We hold player-by-player squads for 110 clubs across the Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1, the Eredivisie, J1 and the WSL. Comparing each squad as it stood at the end of last season with how it stands now, 201 players can be identified as having disappeared from one club and appeared at another.
No fees, no rumours. This counts only moves we can verify at both ends, because we hold both squads. It also means moves to or from leagues we don’t cover — the Bundesliga, Serie A, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and so on — are not in the 201.
Flows between leagues
| From → To | Players |
|---|---|
| Ligue 1 → Premier League | 16 |
| La Liga → Premier League | 6 |
| Premier League → La Liga | 6 |
| Ligue 1 → La Liga | 7 |
| Ligue 1 → Eredivisie | 4 |
| Eredivisie → Premier League | 2 |
| Other (nine pairings, one each) | 9 |
Moves within a single league: J1 37, Eredivisie 37, Premier League 26, La Liga 26, Ligue 1 16, WSL 9.
Ligue 1 supplies the Premier League
The thickest pipe by far is Ligue 1 to the Premier League: 16 players. In the other direction there was exactly one, making it a 16-to-1 one-way street.
| Player | Pos | Move |
|---|---|---|
| Mamadou Sarr | CB | Strasbourg → Chelsea |
| Aaron Anselmino | CB | Strasbourg → Chelsea |
| Valentín Barco | LB | Strasbourg → Chelsea |
| Emanuel Emegha | CF | Strasbourg → Chelsea |
| Ethan Nwaneri | AM | Marseille → Arsenal |
| Jérémy Jacquet | CB | Rennes → Liverpool |
| Thomas Meunier | RB | Lille → Sunderland |
| Simon Adingra | RW | Monaco → Sunderland |
| Aladji Bamba | CDM | Monaco → Newcastle |
| Trevan Sanusi | LW | Lorient → Newcastle |
| Dilane Bakwa | RW | Strasbourg → Nottingham Forest |
| Ibrahim Osman | LW | Auxerre → Brighton |
| Mamadou Sangaré | CDM | Lens → Brentford |
| Brian Mayo | CF | Metz → Aston Villa |
| Jaydee Canvot | CB | Toulouse → Crystal Palace |
| Emerson | FW | Toulouse → Ipswich |
Five players left Strasbourg and four of them went to Chelsea. The two clubs sit under the same investment group, so a route between them already existed — and here it is, plainly visible in the data.
The other pattern is positional. Eight of the 16 are centre-backs, full-backs or holding midfielders — exactly half. What the Premier League wanted from Ligue 1 was defensive solidity, not attacking flair.
Real Madrid shopped in England
Real Madrid signed three players from the Premier League:
- Marc Cucurella (LB) from Chelsea
- Ibrahima Konaté (CB) from Liverpool
- Bernardo Silva (AM) from Manchester City
Add Endrick (CF) from Lyon in Ligue 1, and three of their four arrivals from abroad came from England. Their only signing from inside La Liga was Carlos Espí (FW) from Levante.
Look at the positions and left-back and centre-back come first. This was a summer spent on the back line rather than on goals.
Barcelona, meanwhile, took Anthony Gordon (MF) from Newcastle. Four of the six Premier League → La Liga moves went to Real Madrid or Barcelona.
Tottenham signed six domestically
The most striking intra-league activity was Tottenham’s. Six players from other Premier League clubs:
| Player | Pos | From |
|---|---|---|
| Sandro Tonali | CDM | Newcastle |
| Andrew Robertson | DF | Liverpool |
| Marcos Senesi | CB | Bournemouth |
| Jan Paul van Hecke | CB | Brighton |
| Martin Dúbravka | GK | Burnley |
| Mateus Fernandes | CM | West Ham |
Three of the six are centre-backs or defenders and one is a goalkeeper. After finishing 17th on 41 points, the squad movement points straight at a defensive rebuild.
Aston Villa did the opposite. They sent Youri Tielemans (Manchester United), Harvey Elliott (Liverpool) and Morgan Rogers (Chelsea) to clubs above them, and brought in Evann Guessand (Crystal Palace), Alejandro Garnacho (Chelsea) and João Gomes (Wolverhampton). The midfield and forward line turned over wholesale.
Relegated clubs dismantled
Breaking down the Eredivisie’s 37 moves shows players scattering from relegated clubs to the rest of the division.
- Six from Volendam (16th, relegated) — three to Sparta Rotterdam, one each to AZ Alkmaar, Heerenveen and Fortuna Sittard
- Four from Heracles (bottom, relegated) — two to Twente, one each to Fortuna Sittard and ADO Den Haag
Twente took two from those two clubs, plus Wout Weghorst (CF) from Ajax and one apiece from Go Ahead Eagles and Groningen — a side that finished fourth restocking efficiently from below.
La Liga shows the same shape. From relegated Levante, Iker Losada (to Real Betis), Carlos Espí (to Real Madrid) and Manu Sánchez (to Celta) stayed in the top division, while Levante brought in Etta Eyong from Villarreal and Aïssa Mandi from Lille.
J1’s 37, and the traffic with Europe
Within J1, the notable pattern is concentration on the receiving side.
- Kashiwa Reysol — K. Endo (FC Tokyo), M. Mitsuta (Gamba Osaka), T. Wakahara (JEF Chiba), S. Asada (Kyoto): four
- Avispa Fukuoka — K. Mikuni (Nagoya), K. Shiihashi (Nagoya), D. Fukazawa (Tokyo Verdy), Werik Popó (Okayama): four
- Shimizu S-Pulse — R. Germain (Hiroshima), K. Kinoshita (Hiroshima), K. Koizumi (FC Tokyo), H. Sugai (Kyoto): four
Four players left Nagoya Grampus for other J1 clubs and four left Urawa Reds.
The biggest traffic with Europe was Sanfrecce Hiroshima’s two signings:
- Sébastien Haller (ST, Ivory Coast) from Utrecht in the Eredivisie
- Takuma Asano (CF) from Mallorca in La Liga
Going the other way, R. Sato (CM) moved from FC Tokyo to Valencia. He was the only player to leave J1 for one of the leagues we cover.
Elsewhere, Lee Kang-in (CAM, South Korea) moved from Paris Saint-Germain to Atlético Madrid.
What this number is not
For clarity, here is what the 201 excludes.
- Any move to or from a league we don’t hold squads for — Bundesliga, Serie A, Primeira Liga, Saudi Pro League, MLS and others
- Fees and contract type. We only look at whether a player is on a squad list, so permanent deals and loans are indistinguishable here
- Promotions from lower divisions or academies
So the 201 is not a picture of the whole window. It is the circulation inside six specific leagues. Within that frame, the pattern is clear: Ligue 1 supplies, the Premier League absorbs, and Spain’s two biggest clubs take from England.
Current squads are available from the league tabs on the home page. We never display scores or scorers, so match pages are safe while you are catching up.