A study into the transfer activity of Europe’s top footballing Leagues has revealed that La Liga saw total investment drop by 62 per cent.
Looking at total spending across the Primera Division, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Premier League and Serie A, Spanish research firm ESADE have found that it is Spain that saw the biggest drop in money spent during the 2012-13 season.
Compared with the season before, La Liga’s 20 top-flight outfits spent €140m on new players in last summer’s transfer market and this winter’s window, making for a 61.9 per cent decline in spending on the 2011-12 campaign.
Of the top five Leagues, only Germany and England enjoyed growth in investment, with the Bundesliga spending 33 per cent more on players this season and the Premier League 20 per cent more.
France’s Ligue 1 saw their spending rates generally maintained from the previous season, whilst Serie A saw a 21 per cent drop in money spent.
In absolute numbers, La Liga’s €140m fell far behind total spend in the other Divisions, with the Premier League throwing out €763m on new faces, Serie A spending €426m, Bundesliga €271m and Ligue 1 €247m.
At an individual club level, Paris Saint-Germain’s €147m was the most spent this season on transfers, followed by Chelsea and then Zenit St Petersburg, whilst no Spanish team even made the top 10.
The most spent by a Spanish club on a player this season was the initial €30m Real Madrid paid for Tottenham’s Luka Modric, whilst Barcelona paid €19m for Alex Song and €14m for Jordi Alba.
However, for the third consecutive year, Spain topped the list as the League using most homegrown players, with 155 recorded in La Liga for 2012-13.
At the same time, Athletic Bilbao with 20, Real Sociedad with 16 and Barcelona with 15 took the top three positions for clubs in Europe’s top five Leagues using players from their youth system.
