Man Utd’s switch spend in comparison with Premier League rivals as promoted sides splash extra
Manchester United spent £152m in the 2026 summer transfer window, but were still outspent by several Premier League rivals, including Liverpool and Manchester City
Carlos Baleba’s £70million signing was Manchester United’s biggest outlay(Image: Dan Mullan, Getty Images)
Manchester United spent less than newly-promoted Ipswich Town and Hull City, and had a lower net spend than Coventry City during the summer transfer window as they gear up for their Champions League comeback.
United’s most substantial outlay came last week when Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder Carlos Baleba signed for an initial £65m, with the potential to reach £70m. The Reds concentrated their expenditure on central midfielders. Andrey Santos moved for £48m, potentially climbing to £50m from Chelsea, while Youri Tielemans switched from Aston Villa for £35m.
Outside the middle of the park, United’s investment was heavily restrained. Karl Darlow arrived without a fee to offer backup for Senne Lammens. United did pay £4m that could escalate to £8m for Tottenham’s promising winger Tynan Thompson.
United spent £50m on Andrey Santos(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
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This took their overall expenditure to £152m, though Cristian Orozco joined for an undisclosed sum and compensation is due to Swansea City for Kit Margetson.
United did explore completing a dramatic eleventh-hour swoop for Manchester City full-back Rayan Ait-Nouri. They were told by his representative that he might be obtainable, but United only wished to secure him on a season-long loan while the Blues wanted to incorporate a mandatory purchase clause as well.
For this reason, the transfer collapsed. Compared to their Premier League rivals, United were left trailing in their wake.
The Reds’ bitter rivals City set the pace in the Premier League, splashing out £454.2m this summer. This featured a £125m deadline day swoop for Enzo Fernandez and £60m potentially rising to £65m for Iliman Ndiaye – eclipsing United’s summer outlay in a single day.
Manchester City broke their transfer record twice in the same window after signing Enzo Fernandez on deadline day(Image: Manchester City FC)
Tottenham were the sole other club to exceed £300m, forking out £386.5m as they bid to secure Champions League football.
Liverpool invested the bulk of their £247.5m on PSG forward Bradley Barcola while reigning Premier League champions Arsenal parted with £198.5m. Both those sides, along with United, were outspent by Aston Villa, Chelsea and Newcastle, who invested £290.8m, £280.8m and £273.7m, respectively.
Alarmingly for United, their expenditure was surpassed by all three newly-promoted side. Ipswich invested £171m on fresh recruits as they strive to maintain their Premier League status this season. Hull splashed £150m, while Coventry’s net spend of £123m outweighed United’s £100m after the Sky Blues sold just £4.4m worth of players
United can still bolster their squad but only free agents are available to join them. The transfer window will reopen again on January 1, 2027, but winter business has been famously painfully lacking.
