Manchester United’s worrying £22.5m Lisandro Martinez transfer deficit - ‘fee vs value’ of PL summer transfers
The Old Trafford side have been splashing the cash as Erik ten Hag prepares his team for the new Premier League season.
With the 2022/23 Premier League season just over a fortnight away from kicking off the summer transfer window continues to be a busy one for clubs across English football’s top flight.
Manchester United have already added Lisandro Martinez, Tyrell Malacia and Christian Eriksen to their squad with more business expected to be completed over the next few weeks.
Adding strength and depth to their first team squad is so crucial that sometimes Premier League clubs can be happy to pay over the player’s market value in order to secure their signature.
That certain appears to be the case for a number of the most high profile moves in this window with Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and Liverpool amongst the sides over paying for talents.
However, there are a few deals that buck that trend and Manchester City’s signing of Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland looks to have come at a significant discount compared to what they could have paid.
Using figures from football statistic site Transfermarkt, we have looked at the transfer fees paid in some of the biggest deals of the summer involving Premier League clubs and compared them to the player’s market value at the time.
Here are nine of the most prominent deals this summer showing how much was paid for the player and how it compares to their valuation:
Adding strength and depth to their first team squad is so crucial that sometimes Premier League clubs can be happy to pay over the player’s market value in order to secure their signature.
5. Richarlison (-£9 million)
Tottenham’s signing of the Everton attacker raised a few eyebrows and they also had to pay a good bit over his market valuation, shelling out £52m for a players valued at £43m
6. Raheem Sterling (+£12.5 million)
Chelsea look to have secured a real bargain with their capture of the England international from Man City, paying £12.5m less than his £63m market valuation with a fee of £50.5m
7. Darwin Nunez (-£18m)
Liverpool needed a star striker of their own to rival Man City’s capture of Erling Haaland and paid a fee of £67.5m for Darwin Nunez which was already £18m over the Benfica forward’s £49.5m valuation
8. Lisandro Martinez (-£22.5m)
Manchester United’s summer business is starting to pick up speed but they had to overpay by quite a bit to land defender Lisandro Martinez with a fee of £51.5m way above his £29m valuation