Serie A spent €1.16 billion in the 2026 window: the club-by-club ledger

The Serie A summer window closed at 20h on 1 September 2026, the deadline set by the FIGC in Comunicato Ufficiale n. 235/A. In the Transfermarkt ledger checked on 11 September 2026, the 20 clubs spent €1,160.50 million and received €736.71 million, a net balance of -423.79 million. Across the summers from 2000/01 to 2026/27, that was, as of that check, the league's most negative net balance in nominal terms.

The balance did not get there through record spending: in the same site's series from 2000/01 to 2026/27, checked on 11 September 2026, four summers had bigger outlays, led by 2019 with 1,275.27 million. What made the difference was income, which fell by 375.59 million on 2025, by this newspaper's calculation. Corriere dello Sport, on 2 September 2026, recorded Serie A's third consecutive summer above €1 billion in purchases (1.16), below the all-time record of 2019.

Who spent and who sold

In the Transfermarkt ledger checked on 11 September 2026, Milan (€165.05 million) and Juventus (164.35) were separated by 0.70 million at the top of the spending list. With Fiorentina (150.30), Roma (124.50) and Inter (101.00), the top five add up to 705.20 million, 60.8% of the total, by this newspaper's calculation.

At Milan, the two biggest signings were Gonçalo Ramos, 74 million paid to PSG, and Diego Moreira, 50 million paid to Strasbourg. In the Transfermarkt list checked on 11 September 2026, Ramos was Serie A's most expensive signing of the window. According to the Associated Press, on 30 June 2026, the roughly 74 million reported by the Italian press made him, as of that date, the most expensive signing in Milan's history, above the 49.5 million paid to Lille for Rafael Leão in 2019.

At Juventus, the biggest signings were Loïs Openda, 42.75 million paid to RB Leipzig, and Randal Kolo Muani, 41.20 million paid to PSG, and their net balance of -137.85 was the most negative in the table. In the view of Corriere dello Sport on 2 September 2026, Juventus were the most exposed side, 134 million in the red, not counting, according to the paper, the value of a future buyout of Woltemade.

In the same Transfermarkt ledger checked on 11 September 2026, seven clubs finished in the black, a figure Corriere dello Sport also recorded on 2 September 2026: Bologna (56.80), Atalanta (53.50), Parma (47.20), Sassuolo (30.00), Lazio (20.70), Cagliari (6.65) and Udinese (3.65), together 218.50 million. In the list checked on the same date, the league's biggest sale was Marco Palestra, from Atalanta to Chelsea, for 57 million; Milan sold Leão to Galatasaray for 38. The 13 clubs in the red add up to -642.29 million, and Juventus, Fiorentina and Roma account for 57.4% of that, by this newspaper's calculation.

The table lists the 20 clubs in order of spending, in millions of euros, from the Transfermarkt ledger checked on 11 September 2026, with paid loans included. The total matched the figure at the top of the site's page.

Spending fell, sales fell further

In summer 2025, according to Transfermarkt checked on 11 September 2026, Serie A spent 1,227.94 million and received 1,112.30, a net balance of -115.64. From one year to the next, by this newspaper's calculation, spending fell by 67.44 million and income by 375.59: the balance worsened by 308.15.

In the series from 2000/01 to 2026/27 checked on 11 September 2026, summer 2026 ranked 5th for spending. On net balance it was the most negative, 7.34 million below 2024/25 (-416.45), with 2019/20 (-396.97) third. Only five summers in the period ended with a positive balance: 2002/03, 2003/04, 2004/05, 2012/13 and 2023/24, the last of these the only one after 2012/13, at +78.51.

The table summarises seven summers from Transfermarkt checked on 11 September 2026, in millions of euros to one decimal place; each year is the summer that opens the season. Income is left out because, rounded to one decimal place, it would not add up in the 2024 row. That row includes Nico Paz, bought by Como from Real Madrid for 66 million in a transfer the site dates to 25 August 2024.

