Liga BBVA: record expenditure (€571.7m) in the 2015 summer transfer window

The 20 clubs in the Liga BBVA spent a record total of €571.7m in the 2015 summer transfer window (from 01/07 to 31/08/2015), 17.4% more than in the 2014 summer window (€486.9m), according to data from the specialised website Transfermarkt.de on 15/09/2015. The new record is 4.4% higher than the previous highest total, established in 2007 (€547.2m).

This strong growth in spending is mainly driven by investments from two clubs:
• Valencia CF: €141.7m, five times more than in the summer of 2014 (€28.3m)
• Club Atlético de Madrid: €136.7m, 24.2% higher than the previous year (€110.1m)
These two clubs, who have both experienced a change in their shareholding during the 2014-15 season (the takeover of Singaporean Peter Lim at Valencia and the Chinese group Wanda taking control of a 20% stake in Atlético), contributed 48.7% of the total Liga BBVA transfer spending.

The increased investments of Valencia and Atlético contrast to the decrease in investment of Real Madrid CF (€89.5m compared to €122.5m in 2014, -26.9%) and FC Barcelona (€51m compared to €166m in 2014, -69.3%), who had…