Despite the implementation of UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations aimed at curbing excessive spending, the 2023/24 Premier League season witnessed numerous clubs overspending on transfers. A glaring example is Chelsea F.C., whose expenditure reached €467.80 million, far surpassing their transfer income of €269.50 million.*
With this in mind, Ticketgum analysed factors such as player acquisition costs, average shirt prices, and the quantity of shirts required to ultimately uncover how many shirt sales are needed to cover Premier League transfer fees.
The results: The Premier League players requiring the most shirt sales to cover transfer expenses
Ticketgum can reveal that Crystal Palace’s new recruit Adam Wharton is the player with the highest number of shirt sales needed to recoup his transfer costs. Despite fending off competition from Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace will need to make over 2.8 million shirt sales (2,846,154) from Adam Wharton to cover his £18.5 million transfer fee.3 Each shirt is priced at just £65 adding to the challenge, 44% less than Spurs player, Drăgușin whose second on the list (£102).
Ranking second is Tottenham Hotspurs’ Radu Drăgușin, requiring 2,439,024 shirt sales to recover his £25 million transfer fee. This is almost double the sales needed (46%) than that of teammate, Muñoz, who would need 1,307,692 shirts sold to match his transfer fee. The Defender moved from Italian team Genoa to Tottenham Hotspur in January, with the hefty £102 shirt price having a part to play in recouping transfer costs.
In joint third are Aston Villa’s new recruits Morgan Rogers and Kosta Nedeljkovic, with over 1.6 million (1,653,576) shirt sales needed to cover the club’s transfer cost of £8 million each. The mission is more challenging considering their average shirt sales are priced far lower than the rest of the team at just £48.This is 26% lower than Crystal Palace’s Daniel Muñoz whose shirts are priced at £65.
The results: The players worldwide requiring the most shirt sales to cover their transfer expenses
Alongside being the Premier League player needing to make the most shirt sales, Adam Wharton is also globally the player needing to make the most shirt sales (2,846,154).
In second place is Renan Lodi, recently acquired by Saudi club Al-Hilal for an impressive £19.8 million, despite interest from Brentford during the transfer window.4 To offset his transfer fee, the defender would have to sell more than 2.6 million shirts (2,607,665), each priced at £75.
French defender Sacha Boey secures third place, facing the task of selling 2,460,592 shirts for Bayern Munich to balance his £25.6 million transfer fees. Priced at £104 per shirt, the club faces a challenge in offsetting the player’s phenomenally high transfer expenses.