How the Premier League’s big beasts clawed back their transfer power

The most dramatic transfer of the deadline day was Alexander Isak's acrimonious, record-breaking £125 million move from Newcastle United to Liverpool, highlighting the continued dominance of the Premier League's biggest and richest clubs in 2025. This transfer underscored a summer-long trend of established 'Big Six' clubs increasingly cherry-picking talent from within the league, leaving many of the other 14 clubs facing a sobering period due to financial constraints or economic realities.

The 'Big Six'—Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham—maintain their financial power and status despite occasional fluctuations in on-pitch performance. Even Newcastle, under Saudi ownership and seen as a potential disruptor, had its spending curbed by profit and sustainability rules, and its status was further challenged by Isak's forced exit to Liverpool.

Liverpool's spending exceeded £400 million, including Isak and Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth. Arsenal spent over £250 million on Christian Norgaard and Eberechi Eze, while Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham, and Chelsea also signed key players from other Premier League clubs, such as James Trafford, Matheus Cunha, Mohammed Kudus, and Joao Pedro, respectively.

Although bigger clubs have historically preyed on smaller ones, such deals became scarcer in recent years due to inflated transfer prices, pushing the 'Big Six' to look overseas for better value. However, the 2025 window marked a significant resurgence in intra-league spending by the elite clubs, reminiscent of past decades but on a much larger financial scale.