Big Six spending hits all-time high as clubs are picked apart

Bruno Guimarães’ £75 million move from Newcastle United to Arsenal is the latest sign of a Premier League motif that is intensifying: the richest clubs are increasingly plucking the best players from the rest of the division.

At 28, the Brazilian midfielder continues Arsenal’s policy of spending big on players who can improve the first team immediately. A year ago Arsenal spent roughly £185 million on players aged over 24, the most ever by an English club in a single season, and a first Premier League title in 22 years provided proof of concept.

For Newcastle, Guimarães’ departure adds to a run of high-profile exits since last September. Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali have all left St James’ Park in that period. In the 12 years to the end of June 2025 Newcastle generated £352 million from player sales, and a reasonable estimate has them matching that figure inside the past 12 months after sell-on clauses and solidarity payments.

A record flow from the Other 14

Guimarães is the 10th instance this summer of one of the Big Six — Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur — acquiring players from the other 14 top-flight clubs. He follows Morgan Rogers, Elliot Anderson, Tonali, Maxence Lacroix, Jan Paul van Hecke, Youri Tielemans, Danny Welbeck, Marcos Senesi and Jordan Henderson, with backup goalkeepers Illan Meslier and Karl Darlow making similar free-agent moves.

Research by The Athletic using the six highest-earning clubs each season — the same Big Six since 2009 — shows the flow is at an all-time high even as middling Premier League teams enjoy greater wealth than ever.

Last summer 11 players moved from a non-Big Six club to a Big Six one, with all six of the latter involved. In January Manchester City signed Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi, the best players at Bournemouth and Crystal Palace respectively, taking the 2025-26 tally to 13 — a new record. The number had previously hit double figures only in 2014-15.

Over the past 14 months 23 of these deals have taken place, a mass transfer of talent from the less well-off to the richest. Eleven different Premier League clubs have lost players to the Big Six since the start of last summer. The 23 transfers cost almost £1.2 billion combined.

Why the raiding is accelerating

The revenue gap is decisive. In 2024-25 the average turnover of a Big Six club was £635 million, even with three of them missing the Champions League. The average for the remaining 14 clubs was £214 million, a gap of £421 million — the largest ever and growing every year since 2011 save for pandemic seasons. Since Covid-19 average revenues among the Big Six have risen £189 million, more than three times the increase at other clubs.

Financial rules reinforce the advantage. The Premier League’s squad cost ratio allows clubs to spend a higher proportion of income than UEFA’s 70 per cent rule, but the revenue gulf means the richest can still outspend everyone else. When successful smaller clubs hit UEFA competition they face stricter limits, while averaging player profits over three years under the Premier League’s rules restrains spending unless sales are consistently profitable.

The result is an increased flow of talent up the chain. Newcastle, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest are the three largest net sellers this summer. Chelsea have gobbled up 17 non-Big Six players in the past decade, and Brighton & Hove Albion have been most pilfered of all since summer 2021, losing 10 players to the Big Six, including Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, Joao Pedro, Robert Sanchez and now Welbeck to Chelsea.

Historical echo and competitive consequences

Under Sir Alex Ferguson Manchester United routinely signed the best from the rest, with Teddy Sheringham, Dwight Yorke, Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney moving from less minted teams between 1994 and 2006. Today Manchester City have completed five such moves in just over 12 months, Chelsea six, Spurs four, Arsenal and Manchester United three apiece, and Liverpool two — one of them the British-record signing of Isak from Newcastle.

The richest can allow others to do the scouting and development, then buy proven Premier League talent. Brighton, Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers have lost six players each to the division’s richest since 2017, and both Leicester and Wolves have been relegated in recent years.

The six highest-earning clubs have remained the same for almost two decades, enjoying far greater matchday and commercial revenues. With each new deal like Guimarães’, competitive balance in England is impacted. Selling clubs have more money than ever, but consistently replacing best players is difficult when the market knows they are flush with cash. Finishing sixth or seventh is increasingly the ceiling for most, while winning the title remains a fantasy for the rest.