English soccer — and Liverpool, in particular — flexed its financial muscles in unprecedented fashion in a summer transfer window that highlighted the growing imbalance in the European game as well as the effect player power can have in securing a move.
Here’s what we learned from the last two months in the transfer market:
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FILE - Yoane Wissa of Brentford chases the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Brentford and Aston Villa, at the Gtech Community Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland, File)
Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi celebrates after scoring their side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Crystal Palace at Villa Park, Birmingham, England, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (David Davies/PA via AP)
Liverpool's Florian Wirtz gestures during the English Premier League soccer match between FC Liverpool and FC Arsenal in Liverpool, England, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Sweden's Alexander Isak, who was signed by Liverpool on Monday evening, attends a training session of the national soccer team of Sweden in Bosoen, outside Stockholm, Sweden, Tuesday, Sept 2, 2025, ahead of the World Cup qualifying match against Slovenia. (Jonas Ekstroemer/TT News Agency via AP)
The raw facts are that the 20 clubs in the Premier League — fueled by unrivaled spending power because of the competition's huge domestic and international broadcasting deals — splashed out a record total of $4 billion on players in the summer window. That outlay is more than Europe's other four top leagues — Spain, Italy, Germany, France — combined.
The previous single-window record spend was 2.36 billion pounds (now $3.2 billion) in 2023.
More pertinently, the Premier League's net spend was $1.75 billion, compared to Italy ($100 million) and Spain ($60 million), according to figures by Transfermarkt. France and Germany even returned a profit.
An attempt by Europe's top clubs to launch a Super League in 2021 collapsed within 48 hours.
Perhaps there already is one — it's called the Premier League.
Leading the unprecedented spending in the Premier League was Liverpool, whose outlay of $570 million was the biggest ever by one club in single window.
The English champions broke the British transfer record twice — first for Germany playmaker Florian Wirtz and then on deadline day when Sweden striker Alexander Isak joined from Newcastle for $170 million, making him the fourth most expensive player in soccer history.
Liverpool could afford such outrageous spending because the club bought only one player last summer — Federico Chiesa for 10 million pounds ($13.2 million) — while making a net profit of more than $50 million as Arne Slot leaned on the squad bequeathed by Jurgen Klopp to win the Premier League in his first season in charge.
This summer, the Reds have received about $250 million from sales, too. While their signings look strong on paper, their ability to recoup money for players is equally as impressive. For that, they've often looked to Saudi Arabia for a bail-out, with Darwin Nunez the latest to move there.
It was a summer when some players went on the front foot in pushing for moves, using Instagram Stories — rather than making an old-fashioned transfer request — to demonstrate their unhappiness at their clubs
That was exactly the tactic of Isak, who effectively went on strike at Newcastle while he agitated for a move to Liverpool. Newcastle confronted Isak, going public itself with a bold and rare statement challenging one of its star players, but eventually gave in.
Wissa used the same approach, posting about his disgruntlement with Brentford just a day before the transfer window shut having not trained with the squad for weeks. He got his move late on deadline day, too, as a replacement for Isak at Newcastle.
Contrast that, for example, with the attitude of Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi, who reportedly had his heart set on a move to Liverpool and kept playing for his team while the subject of a bid from the Reds. Palace couldn't find a replacement and Guehi stayed — likely earning respect from fans in the process.
English soccer's runaway revenue is a trend that's set to accelerate in European club competitions.
The Premier League has a record six teams in the Champions League’s 36-team lineup helped by 17th-place Tottenham winning the Europa League last season.
Those six teams can realistically expect to earn collective UEFA prize money of about 600 million euros ($698 million) — more than the entire prize fund of the second-tier Europa League which will be shared among 36 clubs from 23 different countries. They include Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest taking more UEFA cash back to England.
The wealth gap within the Champions League is already huge.
Liverpool’s sixth-highest transfer fee paid this offseason — 31 million euros ($36 million) for Italian teenager Giovanni Leoni as a back-up defender — is more than the entire reported revenue last year of one of its Champions League opponents, Qarabag of Azerbaijan.
Union Saint-Gilloise and Slavia Prague qualified direct to the Champions League by winning their domestic league titles and could plan their offseason business accordingly.
Still, Union has turned a profit of 50 million euros ($58 million) on player trading and its biggest buy was just 5 million euros ($5.8 million), for Austria winger Raul Florucz from Olimpija Ljubljana.
Slavia Prague has made a profit of 25 million euros ($29 million) with the biggest fee paid 3.5 million euros ($4 million) for Czech midfielder Michal Sadílek from Dutch club Twente.
Same competition, different financial world.
Wrexham's march to the Premier League shows no sign of slowing — its dealings in the transfer window is proof of that.
The Welsh club spent $40 million this summer on new players, repeatedly breaking its transfer record in a ruthless spree overseen by its Hollywood celebrity owners, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
The squad for this season's campaign in the second-tier Championship looks unrecognizable compared to the one it had three years ago, when the team was playing in the fifth tier.
Wrexham may have had a tough start to its Championship campaign, winning one of its first four games, but a fourth straight promotion still seems possible.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - Yoane Wissa of Brentford chases the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Brentford and Aston Villa, at the Gtech Community Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland, File)
Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi celebrates after scoring their side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Crystal Palace at Villa Park, Birmingham, England, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (David Davies/PA via AP)
Liverpool's Florian Wirtz gestures during the English Premier League soccer match between FC Liverpool and FC Arsenal in Liverpool, England, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Sweden's Alexander Isak, who was signed by Liverpool on Monday evening, attends a training session of the national soccer team of Sweden in Bosoen, outside Stockholm, Sweden, Tuesday, Sept 2, 2025, ahead of the World Cup qualifying match against Slovenia. (Jonas Ekstroemer/TT News Agency via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Danish official said Wednesday that a “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland remains with President Donald Trump after holding highly anticipated White House talks with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The two sides, however, agreed to create a working group to discuss ways to work through differences as Trump continues to call for a U.S. takeover of the semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.
