Championship net spend table of 2026-27: West Ham top…
The Championship is almost back and with a new season comes plenty of spending by the clubs hoping to make it to the lucrative world of the Premier League.
Just three teams will be getting a ticket to the Premier League gravy train but that does not stop pretty much all 24 of the Championship teams spending money in an attempt to make it.
With the new season just a few days away, here’s how the net spends of each club looks like.
Note: All figures were taken from Transfermarkt and converted into pounds.
24.) Stoke City
Stoke are owned by billionaire bet365 CEO John Coates and having failed to finish higher than 16th in the past four seasons, the club has dipped into the transfer market.
The £10m deal for midfielder Ethan Galbraith is the most expensive amongst five fee-paying moves but there have been no sales, meaning the club is bottom of the net spend table.
Expenditure: £21.25m
Income: £0
Net spend: -£21.25m
23.) Southampton
Playing the role of pantomime villain this season is Southampton who are still dealing with the aftermath of Spygate.
Tonda Eckert remains in charge as an FA investigation continues but the club has opened the chequebook in the attempt to return to the playoffs and maybe even go one better.
They have spent £9m on Aston Villa forward Lewis Dobbin and have made the loan signing of Cyle Larin permanent.
The Saints have also spent £6.9m on goalkeeper Daniel Peretz.
Expenditure: £18.49m
Income: £0
Net spend: -£18.49m
22.) Middlesbrough
Fresh from a playoff final defeat, Middlesbrough are spending the money for another promotion push.
They are the league’s biggest spenders as it stands but their purchases have been on six different players rather than one marquee signing.
The most expensive is Will Lankshear from Tottenham with the 21-year-old striker having spent last season loan at Oxford.
The finances for the moves come in the form of the sale of Hayden Hackney to Everton for £16.6m.
Expenditure: £31.39m
Income: £16.60m
Net spend: -£14.79m
21.) Norwich City
Norwich’s main transfer expenditure is on Andrea Brooks, a central midfielder they spent spent around £8.5m on.
Sam Field, a defensive midfielder from QPR, is the only other permanent purchase so far.
Expenditure: £9.80m
Income: £0
Net spend: -£9.80m
20.) Watford
The Watford-Udinese connection is alive and well with five players arriving from the Italian club.
Of those, Martin Payero is the most expensive while the club has also bought Federico Ravaglia from Bologna.
Just the one sale with Tom Dele-Bashiru going to Aris Thessaloniki in Greece.
Expenditure: £9.46m
Income: £430k
Net spend: -£9.03m
19.) Wrexham
Wrexham were bottom of the net spend table last year but given they are in the same division in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2022, their Hollywood owners have not had to splash the cash too much this time round.
Their most expensive signing is 23-year-old right back Danny Imray from Crystal Palace whilst they have also signed midfielder Ben Whiteman from Preston.
Expenditure: £8.04m
Income: £0
Net spend: -£8.04m
18.) Birmingham City
Birmingham have spent money on three players so far this window.
The most expensive of them is midfielder Jhon Solis from Girona with striker Luis Vazquez joining from Anderlecht. Left back Kristoffer Lund completes the trio.
The St Andrew’s side has made a couple of sales to the MLS with Kai Wagner joining Philadelphia and Kyogo Furuhashi joining LA Galaxy.
Expenditure: £11.61m
Income: £4.04m
Net spend: -£7.57m
17.) Bristol City
The team that seems most doomed to spend eternity in the Championship has not pushed the boat out too much this summer so far.
Lorent Tolaj is the most expensive acquisition, joining for around £3.5m from Plymouth. Sam Tickle has also joined from Wigan. Lisav Naif Eissat and Sam Greenwood are the other arrivals.
Going out the door is Sinclair Armstrong and Ross McCrorie.
Expenditure: £9.68m
Income: £2.62m
Net spend: -£7.05m
16.) Millwall
Millwall have, for now, managed to keep hold of most of the squad that took them to the playoffs last season with the only departure being free transfers.
The club has spent money on Mathis Servais, Tairyk Arconte and Elkan Baggott so far this window.
Expenditure: £7.03m
Income: £0
Net spend: -£7.03m
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15.) Derby County
£6.88 million has been spent by Derby on Bobby Clark, an English centre midfielder joining RB Salzburg.
Jake Rooney, cousin of Wayne, is among those to leave on a free transfer.
Expenditure: £6.88m
Income: £0
Net spend: -£6.88m
14.) PortsmoutH
Pompey have spent money on five players so far this window with most of them attack minded.
Portsmouth have bought two strikers with the most expensive being Marko Milovanovic from UD Almeria. They have yet to earn any money back from sales.
Expenditure: £6.16m
Income: £0
Net spend: -£6.16m
13.) West Bromwich Albion
The Baggies have spent money on a central midfielder, two new strikers and a right back. Felix Horn Myhre cost the most, joining from SK Brann in Norway.
Conor Townsend has also returned to the club after leaving Ipswich.
Expenditure: £6.02m
Income: £0
Net spend: -£6.02m
12.) Swansea City
The Snoop Dogg backed club have spent north of £10m as they attempt to move up the Championship table.
