adminLONDON. — England’s Premier League soccer clubs spent a record 950 million pounds on the August and January transfers this season even though spending in the winter window matched last year’s figure of 130 million, according to accountancy firm Deloitte. Despite clubs’ “relative restraint” in January, the total spending in 2014-15 surpassed the 2013-14 record of 760 million pounds, Deloitte said. The amount spent in January was far less than the 225 million pounds record for the winter established in January 2011.
Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte who have been monitoring the spending of clubs for the last two decades, 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.”
The biggest spenders were champions Manchester City, league leaders Chelsea and Champions League perennials Arsenal, who between them accounted for around half of the total, according to the firm.
The window ended on Monday more with a whimper than a bang with the biggest deal of the day being Chelsea’s 35 million euros for Colombian winger Juan Cuadrado from Italian club Fiorentina. — Reuters.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter