La Liga Ratcheted Up Its Transfer Expenditure in 2014

In football, the summer transfer window means big business and by 12 August 2014, Europe's top 5 countries had spent $1.36 billion on player transfers according to FIFA TMS. This is remarkably similar to last year when that number was 1.35 billion by the same date. So far, England is top of the list for 2014 summer transfers with $507 million, up from $455 million last year.

Spain comes second after a massive shopping splurge. Spanish clubs have multiplied their spending more than 3.5 times compared to last year. Money-fuelled moves for superstars has been responsible for this enormous increase. James Rodriguez moved to Real Madrid for an undisclosed fee after the World Cup, reported to be around €80 million while Luis Suarez left Liverpool for Barcelona for around €94 million. France and Italy both experienced big drops of around 64 percent compared to last year.