How Sunderland's five-year net spend compares to Newcastle and other Premier League rivals
Sunderland spent big in the summer as they returned to the Premier League, but how did that effect their five-year balance sheet?
Sunderland have made a wonderful start to life back in the Premier League, and it has undoubtedly been influenced by their summer spending.
The Black Cats sit fourth after 11 games, with 19 points and five wins already on the board, and just two defeats. Sunderland spent huge sums in the summer to make sure they were ready for their first top-flight campaign since 2016/17, bringing in the likes of Granit Xhaka, Habib Diarra, Simon Adingra and Nordi Mukiele.
But where does that leave them in terms of their five-year net spend, and how does it compare to other Premier League clubs? After all, Sunderland have been a League One club during that time period...
Sunderland’s five-year net spend compared to Premier League rivals
- Man Utd: €782.92m
- Arsenal: €772.81m
- Chelsea: €757.11m
- Tottenham: €650.98m
- Newcastle United: €492.44m
- Liverpool: €487.85m
- Man City: €396.33m
- Nottingham Forest: €376.08m
- West Ham: €369.56m
- Bournemouth: €178.14m
- Crystal Palace: €166.91m
- Sunderland: €138.59m
- Fulham: €136.72m
- Burnley: €124.28m
- Brentford: €112.25m
- Leeds United: €86.23m
- Aston Villa: €72.52m
- Wolves: €55.94m
- Everton: €13.87m
- Brighton: €+2.61m
Sunderland pre-Premier League spend fuels five-year loss
The vast majority of Sunderland’s €138.59m net spend over the past five years came from the summer just gone. According to Transfermarkt, the Black Cats shelled out €136.90m during the most recent transfer window, bringing no fewer than 13 players to the Stadium of Light on a permanent basis. €187.90m was spent, with the sales of Jobe Bellingham and Tom Watson to Borussia Dortmund and Brighton for €30.5m and €12m, respectively, going a long way toward funding that outlay. But before last summer, Sunderland’s spending had been measured, and a fraction of what we’ve seen more recently.
The Echo has launched a new WhatsApp SAFC channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates directly to your phone. Simply click this link to join our SAFC WhatsApp channel.
Sunderland actually made a profit of €6.45m in the 2024/25 campaign, following the €17.7m sale of Jack Clarke to Ipswich and modest spending on the likes of Wilson Isidor (€6m) and Milan Aleksic (€3.5m). The previous three seasons have seen net spends of just €1.84m, €6.06m and €240k, respectively.
All of this pales in comparison to the biggest single-season spend during this period, with Chelsea parting with a Premier League-record €562.39m during the course of the 2022/23 campaign, signing the likes of Enzo Fernandez (€121m), Wesley Fofana (€80.4m), Mykhaylo Mudryk (€70m) and Marc Cucurella (€65.3m).
Brighton are the only Premier League team to have made a profit during this five-year period, in the black by €2.61m after selling the likes of Joao Pedro (€63.7m), Adingra (€24.4m), Moises Caicedo (€116m) and Alexis Mac Allister (€42m).