“The group, in our view, should focus on how to address the American security concerns, while at the same time respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told reporters after joining Greenland’s foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, for the talks. He added that it remains "clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland.”
Trump is trying to make the case that NATO should help the U.S. acquire the world's largest island and says anything less than it being under American control is unacceptable.
Denmark, meanwhile, announced plans to boost the country's military presence in the Arctic and North Atlantic as Trump tries to justify his calls for a U.S. takeover of the vast territory by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their designs on Greenland, which holds vast untapped reserves of critical minerals.
The president, who did not take part in Wednesday’s meeting, told reporters he remained committed to acquiring the territory.
“We need Greenland for national security,” Trump said. “We’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out.”
Trump named Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as a special envoy to Greenland last month. Landry did not attend Wednesday's meeting, but was scheduled to travel to Washington on Thursday and Friday for meetings that include the topic of Greenland, his spokesperson said.
Landry, following Trump's latest comments, posted on X that Trump was “absolutely right” about acquiring Greenland and the territory "is a critical component of our nation’s national security portfolio.”
Before the meeting, Trump took to social media to make the case that “NATO should be leading the way" for the U.S. to acquire the territory. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has sought to keep an arms-length away from the dispute between the most important power and the other members of the 32-country alliance unnerved by the aggressive tack Trump has taken toward Denmark.
Both Løkke Rasmussen and Motzfeldt offered measured hope that the talks were beginning a conversation that would lead to Trump dropping his demand and create a path for tighter cooperation with the U.S.
"We have shown where our limits are and from there, I think that it will be very good to look forward,” Motzfeldt said.
In Copenhagen, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen announced a stepped-up military presence in the Arctic “in close cooperation with our allies," a necessity in a security environment in which “no one can predict what will happen tomorrow.”
Several of the country's allies, including Germany, France, Norway and Sweden, announced they were arriving in Greenland along with Danish personnel to take part in joint exercises or map out further military cooperation in the Arctic.
NATO is also looking at how members can collectively bolster the alliance's presence in the Arctic, said a NATO official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Greenland is strategically important because, as climate change causes the ice to melt, it opens up the possibility of shorter trade routes to Asia. That also could make it easier to extract and transport untapped deposits of critical minerals which are needed for computers and phones.
Trump says Greenland is also “vital” to the United States' Golden Dome missile defense program. He also has said Russia and China pose a threat in the region.
But experts and Greenlanders question that claim, and it has become a hot topic on the snow-covered main street in Greenland’s capital, where international journalists and camera crews have descended as Trump continues his takeover talk.
In interviews, Greenlanders said the outcome of the Washington talks didn't exactly evince confidence that Trump can be persuaded.
“Trump is unpredictable,” said Geng Lastein, who immigrated to Greenland 18 years ago from the Philippines.
Maya Martinsen, 21, said she doesn't buy Trump's arguments that Greenland needs to be controlled by the U.S. for the sake maintaining a security edge in Arctic over China and Russia. Instead, Martinsen said, Trump is after the plentiful “oils and minerals that we have that are untouched.”
Greenland “has beautiful nature and lovely people," Martinsen added. "It’s just home to me. I think the Americans just see some kind of business trade.”
Denmark has said the U.S., which already has a military presence, can boost its bases on Greenland. The U.S. is party to a 1951 treaty that gives it broad rights to set up military bases there with the consent of Denmark and Greenland.
Løkke Rasmussen and Motzfeldt also met with a bipartisan group senators from the Arctic Caucus. The senators said they were concerned Trump's push to acquire Greenland could upend NATO and play into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who has introduced legislation to try to block any U.S. action in Greenland, said it was “stunning” to her that they were even discussing the matter. “We are operating in times where we are having conversations about things that we never even thought possible,” Murkowski said.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said it is “nonsense” to say that the U.S. needs to control Greenland to protect national security. The officials were “very open to additional national security assets in Greenland in order to meet whatever risks there are.”
A bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers plans to show their solidarity by traveling to Copenhagen this week.
Burrows reported from Nuuk, Greenland and Ciobanu from Warsaw, Poland. Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio and Geir Moulson in Berlin, Mary Clare Jalonick, Lisa Mascaro, Aamer Madhani and Will Weissert in Washington, Sara Cline and Jack Brook in Baton Rouge, La., and Catherine Gaschka in Paris contributed to this report.
People walk on a street in Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
An American flag is displayed on the facade of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
From left, Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, begin a meeting on Capitol Hill as officials from Denmark and Greenland meet with lawmakers from the Arctic Caucus, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The demonstration under the slogan Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders is held in front of the American embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, third from left, Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt, not shown, and their delegations leave the Old Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the grounds of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt speak at a news conference at the Embassy of Denmark, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt speaks at a news conference at the Embassy of Denmark, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt speak at a news conference at the Embassy of Denmark, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt speak at a news conference at the Embassy of Denmark, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt speak at a news conference at the Embassy of Denmark, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt speak at a news conference at the Embassy of Denmark, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Denmark's Foreign Minister, Lars Loekke Rasmussen, right, and Greenland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Motzfeldt, left, prepare at the danish embassy for the meeting with the American Vice President, J.D. Vance, and Foreign Minister Marco Rubio in Washington D.C., Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
A fisherman carries a bucket onto his boat in the harbor of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A boat travels at the sea inlet in Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
People walk near the church in Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A bird stands on a boat at the harbour of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
People walk along a street in downtown of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
