Premier League teams splashed out £1.1 billion ($1.5bn) on new signings throughout the summer transfer window – a reduction in spending for the second year in a row.
According to analysis from Deloitte, this year saw clubs in the English top flight register their lowest summer spend since 2015.
It marks an 11 per cent drop from last year’s gross expenditure on transfers, which was 9% lower than the previous year, meaning spending has declined for consecutive years for the first time since 2008 to 2010.
HOW MUCH WAS SPENT ON DEADLINE DAY?
The Premier League clubs spent a total of £150m on the final day of the window.
Nikola Vlasic’s move to West Ham for £26 million ($35m) was the biggest of the day, but Cristiano Ronaldo completing a return to Manchester United for £20m ($28m) and Tottenham snapping up Emerson Royal from Barcelona added to the total.
Meanwhile, Daniel James joined Leeds from United for around £25m , Arsenal brought in Takehiro Tomiyasu from Bologna for £16m (€19m/$22m) and Brighton landed Spain international Marc Cucurella from Getafe before the window closed.
WHAT WERE THE BIGGEST DEALS OF THE TRANSFER WINDOW?
Manchester City made the biggest splash with a single transfer when they brought in Jack Grealish from Aston Villa for a fee of £100m ($139m) , which set a new British record.
Chelsea came close to matching that figure when they spent £98m ($136m) to bring Romelu Lukaku back from Inter.
United made more expensive moves than Ronaldo, finally acquiring £73m ($101m) Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund and Raphael Varane from Real Madrid for £40m ($55m).
Arsenal were big spenders, too, bringing in the likes of Ben White, Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale for a total spend of £150m.
WHAT ABOUT FREE TRANSFERS?
There was an increase in players joining clubs on free transfers this year.
A total of 22% of the signings by Premier League sides did not involve a transfer fee, which is up from the 20% of last summer.
As many as 16 clubs signed at least one player for free throughout the window.