The most expensive of those is the £5.5m spent on left winger Joseph Opoku but the Swans have recouped a significant part of their expenditure from the sale of Ethan Galbraith to Stoke.
Expenditure: £13.59m
Income: £10.89m
Net spend: -£2.70m
11.) Lincoln City
The newly promoted side understandably does not have the same kind of cash as the bigger teams in this division, which makes it more understandable why they have bought just one player for a fee so far.
That is the £2.58m spent on centre back Andreti Coubis but no money has come in from departures.
Expenditure: £2.58m
Income: £0
Net spend: -£2.58m
=9.) Preston North End
Preston have made the loan move of 21-year-old Spurs academy product Alfie Devine permanent and parted with £4.56m to bring him back to Deepdale.
The cost of that has been softened by the sale of Ben Whiteman to Wrexham.
Expenditure: £4.56m
Income: £3.01m
Net spend: -£1.55m
=9.) Cardiff City
Cardiff have reinforced between the sticks with Nathan Trott joining from Copenhagen for a fee of £1.55m.
No players have left for money as it stands.
Expenditure: £1.55m
Income: £0
Net spend: -£1.55m
8.) Blackburn Rovers
It’s all been pretty quiet in Blackburn with just two players coming in.
The most expensive of this is midfielder Moussa Baradji from Swiss side Yverdon Sport.
Nathan Redmond is amongst those to leave after his contract expired.
Expenditure: £1.44m
Income: £0m
Net spend: -£1.44m
7.) Bolton Wanderers
Promoted side Bolton have bought plenty of players in but only one of them has cost money.
That is right back Luca Stephenson who joins from Liverpool’s academy while Szabolcs Schon is the most significant departure.
Expenditure: £705k
Income: £516k
Net spend: -£190k
6.) Charlton Athletic
A combined 12 players have either gone or arrived at Charlton but there has been minimal fees involved.
Karlan Grant, Danny McNamara and Nathaniel Chalobah have all arrived on free transfers while Lyndon Dykes is the most notable departure.
Expenditure: £0
Income: £0
Net spend: £0.00m
5.) Queens Park Rangers
The big-spending days of QPR are firmly in the past with the West London club making just one paid transfer this summer.
That comes in the form of Calum Ward who joins from Motherwell but they have completed the free signing of former Brighton wonderkid Tariq Lamptey.
Expenditure: £654k
Income: £3.04m
Net spend: £2.39m
4.) Sheffield United
It’s been pretty quiet on the red side of Sheffield with just two players through the door and two leaving for a fee.
Matt Doherty and Romelle Donovan have both arrived on a free transfer while the sale of Andre Brooks to Norwich earned around £8m.
Expenditure: £0
Income: £8.03m
Net spend: £8.03m
3.) Wolverhampton Wanderers
The first of the relegated sides on this list has struggled to recoup the kind of money that the other two have.
Joao Gomes was sold to Aston Villa for £34.4m with some of that money spent on left winger Raiki Said and centre back Ladislav Krejci.
Raul Jimenez and Kieran Trippier have returned to the Molineux on free transfers.
Expenditure: £14.19m
Income: £34.40m
Net spend: £20.21m
2.) Burnley
Burnley has been doing some handy business with Maxime Esteve, Loum Tchaouna, Jaidon Anthony and Luca Koleosho all departing for fees in the region of £15m-£23m.
Burnley also signed Florentino Luis having had him on loan last season only to then sell him to Ipswich two months later.
Expenditure: £24.94m
Income: £87.48m
Net spend: £62.54m
1.) West Ham United
West Ham have been the beneficiary of some frankly mad overspends.
Firstly, Spurs were willing to part with £85m for Mateus Fernandes, but the madness of that was only bettered by Saudi Arabia club Al-Hilal spending £60m on Crysencio Summerville.
That has left the Hammers with a very healthy net spend of £148.22m, but their fans will be concerned over whether the club plans to spend any of that.
With the season a few days away, West Ham have spent just £989k in the transfer window on winger Keiber Lamadrid.
Expenditure: £989k
Income: £149.21m
Net spend: £148.22m
Net spend table in full
24.) Stoke City – -£21.25m
23.) Southampton – -£18.49m
22.) Middlesbrough – -£14.79m
21.) Norwich City – -£9.80m
20.) Watford – -£9.03m
19.) Wrexham – -£8.04m
18.) Birmingham City – -£7.57m
17.) Bristol City – -£7.05m
16.) Millwall – -£7.03m
15.) Derby County – -£6.88m
14.) Portsmouth – -£6.16m
13.) West Bromwich Albion – -£6.02m
12.) Swansea City – -£2.70m
11.) Lincoln City – -£2.58m
10.) Preston North End – -£1.55m
9.) Cardiff City – -£1.55m
8.) Blackburn Rovers – -£1.44m
7.) Bolton Wanderers – -£0.19m
6.) Charlton Athletic – £0.00m
5.) Queens Park Rangers – £2.39m
4.) Sheffield United – £8.03m
3.) Wolverhampton Wanderers – £20.21m
2.) Burnley – £62.54m
1.) West Ham United – £148.22m
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