Big guns stay quiet as lesser lights dig deepest in transfer window

Premier League clubs spent £175m (€231m) in the January transfer window — some £50m (€66m) short of the record — as clubs near the top of the table resisted the temptation to panic buy.

However the January total equals the second-highest figure and has contributed to gross spending by Premier League clubs for the 2015-16 season of more than £1bn (€1.3bn), a new record, according to analysts Deloitte.

Dan Jones, partner in the sports business group at Deloitte, said: “Notably, this January’s spending has been driven in large part by clubs in the bottom half of the table.