Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali made major moves this summer. Premier League clubs have already spent £2.14bn during the summer transfer window, with more than two weeks still remaining before the deadline.

That total is already higher than the full summer outlay in 2024 (£1.98bn), 2022 (£1.94bn), 2021 (£1.13bn) and 2020 (£1.32bn), according to figures provided to BBC Sport by Paul Macdonald, founder of FootballTransfers.com. Only 2023 (£2.36bn) and last summer's record £3.14bn currently sit above it. Another record-breaking window therefore remains possible.

But the more revealing story may be not simply how much Premier League clubs are spending, but where that money is going. The financial gap between England and the rest of Europe is stark. Premier League clubs have spent £2.14bn this summer, compared with £780m in Serie A, £515m in La Liga, £505m in the Bundesliga and £412m in Ligue 1. That means England's top flight has already spent more than those four other major European leagues combined.

Chelsea are leading the way, having committed £348m so far this summer, comfortably ahead of every other Premier League club. Tottenham are next, on £228m, with Arsenal and Manchester City both on £151m. Chelsea, Tottenham and City have all broken their club transfer record during the window.

But the spending is not confined to the elite. Aston Villa, Brentford, Brighton and Leeds United have also made their most expensive signing ever this summer. Coventry City, Hull City and Ipswich Town, the three promoted clubs, complete the list, underlining how widely spending power now stretches across the division.

Taking the whole of 2026 into account, and including Crystal Palace's signing of Jorgen Strand Larsen in January, 11 of the 20 Premier League clubs have broken their transfer record during the calendar year.

One of the clearest features of this summer's window has been the amount of business taking place between Premier League clubs. Almost £785m has already been spent on intra-league transfers - players moving between one English top-flight club and another - with eight of the 12 biggest Premier League signings so far this summer falling into this category.

It's a trend that extends beyond a single summer. Intra-Premier League spending reached £1.29bn last season, the highest summer figure since 2016. This summer's in-house outlay so far represents almost a third of all Premier League transfer expenditure. The proportion is not unprecedented - 35.9% of spending stayed within the league last season and 37% did so in 2017-18 - but the cash sums involved are now substantially larger.

The so-called Big Six - Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham - have been central to that spending. They have already paid £546.5m this summer to recruit players from non-Big Six Premier League clubs. Last season, that figure reached a record £647m, while the Big Six have paid almost £3bn has moved from the Big Six to other Premier League sides in transfer fees since summer 2016.

Chelsea have been the most active club in the Premier League's internal market since 2016-17, spending £867m and receiving £683m in deals with fellow top-flight sides. Some of those moves have dramatically reshaped individual careers and rivalries. Morgan Rogers and Elliot Anderson, both England internationals and members of the Three Lions squad at the 2026 World Cup, have joined new clubs. Rogers has left Aston Villa for Chelsea, while Anderson has departed Nottingham Forest for Manchester City. Former Newcastle midfield partners Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes have gone their separate ways too, joining opposite sides of the north London divide at Tottenham and Arsenal.

Of the seven £100m-plus transfers to a Big Six side from another Premier League club since 2016, three have taken place this summer: Rogers, Anderson and Tonali.

There is a sporting and financial logic to that kind of recruitment. Players who have already performed in the Premier League offer buying clubs evidence that they can handle the competition, reducing some of the uncertainty that can accompany moves from overseas. For the selling club, a major domestic transfer can be equally significant. Large fees can create greater flexibility under squad-cost and profitability rules, allowing clubs to reinvest elsewhere in the squad.

Gross spending tells only part of the story. Premier League clubs have received £1.28bn in transfer fees this summer, leaving the division with a net spend of £856m. That still dwarfs the other major leagues. Serie A's net spend stands at £320m and La Liga's at £185m, while the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 are currently net sellers.

Within England, Chelsea have the biggest negative balance at £209.5m, followed by Arsenal at £111.6m and Manchester City at £92m. Chelsea's position is part of a longer-term pattern. Across the past five seasons, their cumulative net spend stands at about £977m, the highest among the clubs examined.

At the other end of the market, Newcastle have received £226m in fees this summer, Aston Villa £199.5m and Nottingham Forest £123m. Crystal Palace and Sunderland have also recorded a positive transfer balance. Villa currently have the biggest positive net balance among those clubs at £109.8m, followed by Newcastle at £88.5m and Forest at £71.8m.

The figures highlight how differently clubs are operating in this summer's market, with some among the biggest net spenders while others have generated considerable income from player sales. Last summer's £3.14bn remains some way ahead of the current £2.14bn total, so another record cannot yet be assumed. But the window still has time to run, and Premier League clubs are already spending at a level unmatched anywhere else in Europe.

Whether £3.14bn is eventually surpassed or not, this summer has already demonstrated two things: transfer records are falling across the division, while many of the window's biggest deals are being conducted between Premier League clubs themselves.

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