Premier League player expenses during Covid-19 : How spending on the transfer market of football has shifted since the initial shock of the pandemic

This thesis examines the impact of the initial shock of the Covid-19 pandemic on the transfer market within the English Premier League. To determine whether teams still overspend the same amount of money above the market values of players as they did prior to the pandemic. Using a differences-in-differences approach and comparing actual transfer values to established market values of player, both before and after the initial pandemic shock, with data and player statistics collected from the popular German website Transfermarkt.de. This resulted in an average 11.8 percent decrease in spending over the market value per player, or about 950.000 Euros less per player above their market value. However, both results show no statistical significance of being true. Concluding that teams may have spent less after the initial shock of the Covid-19 pandemic compared to player market values. To support this explorative data result, more data must be collected and analysed in the future