Most money spent by clubs promoted to Premier League as Ipswich smash record
Ipswich have got out their chequebook and are spending big in an attempt to survive relegation but how has that worked out for previous promoted Premier League sides?
The Tractor Boys are up to more than €175m of expenditure, making them one of the biggest spenders in promotion team history, but that does not always mean safety.
Here’s the top 10 according to Transfermarkt and how their seasons turned out.
10. Leeds United 2025-26 – €113.7m
Keen to avoid becoming a yo-yo team, Leeds overhauled their squad last summer at a time when the future of manager Daniel Farke was far from certain.
Looking back at their business, it can be summarised as a lot of small but sensible deals. Anton Stach was the most expensive but the free signing of Dominic Calvert-Lewin proved to be a real coup. Crucially, Leeds strengthened across the pitch on their way to a 14th-place finish.
9. Southampton 2024-25 – €117.2m
Southampton spent plenty of money trying to stay up but it is hard to look at who they signed and not suggest there was an acceptance of what was to come.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Flynn Downes and a young Mateus Fernandes were all players with potential but not ones that were Premier League proven.
Aaron Ramsdale arrived as the incoming player with the most experience of the top flight, unfortunately a chunk of that experience came with being relegated with Bournemouth.
Southampton were shockingly bad and ended the season on just 12 points, barely scraping past Derby’s record of 11. It did though set them up for the Championship with the squad reaching the playoffs.
8. Ipswich Town 2024-25 – €125m
Considering Ipswich’s squad was largely the same as the one that was in League One, they needed to spend a lot of money to have any chance of surviving.
The Suffolk club’s transfer policy that season though was more buying players for a season in the Championship rather than Premier League-ready quality.
The result was unsurprising with the Tractor Boys falling back down to the second division but they did win promotion back at the first attempt.
7. Burnley 2025-26 – €131.5m
Burnley’s status as a yo-yo side was confirmed when they suffered their second relegation in the last four seasons.
Looking to break out of their streak, the club spent big money on three Chelsea players in Lesley Ugochukwu, Armando Broja and Bashir Humphreys but none of them turned out to be very good.
The Turf Moor side’s best signing of the window was Zian Flemming from Millwall but they will probably go back up this year so can have another go next summer.
6. Coventry City 2026-27 – €148.5m
Coventry pushed their way into this list after breaking their transfer record four times over the summer of 2026.
Carl Rushworth, who spent last season loan at the CBS Arena, joined permanently from Leeds while the club has taken a punt that 20-year-old Ghana midfielder Caleb Yirenkyi is a diamond in the rough.
They have also signed Taiwo Awoniyi to strengthen attack and the signing of Sidiki Cherif for £21m was also a statement of intent.
This summer’s spending represents six of the seven most expensive deals in the club’s history with only Haji Wright, signed in the 2023-24 campaign, breaking the monotony.
5. Aston Villa 2019-20 – €148.6m
It is a testament to just how much Villa spent that this came seven years ago and yet, even with inflation, they are still third on this list.
The Birmingham side completely overhauled their squad with plenty of talent coming through the door. Ezri Konsa, Douglas Luiz, Matt Targett, Tyrone Mings and Wesley Moraes elevated the squad. Pepe Reina arriving on loan was one of the stranger signings.
And the summer of spending worked. Just.
Villa stayed up by a single point, enabling them to kick on and finish 11th the following year.
4. Nottingham Forest 2022-23 – €155.2m
Forest’s expenditure in the summer of 2022 remains a sore point for Leicester City fans as it was later deemed to be in breach of the league’s financial rules, not that the Nottingham club cared.
Forest spent the money they needed to stay up rather than the money they were legally able to and so survived by four points. When they did get their points deduction, there was another three promoted sides to soften any relegation scrap.
It’s not the most ethical way of staying up but it certainly worked.
3. Hull City 2026-27 – €175.65m
Hull have signed 15 players for their first Premier League season in 10 years and winning the opening two matches suggests that was a canny strategy.
In truth, the team that defied xG to win promotion would’ve been eaten alive in the top-flight. Nobel Mendy, Konstantinos Tzolakis and Tim Iroegbunam are three of the most eye-catching arrivals, as the Tigers have gone for youth and resale value.
2. Sunderland 2025-26 – €188.7m
Sunderland’s summer expenditure of the 2025 summer remains the gold standard for what a promoted club can achieve.
The Black Cats were fourth in the previous season’s Championship, 24 points off Burnley and Leeds, yet a complete squad overhaul including the signing of Granit Xhaka saw them reach Europe in their first season back.
1. Ipswich Town 2026-27 – €220.65m
Ipswich’s strategy, under new manager Gary O’Neil, has been different than their last time round with a mixture of youth talent and Premier League-ready quality.
Sasa Lukic and Issa Diop have both arrived from Fulham while Florentino Luis and Zian Flemming have joined from Burnley. And then you have Emersonn and Abdul Fatawu who Ipswich hope will provide a bit of quality.
Their most recent signings include the return of Julio Enciso who links up with his former Strasbourg boss and becomes the Tractor Boys’ most expensive signing of the summer. The signing of World Cup winner Exequiel Palacios is a statement of intent and one that puts them top of this list.
In total, Ipswich are the eighth-biggest spenders in the Premier League but that has come through many signings rather than one incredibly expensive one. Will it work out? Time will tell but Ipswich are hoping to follow the Sunderland model.
READ NEXT: The 10 highest paid players in the Championship: Kalvin Phillips joint top…
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name the 30 most expensive transfers between Premier League clubs?