Soccer

English clubs are biggest spenders in January transfer window

Manchester City led the way in the men’s game while Chelsea smashed the women’s world transfer record.

Chelsea’s record-breaking signing of Naomi Girma contributed to an all-time high January spend on international deals in the women’s game
Chelsea’s record-breaking signing of Naomi Girma contributed to an all-time high January spend on international deals in the women’s game (Bradley Collyer/PA)
By Jamie Gardner, PA Chief Sports Reporter

English clubs were the biggest January spenders on international transfers in men’s and women’s football, a new FIFA report has found.

Manchester City led the way in the winter window as they brought in Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis, while Chelsea broke the women’s world transfer record with their signing of Naomi Girma from San Diego Wave.

Spending on international transfers in the men’s game totalled 2.35 billion US dollars (£1.89bn) according to FIFA’s International Transfer Snapshot for January 2025, 47.1 per cent higher than the previous record set in January 2023 of 1.6bn US dollars.

Omar Marmoush was a big-money January recruit by Manchester City
Omar Marmoush was a big-money January recruit by Manchester City (Martin Rickett/PA)

English men’s clubs spent the highest of any nation – 621.6m US dollars (£498.7m) – with German clubs second on 295.7m US dollars (£237.2m).

The 5.8m US dollars (£4.7m) spent in the women’s game also smashed the previous highest total from 2024 by 180.6 per cent, with the fee for Girma understood to be just under £900,000 and the first million-dollar signing.

Chelsea also brought in England midfielder Keira Walsh for a reported £800,000 from Barcelona, with English clubs spending 2.3m US dollars (£1.85m).