Survival in soccer’s Premier League comes at a hefty price, but what is it?
- Fulham has so far spent the most money of the promoted clubs, nearly £70 million looking to strengthen in specific areas.
- Wolverhampton Wanderers Chairman Jeff Shi and Chinese owners Fosun are overseeing a project which has seen double figures of new recruits this summer.
- Cardiff City has made a more conservative spend on just four signings so far since promotion in May.
With soccer's Premier League season about to begin, clubs are battling to sign the players they need to ensure a successful campaign.
For the first time since the introduction of the transfer window in the early 2000's, Premier League clubs will no longer be able to sign players after the first fixture this Friday evening, although squads can be trimmed as long as they are offloaded to other countries and uncontracted players will also still be available to recruit in the meantime.
This summer has seen a world record goalkeeper fee of £67 million ($86.7 million) paid by Liverpool for Alisson Becker and Manchester City sign Algerian forward Riyad Mahrez for £60 million. But what price are the Premier League's newest clubs prepared to pay to hopefully stay in the division?
Wolverhampton Wanderers, Cardiff City and Fulham all achieved promotion from The Championship last season and have all been part of the top league in recent years, only to have Premier League status lost because of relegation.
Fulham has so far spent the most money, nearly £70 million looking to strengthen in specific areas. Its most sizeable outlay so far has been on Ivorian midfielder Jean Michael Seri from French club Nice for £25 million.
Added to that, the West London club has permanently retained the services of influential Serbian striker Alexandr Mitrovic, whose goals for the club on loan last season prompted Fulham to pay Newcastle an estimated £22 million.
"Our business is definitely not done," Fulham Head Coach Slavisa Jokanovic hinted after his team's pre-season draw with Spanish side Celta Vigo. "I'm not the first who complains about transfer business. I'm not complaining. We need some additions. We need backups in some positions." Such is the desire to have a squad that can cope with the demands of a nine-month league campaign.
However, having the biggest outlay, doesn't always guarantee success in what is the world's richest league. In three of the past five seasons, the promoted team to have spent the most money has found itself still relegated the following year.
At midlands club Wolverhampton Wanderers, Chairman Jeff Shi and Chinese conglomerate owners Fosun International are overseeing a very specific project, which has seen double figures of new recruits this summer, with even more players exiting the club.
The most expensive of those signings to date is also a former loan made permanent. Diogo Jota is one of seven Portuguese players on its first-team squad list, thanks in part to the input of superagent Jorge Mendes. Also the agent of Cristiano Ronaldo, he has been heavily involved behind the scenes, so much so that Wolves now has as many Portuguese players as Primaria Liga champions Porto.
As for Cardiff City, it's attempting for happier times than the one and only season spent in the Premier League, which came to an end four years ago. Back then a summer outlay of £34 million still resulted in a bottom of the table finish for its Malaysian owner and businessman Vincent Tan.
There has been a more conservative spend on just four signings so far from the Welsh side since promotion in May, none of which have come from other Premier League sides.
The 2017/18 campaign saw the three promoted sides from the previous season all stay up for only the third time in Premier League history. A new television rights deal will be coming into effect from August 2019, meaning Wolves, Cardiff and Fulham will be hoping they've got it right when weighing up the cost of soccer success.