THOUGH JANUARY’S TRANSFER window was possibly quieter than a lot of fans would have liked, a spend of £175 million brings the total spending of Premier League clubs to over £1 billion according to business advisory firm Deloitte.

It surpasses the previous record of £965m set just last season and was driven in large part by clubs in the bottom half of the table with the combined spending of the bottom six clubs hitting £90m.

Total spending for the season according to Deloitte. Deloitte Deloitte

By comparison, last year those clubs that found themselves in the bottom six on transfer deadline day had a gross transfer spend of only £20m during that window.

Alexander Thorpe, senior manager in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte said:

The prospect of increased revenue from the new broadcast deals starting next season has encouraged clubs at the lower end of the Premier League to invest this window, so too have we seen significant spending by those clubs aspiring to Premier League status with spending by Championship clubs also totalling over £30m this January.”

Premier League transfers in January Deloitte Deloitte

This January also saw the highest ever total spend by Premier League clubs on players from overseas clubs with £110m spent compared with £65m in January 2015.

3 winners and 3 losers from the January Transfer Window

23 Irish players who moved during the January Transfer Window