For years, Paris Saint-Germain were world football’s biggest spender in the transfer window. The signings of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, and Mauro Icardi turned heads around the world of sports for the amount of money Paris Saint-Germain paid for players.
Paris Saint-Germain, and all other teams around the world, are now being outspent by Premier League team Chelsea. The top football leagues in Europe outside of England are financially broke and dependent on the Premier League’s 20 clubs to buy off their best players. The Blues of west London are on an incredible spending spree, snapping up some of the world’s best young footballers.
Football fans are debating whether or not Lens or Marseille can overtake PSG in the Ligue 1 title race. Fans can use the new smarkets sign up offer to wager on the Ligue 1 title race and the club they believe will win the trophy.
January 2023 has seen Chelsea spend an incredible £159 million on new players. The Blues’ spending has been outrageous, with no other teams, in the Premier League or elsewhere able to keep pace. Ligue 1 has combined with Germany’s Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A combined to spend around £60m in transfers during the winter transfer window.
The Blues have spent around £100m more than Ligue 1, the Bundesliga, and Serie A combined. It once again shows the spending power of teams in the Premier League, which is now being called the “real” Super League.
January saw Chelsea spend £88m alone on forward Mykhailo Mudryk, as they continue to stockpile young talent. At the time of writing, Ligue 1 teams have spent just under £10m on transfers in the winter transfer window. Clubs including Lens, Lyon, Nantes, and Toulouse have spent money on transfers this month.
Mudryk isn’t the only big-money signing Chelsea have made in the January transfer window. Four players in total joined Chelsea in January – the month isn’t over. Centre-back Benoit Badiashile arrived from Monaco for a fee of £35m. His sale to Chelsea shows the French sides need to get some money into the club this month.
Chelsea also added midfielder Andrey Santos for £18m from Brazil’s Vasco de Gama, striker David Datro Fofana at a price of £8m from Norway’s Molde, and Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix on loan. Felix may be on loan, but Chelsea paid a round £10m to sign him on loan.
Although Chelsea has spent big and far more than any Ligue 1 team in the January transfer window, nine of the 10 largest transfers in January 2023 were made by Premier League clubs.
The financial issues surrounding some of the teams in Ligue 1 has led to an interesting title race at the league’s halfway point. Lens are second in the league and recently defeated reigning champions PSG. Marseille are also in the running for the title.
Ligue 1 will reduce to 18 teams at the end of the season from 20. Four teams will be relegated, and two will be promoted from Ligue 2. The decision to reduce the league by two clubs was made to increase the competitiveness of Ligue 1 going forward.
