Europe\'s \'Big Five\' account for 71.8 pc of January transfer spend: Fifa

Clubs in Europe’s top five member associations — England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France — accounted for 71.8 per cent of fees spent globally during the 2020 January transfer window, world soccer governing body FIFA said on Wednesday.

A record 170 countries had the window open last month, with a total of 4,108 international transfers being completed.

Although clubs from the ‘Big Five’ accounted for only 14.1 per cent of the total number of transfers, the fees that exchanged hands were 71.8 per cent of the global spend.

Clubs in England spent USD 298.2 million in transfers — the highest in the world — followed by Germany ( USD 206.1 million) and Italy (per cent 126.7 million). The top flight leagues were responsible for 93.1 per cent of the spending on international transfers.

Some of the high profile moves included Bruno Fernandes’ move from Sporting Lisbon to Manchester United for an initial fee of 55 million euros ($60.01 million) while Borussia Dortmund signed young striker Erling Haaland from Red Bull Salzburg.

In all, the Big Five spent USD 824.6 million in January — second only to the 2018 January window when they spent USD 1.01 billion in total.

“Spending by clubs of the Big Five leagues seems to continue on the general growth path of the past years, playing a central role in the global transfer market,” FIFA’s chief legal officer Emilio Garcia said in a statement.

“It is FIFA’s duty to carefully monitor and report on those activities, providing greater transparency to the transfer system.”