January 2026 Transfer Window: Top Buyers and Sellers
By: AT
Image Credit: Colin Watts
Throughout the January 2026 transfer window, clubs across Europe completed transfer deals to either enhance their squads or offload players who were deemed surplus to club managers’ plans. As mentioned in our January 2026 Transfer Tracker, this period is a perfect opportunity for football clubs to rebalance the squads for the following reasons:
to shed salary;
to avoid relegation;
to muster a run to qualify for a continental club competition; and
to win the league title or a continental title.
Our previous article on this topic tracked the transfer spending and revenue of clubs in Europe’s top five leagues, and the number of transactions — namely permanent transfers, free transfers, loans and player releases — completed by these clubs.
This article shows the amount that selected major clubs from each of Europe’s top five leagues spent and accumulated during the transfer window, as well as the top 10 spenders and top 10 sellers from these five leagues. The top five European leagues are the following:
Bundesliga (Germany);
LaLiga (Spain);
Ligue 1 (France);*
Premier League/EPL (England);** and
Serie A.
This article does not include data on permanent transfers containing undisclosed fees, free transfers, loan deals and player releases.
Selected European Clubs’ Transfer Spending, Revenues and Balances
The table below shows the transfer spending, revenues and balances of six clubs from each of the top five European leagues. The clubs indicated in the table are among the best and most-valuable clubs from those leagues. The amounts are in millions.
Source: The Guardian
For example, the selected EPL clubs are the “big-six” clubs, namely Arsenal FC, Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. Aston Villa, which have been a wildcard club and currently rank third in the 2025-26 EPL table, are not included in this table. According to The Guardian, that club spent £37.0 million and accumulated £300,000 in revenue, resulting in a £36.7 million transfer deficit.
Several of the six clubs from these leagues, however, were not active during the window. Despite this, we nevertheless decided to highlight their inactivity, so that readers (or unhappy supporters of these clubs) can compare the transfer inactivity to the activity of their fellow big-name or best-performing clubs.
Top 10 Spending Clubs
Data from the January 2026 Transfer Tracker demonstrate that this season’s 20 EPL clubs collectively spent the largest amount of money on signings compared to all other leagues during the transfer window. In total, they spent £458.5 million, of which the four top-spending clubs — Manchester City, Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Tottenham, in descending order — spent £269.1 million. City’s spending went towards forward Antoine Semenyo (£62.5 million) and defender Marc Guéhi (£20.0 million), while Palace’s spending materialized into the signings of forwards Jørgen Strand Larsen (£43.0 million) and Brennan Johnson (£35.0 million).
As well, Liverpool spent £60.0 million of their transfer spending on young French forward Jérémy Jacquet, who will join the club in July 2026. Meanwhile, Tottenham spent their money on defender Souza (£13.0 million) and midfielder Conor Gallagher (£34.6 million).
Moreover, three other EPL clubs rank among the top 10 highest spenders, namely West Ham United, Aston Villa and AFC Bournemouth, also in descending order. Bournemouth spent £24.7 million to acquire young Brazilian forward Rayan, the highest fee paid a player arriving from outside of Europe during the window.
The three other clubs from the cohort of 10 clubs compete in LaLiga and Serie A.
Figure 1 presents the 10 clubs in Europe’s top five leagues that spent the largest amounts of money to sign players during the January 2026 transfer window.
Source: The Guardian
Top 10 Selling Clubs
Data from the Transfer Tracker indicate that the EPL clubs also collectively generated the highest transfer revenue compared to all other leagues during the January 2026 transfer window. Overall, these clubs raked in £261.0 million during the transfer window. However, only four EPL clubs are among the top 10 revenue-generating clubs. Those clubs are, in descending order, Bournemouth, Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves), West Ham and Tottenham — totalling £208.9 million.
Bournemouth and Tottenham’s revenues resulted from the respective sales of one player: Semenyo to Manchester City and Johnson to Crystal Palace. Wolves and West Ham each offloaded two players: the former sold Larsen to Palace and Emmanuel Agbadou to Turkish Süper Lig club Besiktas for £17.5 million; the latter sold midfielder Lucas Paquatá to Brazilian Série A club CR Flamngo for £37.5 million and forward Luis Guilherme to Primeira Liga club Sporting CP for £14.2 million. Paquetá’s sale to Flamengo was the highest-valued sale of a player leaving one of Europe’s top five leagues during the transfer window.
The six other clubs from the cohort of 10 clubs compete in Ligue 1, LaLiga and Serie A. Ligue 1 club Stade Rennais (Rennes) and LaLiga club Atlético Madrid are the two clubs from Europe’s top five leagues that generated the highest amounts in revenue. Rennes’s sales include those of Jacquet and forward Mohamed Kader Meïté, who joined Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal for £26.0 million.
Atlético’s sales include those of Gallagher, fellow midfielder Rodrigo De Paul and forward Giacomo Raspadori. De Paul completed a permanent transfer to Major League Soccer club Inter Miami for £13.2 million after spending six months on loan at that club, while Raspadori returned to Serie A, joining Atalanta BC for £19.0 million.
Figure 2 shows the 10 clubs in Europe’s top five leagues that generated the highest revenue from player sales during the January 2026 transfer window.
Source: The Guardian
* Ligue 1 includes AS Monaco, which are based in the Principality of Monaco.
** The EPL may include a number of clubs from Wales. These clubs, which currently participate in one of the English Football League’s top four divisions, include EFL Championship clubs Swansea City and Wrexham AFC, EFL League One club Cardiff City and EFL League Two club Newport County. That said, there are no Welsh clubs competing in the EPL for the 2025-26 season.
