Premier League clubs spent a record £950 million (Dh5.2bn) in the 2014/15 summer and winter transfer windows.
Spending in the 2015 winter market equalled the £130m (Dh720m) invested the previous year. Deadline day had a low-key feel about it, but clubs still spent more on the final day of this window – £45m (Dh249.4m) – than they did on 2014 deadline day (£35m).
– #Quiz360: WIN dinner for 2 at Towers Rotana, Dubai
The final figure of £130m was well down on the record winter spend of £225m (Dh1.2bn) in 2011, when Chelsea broke the record for a transfer between British clubs with their £50m (Dh277m) purchase of Fernando Torres from Liverpool.
But the overall spend puts the previous best of £760m (Dh4.2bn) from the 2013/14 season in the shade and underlines the increased buying power of English clubs.
Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said: “Given the record level of spending seen in the summer, it is not entirely surprising that we haven’t seen a new record for the January window. However, with all Premier League clubs recording record revenues, we might have expected one or two more major deals.”
Outside of Bundesliga club Wolfsburg – who signed Andre Schurrle from Chelsea – Europe also experienced a quiet deadline day but, according to figures from transfermarkt.com, spending across the window was up in La Liga (€57.3m from €16.26m in 2014); Serie A (€76m from €54.5m); Germany (€64.5m from €39.2m) but not Ligue 1 (€16.2m from €40.5m).
