“Last January saw 45 million spent by Premier League clubs on the final day of the transfer window and with further spending expected over the coming hours, Premier League gross transfer spending looks set to comfortably exceed the 1 billion mark for the 2015-16 season”.
Advertisement
Many of those deals involved clubs fighting against relegation from the Premier League and one – Jordan Rhodes’ £9m move from Blackburn to Middlesbrough – was by a club targeting promotion into the English top flight.
It may be transfer deadline day, but we all know the real transfer window closes on Saturday.
German clubs have to wrap up their business by 1700 GMT while Italian clubs have until 2200 GMT to sign players.
After three games without a win, Arsenal will be desperately seeking to get their Premier League title challenge back on track with the visit of Southampton to the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
Meanwhile gross transfer spending by German clubs was around a fifth of that seen at Premier League clubs.
To say Manchester United have been below par this season would be a massive understatement, they’ve played some of the worst football in the League this term and that can be accredited to LVG’s unorthodox style of play as well as the impotency of the squad at his disposal.
Clubs in the top six positions accounted for 70 percent of second tier spending.
Everton shelled out £13.5m to bring Senegal striker Oumar Niasse from Russian Premier League club Lokomotiv Moscow while Stoke City shattered their club record by signing French midfielder Giannelli Imbula from Porto for £18.3m shortly before the window closed.
Although there haven’t been many big-name transfers this winter, aside from Swansea’s Jonjo Shelvey and Tottenham’s Andros Townsend both heading to Newcastle for £12 million apiece, there were some blockbuster deals in this past summer’s transfer window.
The big-spenders were not limited to the Premier League.
Advertisement
LONDON – English football clubs took their spending on players for the season soaring past £1bn on Monday, but the biggest signing on transfer deadline day was that of a manager as Manchester City confirmed Pep Guardiola will take over in July.
