Newcastle sold their midfield to the competition for £240m
Chelsea have spent £316.6m gross this summer, more than anyone in the league. Tottenham follow on £229.5m and Arsenal on £154m. But the club that has done most to reshape the fantasy landscape is none of them. It is Newcastle, who have sent more than £240m worth of players in the opposite direction.
Sandro Tonali went to Tottenham for £100m, a club record for the buyer. Bruno Guimarães went to Arsenal for £75m. Anthony Gordon went to Barcelona for £69m. Three players, three positions, and two of them sold to sides Newcastle are meant to be fighting for Champions League places. Their net position is minus £96.5m, the largest sales surplus in the league behind Aston Villa.
The biggest deals into the league
- Morgan Rogers, Aston Villa to Chelsea, £117m
- Elliot Anderson, Nottingham Forest to Manchester City, £116m
- Sandro Tonali, Newcastle to Tottenham, £100m
- Mateus Fernandes, West Ham to Tottenham, £85m
- Bruno Guimarães, Newcastle to Arsenal, £75m
For anyone playing fantasy, the interesting number is a different one. Of the ten players who scored the most Fantasy Premier League points last season, two are out of the picture, in entirely different ways. Elliot Anderson scored 180 at Nottingham Forest and is now Manchester City's most expensive midfield signing ever, which means a different role in a very different squad. Jarrod Bowen scored 187 and has confirmed he is staying at West Ham, who went down on 39 points. He is not selectable at all.
Eight of the top ten do remain at their clubs, led by Erling Haaland on 239 points and Bruno Fernandes on 235. That is unusually high continuity in a summer where the league has passed £1bn in spending.
Worth noting: the three promoted clubs have not behaved the way newly promoted sides usually do. Coventry have broken their transfer record three times in one summer, most recently for Caleb Yirenkyi at £26m. Ipswich have spent more than £120m. Hull broke their record on a goalkeeper, Konstantinos Tzolakis for around £20m from Olympiacos.
The window closes on Tuesday 1 September at 23:00 UK time, which is after Gameweek 2. Expect at least one of the clubs that has sold heavily to do something desperate before then.