The league's balance is its balance with the rest of the world

A transfer between two Serie A clubs counts as spending for one and income for the other: Santiago Castro appeared at 36 million both in Roma's purchases and in Bologna's sales, in Transfermarkt checked on 11 September 2026. In the combined balance of the 20 clubs, those deals cancel out. By this newspaper's calculation, 305.10 million changed hands within the league. With clubs outside it, lower-division Italian sides included, Serie A paid 855.40 and received 431.61: the difference, -423.79, is exactly the overall balance.

By this newspaper's calculation, which groups the counterpart clubs by the flag the site shows next to each one, France was the largest net destination: Serie A paid 186.55 million and received 24.75, a balance of -161.80, with 115.20 going to PSG alone, for Ramos and Kolo Muani. With English clubs it paid 226.65 and received 180.60, a balance of -46.05, including Tarik Muharemovic's sale from Sassuolo to Leeds for 37 million. With Turkish clubs it paid 31.50 and received 54.30, a positive balance of 22.80.

What the 492 arrivals reveal

The 492 arrivals are not 492 signings. By this newspaper's count from the Transfermarkt list checked on 11 September 2026, 266 are loan returns: 261 dated 30 June 2026 and 5 entries for future returns, dated 30 June 2027. The money lies in 110 permanent transfers with a fee (1,083.35 million) and 43 paid loans (75.55 million), such as that of Moise Kean, listed as arriving at Como from Fiorentina for 5 million. Two paid returns, of 1.35 and 0.25 million, complete the 1,160.50. The rest are 39 loans at no cost, 24 free arrivals and 10 with no fee listed.

Nico Paz did not appear in the 2026/27 list checked on 11 September 2026. According to Calcio e Finanza on 3 September 2026, citing the sports press, after Real Madrid exercised their rights over the player, a new agreement kept him at Como with an investment of 60 million and gave Real Madrid a unilateral buy-back right for 2027/28. In the view of Chiamarsi Bomber, on 4 September 2026, that buy-back had to be added to Como's 64 million.

Net transfer spend is not what hits the accounts

Calcio e Finanza separates two measures. The transfer balance compares the fees invested with the fees received. The balance-sheet impact measures the effect on the 2026/27 result: amortisation, wages, capital gains, loan costs and income, and the savings generated by the players who left. According to the publication, on 2 September 2026, Spence and Curtis Jones were bought outright by Inter on contracts to 2031, and a longer contract spreads the cost of the fee over more financial years and reduces the annual amortisation charge. The analysis leaves out sell-on income, the percentage of a future resale, and agents' fees, because that data is not available for every club.

In the table, Calcio e Finanza estimates from 2 to 4 September 2026, in millions of euros. Benefits combine loan income, capital gains and savings on amortisation and wages, without the proceeds of sales; benefits minus costs gives the impact. The fee balance follows the publication's method, not Transfermarkt's: at Como, which here includes Nico Paz, it is -124.16, against -43.55 in the first table.

On Calcio e Finanza's estimate, Juventus's fee balance was -145.99 million, but the impact stood at -5.29, because the departures generated 92.76 in benefits, 81.58 of it in amortisation and wage savings. According to the same analysis, the exit of Dusan Vlahovic alone freed up more than 41 million in costs, and Muharemovic's sale from Sassuolo to Leeds, at the end of July 2026, brought Juventus 17.4 million of positive impact, which the calculation leaves out.

A capital gain is measured against the value the player still carried on the books. Leão, bought for 49.5 million in 2019, according to the AP, was sold for 38 with a capital gain of almost 27, according to Calcio e Finanza; Milan's overall figure, 25.38, is lower because the departure of Ismael Bennacer produced a book loss. In Atalanta's accounts at 30 June 2025, consulted by Calcio e Finanza, Palestra had a residual value of zero, because he came through the club's academy. According to the publication, on 1 July 2026, if the fixed 57 million were confirmed in the accounts, it would be the biggest capital gain in Atalanta's history, above the 53.2 million from Højlund's sale to Manchester United.

In Calcio e Finanza's estimates, Bologna had the largest impact in the table, +77.95, with 71.46 in capital gains, and Como the smallest, -31.85. At Roma the sign flips: -105.5 on the fee balance and +3.75 in the accounts, with 45.47 of savings on amortisation and wages.

