£1.06bn La Liga vs £922m Premier League - who will spend more money this summer?

Premier League clubs have spent £922m and counting 

with just 

seven days remaining until the transfer window closes.

Yet for the first time in more than a decade, they look set to be

 usurped from the top of the spending table by La Liga's 

summer spree, which has already passed the £1bn mark for 

the very first time.

After Spain's dominance in Europe was broken last season, 

Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have all flexed 

their financial muscle by pulling off three of the 10 biggest 

transfers of all time.

That has pushed spending by Spanish top-flight clubs to 

£1.06bn as of midday on 1 August, and with more than a 

month to go until their transfer window closes, they could 

close in on the Premier League's record spend of £1.4bn from 

2017.

Eden Hazard, Joao Felix and Antoine Griezmann are three of 

those to head to Spain but other than Arsenal and 

Manchester 

City making Nicolas Pepe and Rodri their record signings 

respectively and Tottenham spending £54m on Tanguy 

Ndombele, it's been a relatively quiet summer for the English 

top flight.

But why have Spanish clubs spent so big this summer?

English success sparks response

Not only were last season's Champions League and Europa 

League winners both English, it was the first time all four 

finalists in Europe's top two competitions have come from 

one nation.

Before that, nine of the previous 10 Champions League and 

Europa League winners were Spanish - and Italy haven't had 

any since 2010, when Inter Milan won the Champions League.

"It has seemingly sparked a response from certain clubs in 

Spain and Italy," said Sam Boor from Deloitte's Sports 

Business Group.

"By contrast, the largest Premier League clubs appear to have 

taken a more controlled approach to their transfer spending, 

and the competitiveness of their squads in Uefa competitions

 last season may have contributed to this."

In addition to Arsenal and Manchester City's record breakers, 

Sepp van den Berg, a 17-year-old Dutch centre-back, has been 

Liverpool's biggest signing so far for an initial £1.3m. Harvey 

Elliott joined the Champions League winners from Fulham 

but 

cannot sign a professional contract until his 17th birthday.

Chelsea have been hampered by a Fifa-imposed transfer 

embargo while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has not overseen the

 revolution that many predicted at Manchester United. So far 

they have paid £50m for right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka and 

£15m for Daniel James.

Surprisingly, Aston Villa have been the league's biggest 

spenders as they prepare for life back in the top flight. Given 

the increase in revenue they are guaranteed to receive from 

the Premier League, they have forked out more than £110m, 

including £22m on record signing Wesley.

TV boost for Spanish clubs

La Liga clubs have really splashed the cash, though. Real 

Madrid have spent more than £300m including the deal 

which 

brought Hazard from Chelsea, which could reach £150m.

Atletico Madrid made Felix the fifth most expensive transfer 

in history at £113m before Barca met Griezmann's £107m 

release clause to make him the sixth.

"The big three La Liga clubs - Barcelona, Real Madrid and 

Atletico Madrid - have been the most notable spenders 

across 

Europe in this window so far," Boor added.

"The start of a new domestic broadcast rights deal in 2019-

20, which is expected to provide a boost to the leagues' 

broadcast revenues of around 20% per season compared to 

the previous deal, may be helping to fund some of this 

spending."

Indeed, it hasn't just been a kneejerk reaction to English 

success in Europe. La Liga clubs sold broadcast rights 

individually until 2015, when a new law was passed to switch 

to the collective model, which the Premier League has used 

since it started in 1992.

"When clubs can forecast their income, that's when they start 

to spend, and we're seeing that in Spain now," said Deloitte's 

Tim Bridge. "La Liga clubs are well regulated in terms of what 

they can and can't spend and now they're at that inflection 

point where they can kick on in transfer terms and start to 

compete, in particular, with the Premier League."

The Premier League's new broadcast deal for the 2019-2022 

cycle is worth £3.07bn per season, compared to £1.83bn for 

La Liga. But Barca and Real's broadcasting revenue from La 

Liga is protected under the royal decree of 2015 so they will 

receive a minimum of £128m, just less than the Premier 

League's top six received for 2018-19.

Could Serie A cause a chain reaction?

Italian clubs broke the £1bn barrier last summer and have 

almost matched Premier League spending so far. Juventus 

made Ajax defender Matthijs de Ligt their big summer 

signing 

for £67.5m, spending £136.4m overall.

But everything could change with only a week to go until the 

Premier League window, before which the league's 

expenditure is expected to exceed £1bn.

Manchester United's Romelu Lukaku has been linked with 

Inter Milan and Juventus, with Juve's Argentine striker Paulo 

Dybala potentially heading the other way. Will United be keen 

to get a deal done so they can then sign Harry Maguire from 

Leicester?

All it takes is one big move to spark a flurry of activity and 

English clubs know that if they don't act now they risk looking 

nervously over their shoulder for the next month.

European clubs could come after their English rivals' star 

assets since the transfer deadline in La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 

and the Bundesliga isn't until 2 September.

Although Gareth Bale's proposed move to China was blocked 

by Real Madrid, he has been linked with a move to Italy. Plus 

Man Utd's Paul Pogba has been linked with Real all summer 

so could there be a swap deal with Bale?

And maybe that would tempt Barca into resolving the 

summer's longest-running transfer saga by paying a world 

record fee to bring Neymar back from Paris St-Germain.

Now that would really be a statement of intent from La Liga.