the league last year after spending £45m… yes that is less than half of Pogba’s fee but it’s clear to see money doesn’t always buy success. In saying that, it’s been an exciting start to the Premier League so my theory could and probably be proved wrong. Everyone does say Leicester’s success is a once off that will never be replicated.

The new £5.1 billion Premier League TV deal has clearly had a major impact in this summer’s transfer spending. The lure of Premier League riches is encouraging clubs to spend massively but throwing money at a problem doesn’t always make it go away, and sometimes it’s better to invest in the future by planning for incremental progress. This will also have a knock on effect in the Championship and relegated clubs having the pressure to spend massively to gain promotion — Aston Villa and Newcastle have spent over £100m between them this season.

From a personal perspective, £1 billion is a staggering figure to spend on talent alone but I am sure many football fans would agree it does make Super Sunday on Sky Sports even more exciting! Let’s hope that the £1 billion donated by Premier League clubs can be used effectively to develop English League and grass roots football on a whole. Only time will tell but for the meantime let’s just appreciate this record breaking season.

On a final note, hats off (or clothes off) to Gary Lineker for getting his kit off on the first Match of the Day this season following Leicester City’s success. Well played Gary!