How Italy pays for its domestic market

Under CU 235/A, published on 27 May 2026, the fixed financial component of deals between Italian clubs is settled through a clearing house run by the Lega of each division. Between Serie A and Serie B clubs, bonuses and compensation may be settled directly, outside the clearing house, if the contract provides for it, up to 50% of the total value of the deal.

For summer-window deals, CU 235/A splits each club's financial balance for the 2026/27 season into one instalment of 20%, paid upfront, and eight instalments of 10%. The notice set 10 September 2026 as the peremptory deadline for the first, on pain of the contracts becoming unenforceable, and scheduled the remaining eight, backed by guarantees, for the end of each month, from 30 September 2026 to 30 April 2027. Between Serie A clubs, the agreement may provide for payment over up to five seasons: over four, the last instalment may not exceed 50% of the total; over five, the last two combined may not either.

The fixed part of the 305.10 million that, by this newspaper's calculation, moved between Serie A clubs during the window passes through this circuit.

The FIGC yardstick that made Lazio sell before buying

On 24 November 2025, the FIGC announced that, from the summer 2026 window, the threshold of the Costo del Lavoro Allargato indicator (CLA, the expanded labour cost), used for the so-called Serie A transfer block, would fall from 0.8 to 0.7, and that the cost and amortisation of under-23 players eligible for Italy's national teams would be removed from the numerator.

Under the NOIF text reproduced by Economia e Sport on 25 March 2026, updated on 21 July 2026, the CLA compared first-team expenses (wages, amortisation, agents' fees) with revenue, including the net result of buying and selling players; a club that went above 70%, previously 80%, was required to keep purchases and sales at a zero balance. Under the rule applied to the 2026 window, described by Calcio e Finanza on 27 November 2025, clubs in breach were barred from registering signings unless they proved to the Lega a positive balance from sales, wage savings or contract terminations: this is the zero-balance market. The other way out was funding from shareholders, from capital increases to subordinated, interest-free loans.

Lazio had to build a market with a positive balance because they breached the indicator, according to Calcio e Finanza on 3 September 2026, and capped immediate spending on permanent signings at €3 million. The sale of Mario Gila to Milan, for 28 million by the same reckoning, did not count in full: 14 million of it belonged to Real Madrid, who held the right to 50% of a future resale.

According to Il Napolista on 2 September 2026, the first agreement with Inter for Frattesi, a 1 million loan plus a 14 million obligation to buy, was blocked by the Lega because Lazio would have had to cover the whole sum immediately. It became 5 million up front, an option, not an obligation, to buy for 10, and 50% of a future resale. In Transfermarkt checked on 11 September 2026, Lazio closed the window with a net balance of +20.70 million euros.

What could change the numbers after 1 September 2026

According to Calcio e Finanza's calendar of 29 June 2026, the Saudi Pro League window ran from 22 July to 12 October 2026. Since, under CU 235/A, sales abroad follow the window of the destination country, the ledger checked on 11 September 2026 might not have been the final one. CU 235/A also let clubs apply to register free agents whose contracts ended between 1 July 2026 and the end of the window, from 2 September to 22 December 2026 and from 2 to 22 February 2027, up to 2 per club. The winter window was set to run from 2 January to 1 February 2027, closing at 20h.

Corriere dello Sport, on 2 September 2026, put the negative balance above 440 million; Transfermarkt, checked on 11 September 2026, gave -423.79. These are figures from different sources, compiled on different dates.

Serie A among the big leagues

In the view of Corriere dello Sport on 2 September 2026, Serie A was the world's second-biggest league by volume of business and by spending capacity, meaning what is spent beyond what is received, well ahead of the Bundesliga, LaLiga and Ligue 1. In Transfermarkt checked on 11 September 2026, the Premier League spent €4,124.50 million, about 3.6 times Serie A's outlay, with a net balance of -1,534.61. The Bundesliga had spent 781.80 million, LaLiga 752.08 and Ligue 1, 606.60, all below the 1,160.50 of the 20 Italian clubs.