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Premier League clubs splashed out almost £130million in this year's January transfer window - more than twice the amount spent last year.
The mid-season shopping ended at 11pm on Thursday and around £35m was spent in transfer fees on deadline-day alone, according to figures released by Deloitte.
Last January's outlay was just £60m but this month's figure still fell well short of the record £225m sum in 2011 - when Chelsea stumped up £50m for Fernando Torres and Liverpool £35m for Andy Carroll.
JANUARY SPENDING
PREMIER LEAGUE CLUBS
2013: £120m
2012: £60m
2011: £225m
DEADLINE DAY
2013: £35m
2012: £30m
2011: £135m
Three clubs - QPR, Liverpool and Newcastle - accounted for more than half of the outlay this time around, while four clubs - including champions Manchester City - spent nothing.
Of the money splashed during this window, 62% was on players from abroad, 21% on Premier League players and 17% on players from the Football League.
David Beckham's move to Paris St Germain grabbed the headlines on deadline day, while AC Milan completed a £19m deal for Mario Balotelli and QPR broke their transfer record for a second time when they signed defender Chris Samba for £12.5m.
More than £1bn has now been spent in January transfer windows since 2003.
THE KEY POINTS
- The acquisition of new players from overseas clubs accounted for £75m (62%) of Premier League clubs' gross transfer spending.
- QPR, Liverpool and Newcastle United have together contributed over 50% of the total spending.
- Premier League clubs have now spent over £1 billion to acquire new players in the 11 January transfer windows.
- Over the past decade, Premier League clubs' January transfer spending has typically exceeded that in other European leagues.
- Top division clubs in Italy are the second highest spenders this January, with total reported transfer spending of around 70% of the Premier League total.
"There were relatively few active spenders in the winter window, with over half of this January's total transfer spending coming from three clubs," Dan Jones of Deloitte's Sports Business Group said.
"Winter window activity tends to be driven by the on-pitch competition at the upper and lower ends of the Premier League table.
"Clubs are now in a reporting period that will count towards the first assessment of UEFA's financial fair play break-even requirement for international competition and Premier League clubs are also considering the implementation of additional cost control regulation at a domestic level.
"Their apparent relative restraint in this transfer window may reflect an increasing focus on clubs achieving more sustainable levels of expenditure relative to revenues."
UEFA's Financial Fair Play initiative is designed to stop clubs spending more than they earn.
The acquisition of new players from overseas clubs accounted for £75m (62 per cent) of Premier League clubs' gross transfer spending, followed by acquisitions from fellow Premier League clubs (£25m, 21 per cent), and acquisitions from Football League clubs (£20m, 17 per cent).
But a number of teams still leave it late to seal their deals with £35m of player transfer fees spent on deadline day. The equivalent final day figure in January 2012 was £30m, and for January 2011 it was £135m.
The Premier League continues to dominate spending across Europe with Serie A clubs the second highest spenders this January, with total reported transfer spending of around 70 per cent of the total for England's top division - a large chunk of that to bring in Balotelli. Total transfer spending by top division clubs in France and Germany was around 30 per cent to 45 per cent of that by Premier League clubs.
Transfer spending in La Liga was minimal in this winter window, and exceeded by the amounts spent by clubs in emerging markets such as Russia and Brazil.
Source : http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/8459859/Transfer-News-Premier-League-clubs-spent-almost-130m-in-January-window