Serious levels of transfer debt at Premier League clubs – New report details just how bad | OneFootball

Transfer debt has been growing, especially at Premier League clubs.

Just how bad has it got though?

Exactly how much do Premier League clubs and those in other leading European leagues actually owe, when it comes to transfer debt?

A new report from The Athletic has looked into the finances of leading clubs.

Producing a ‘league table’ of transfer debt amongst these clubs, using the latest financial figures available for each of the clubs.

Nice to see the glory days returning at Manchester United, top of the table once again…

So this is the money still owed by these clubs for remaining transfer instalments on players bought in recent years, less the amount other clubs owe them in remaining transfer instalments:

Net transfer debt/(receivables) of selected European clubs

Note: Non-English clubs converted from EUR to GBP at balance sheet date. Selected clubs are top 20 clubs by revenue in 2023-24, per UEFA.

Chelsea, Aston Villa and Bayern Munich do not disclose transfer debts or receivables separately, so estimates used. No public data available for Bayer Leverkusen.

Source: Club financial statements

Manchester United basically owe the biggest net transfer debt of any club in the world, a huge £345m net figure.

That transfer debt figure is actually an incredible £447m that Manchester United owe in instalments on transfer fees, less £102.61m that is still owed to them from other clubs when it comes to paying off transfer fees.

The Athletic add that for Manchester United; ‘£182.8million is payable before the end of June 2026, meaning pressure on Man U’s cash flow is unlikely to ease in the short term. ‘

As you can see, in this league table of net transfer debt, you have Tottenham (£279m), Chelsea (£266m) and Arsenal (£22m) not that far behind Man U in the next three places.

Newcastle United feature in 12th place with net transfer debt of £64m. However, once the more up to date financial figures are available, then the net transfer debt at Newcastle United will be higher due to recent transfer activity, the same at almost every other club in this list.