The Premier League is sweeping the board and has already spent as much as Spain, Italy, France and Germany combined.

Burnley is a historic English football club that was promoted to the Premier League this year. The Lancashire county team was founded in 1882 and was one of the first to reach professional status. It is one of the 12 founding members of the Football League, in 1988. It has a rich tradition but little international presence. In 1961, it reached the quarterfinals of the European Cup. The club is controlled by Velocity Sports Partners, an American company led by businessman Alan Pace .

Burnley are a Premier League powerhouse, reflecting the league's imbalance compared to the other four major European competitions. The newcomer to the English elite has spent nearly €126 million on player acquisitions this summer. This sum exceeds the expenditure of Barcelona (€25 million), Betis (€40 million), Villarreal (€36 million), Athletic Club (€12 million), and Celta Vigo (€12 million). This figure is almost double that spent by a stock market heavyweight, Bayern Munich , which has spent nearly €73 million.

Burnley, according to the Transfermarkt portal, have paid 15.5 million for winger Loum Tchaouna (Lazio), 20 million for midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu (Chelsea) and 14 for Harry Humphreys (Chelsea).

Another modest club, Bournemouth, coached by Andoni Iraola , hasn't hesitated to dig deep into its cash register to strengthen its squad after the departure of its two first-choice centre-backs, Dean Huijsen and Illya Zabarnyi . According to The Athletic, it paid more than 35 million for Bafodé Diakité , who came from Lille. This is the second most expensive signing in the history of the English club.

Multinationals and club-states

Premier League teams, whose championship kicked off on Friday, are dominating a market where they have little competition due to the fact that most have powerful sources of income from state-owned clubs and influential multinationals. With two weeks left until the summer transfer window closes, the investment of Premier League teams is on par with that of clubs in the Spanish League, Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1 combined . English league clubs have already spent €2.389 billion. In Spain, it barely exceeds €500 million; in Germany, it's around €600 million; in Italy, €870 million; and in France, €472 million. The total figure for the four competitions is slightly over €2.46 billion . This turnover is expected to increase in the final stretch of August.

Liverpool tops the list of outlays, with nearly €300 million invested in 14 signings. Among their total signings, German Florian Wirtz stands out, for whom they paid €125 million to Bayer Leverkusen. This is the highest figure of the summer transfer window. Chelsea comes in second, with €280 million. The Club World Cup champions paid €63 million for Brazilian Joao Pedro and €34 million for his compatriot Estevao . Manchester United comes in third, with €230 million, while they paid €80 million for center forward Benjamin Sesko . So far, the club controlled by Ineos has not earned anything from player sales. Arsenal is in fourth, with €224 million. In fifth is Manchester City, with €176 million spent.

Sixth in the overall spending ranking is Atlético de Madrid, with 175 million. The club managed by Miguel Ángel Gil has strengthened its presence with, among others, Baena (42 million), Hancko (26), Cardoso (24), and Raspadori (22). In seventh place is Real Madrid, with 170 million. The two Madrid-based teams are the only non-English clubs in the top ten in the transfer rankings. The other Premier League clubs are Sunderland (153), Tottenham (145), and Burnley (125).

Betis is the third most active La Liga team with investments, with 40 million euros, and occupies 47th place on the list compiled by Transfermarkt. Villarreal is 53rd; Barcelona, 68th; and Athletic Bilbao, 107th.