Remember January 2023, when Premier League spending in the winter transfer window hit staggering new heights off the back of Chelsea’s wild recruitment spree?
England’s top clubs spent a total of £815m – almost double the previous high for a January window – as Todd Boehly smashed the English transfer record for £107m Enzo Fernandez and gazumped Arsenal to buy £89m Mykailo Mudryk.
The Blues weren’t the only ones splashing the cash; Liverpool took a £45m punt on Cody Gakpo, Newcastle United spent a similar sum on Anthony Gordon and Leeds United blew £35m on Georginio Rutter.
But this year could hardly be any more different. With a week to go until the deadline for new signings, this has been the tumbleweed transfer window.
How much have Premier League clubs spent in January 2024?
So far, Premier League clubs have spent just £55m on new signings in the January transfer window – or around seven per cent of last winter’s record-breaking outlay.
The last time teams spent so little in the mid-season window was in 2009-10, when just £30m was lavished on new faces.
Only seven players have moved on permanent deals, and four of them were loaned out again straight away, meaning there have been just three first-team additions.
Fourteen of the 20 top flight teams have not made a single signing, with even Chelsea keeping their powder dry as several clubs feel the pinch from Premier League spending rules.
What are the biggest deals of the January 2024 transfer window?
The most expensive transfer by a Premier League club so far in this window has been Tottenham Hotspur’s £21m signing of defender Radu Dragusin from Genoa.
Next is Manchester City’s £12.5m recruitment of Argentinian starlet Claudio Echeverri, although the 18-year-old is remaining at River Plate on loan until next year.
Brighton’s £8m deal for another Argentina youngster, full-back Valentin Barco from South American champions Boca Juniors, is the third biggest.
How much does the Premier League usually spend in January?
Last year’s transfer window was extraordinary, but top flight teams have spent in excess of £200m in five of the last seven winter windows, so this one is way down.
The lowest spend of the last decade was the £70m invested in 2020-21, but that was while clubs tightened their belts during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A year later they returned to their big-spending ways with an outlay of £295m, according to Deloitte’s Sports Business Group.