Chelsea & Man City agree £100m deals each for 3 players: Where EPL Clubs get money for massive deals

Manchester City on Thursday completed the £100m signing of Jack Grealish from Aston Villa in a record-breaking deal. The previous British record was the £89m Manchester United paid for the transfer of Paul Pogba from Juventus in 2016. After a protracted pursuit, Grealish has moved to the Etihad and is currently the most expensive player in the EPL.

However, that record might not last for long. If Manchester City's pursuit of another English international, Harry Kane is successful, then it is expected that the Citizens would pay way more than the £100m it took to get Grealish. Tottenham Hotspur chairman, Daniel Levy is rumoured to be holding on to his £160m valuation of Kane and would not let the England Captain leave if the price is not met. 

Another massive deal is in the pipeline with Chelsea have reportedly agreed to a £98m deal with Inter Milan for striker Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian striker is expected to return to Stamford Bridge 10 years after he moved from Anderlecht to join the Blues in 2011. The Blues have been in a protracted search for a new goalscorer. When this deal gets done, it would mean that the English transfer record had been broken 3 times in one summer. So where is all the money coming from? 

Most of the riches in the EPL comes from the massive TV rights that the League signed with their Broadcast partners Sky, BT, and Amazon. The League has seen a steady investment from the TV companies with a new deal cycle to start in the 2022 season. In 2015, the EPL signed a landmark £5.136bn deal for broadcast rights from 2016 - 2019. They renewed the deal in 2018 to the tune of £4.8bn for another 3-year cycle from 2019 - 2022. And again, the TV companies have renewed the same £4.8bn agreement from 2022 - 2025. 

These TV deals are where most EPL Clubs get their money from with the last team in the league guaranteed almost £100m per season.  Clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester City and United earn up to £150m in TV rights alone for the season because of their perpetual top 4 or top 6 finish. These funds are largely contributory to the massive transfer fees the clubs can pay for top players season after season.