MPs have branded the Premier League‘s £2BN transfer spending spree as ‘obscene’ and insisted the game needs be ‘brought back down to earth’ as the country braces for a cost-of-living crisis.
The English top flight broke its own record for the most money spent on new players in the summer transfer window, which closed yesterday.
Fuelled by new owners keen to make their mark, record TV deals and desperation to qualify for the Champions League, or simply to survive in the top division, clubs went well beyond the previous high of £1.45BN spent in 2017.
Chelsea topped the spending charts during the summer transfer window this season
Sportsmail’s graphic revealing the big spending of the Premier League’s owners
But the extravagance has horrified politicians and fans alike, and even financial analysts within the game admit the profligacy of club owners jars with the wider financial situation.
Supporters took to social media today to declare the sums involved as ‘sickening’, ‘obscene’ and ‘repugnant’ at a time when the country is tightening its belt in the face of rocketing food and energy bills.
And MP Clive Efford, a lifelong Millwall supporter and season ticket holder, told Sportsmail that clubs must dip their hands into their pockets again, this time to help out local communities facing hardship.
£70M Chelsea signing Wesley Fofana poses for a photograph with chairman Todd Boehly
‘When this happens during a cost-of-living crisis, when there is inflation for food and energy, costs are so high, it underlines the madness of football,’ said Mr Efford, a former shadow sports minister and a member of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
‘Transfer deadline day does not put football in a good light. It is pretty obscene, at a time like this’ added the Labour member for Eltham in south east London.
‘Clubs should take a hard look at themselves,’ said Mr Efford.
The MP added: ‘They should feel ashamed today. Football as a whole should come together and provide some sort of fund…