adminLONDON.— Thought it was a quiet transfer window in England?
Think again.
The Barclays Premier League flexed its financial muscle in January to cement its place as the cash king of Europe.
Premier League clubs spent a whopping £125million last month, more than the top tiers of France, Italy, Germany and Spain combined.
English top-flight clubs’ outlay dwarfed that of rival European leagues, with France’s Ligue 1 a distant challenger at £44m.
Chelsea, Europe’s biggest spenders last month, nearly spent that on their own, with Jose Mourinho’s side splurging £43,8m on Nemanja Matic, Kurt Zouma and Mohamed Salah.
The numbers show Premier League clubs tend to buy quality over quantity, too, compared to the other leagues.
While Italian Serie A clubs managed to sign 49 players on permanent deals and 46 footballers on loan last month, English sides signed just 51 players altogether — 21 of whom were on short-term contracts.
Premier League clubs also dominated the list of the top 10 highest-spending clubs in Europe, but there were a few surprise names among established spenders such as Chelsea, Manchester United (£37,4m) and Paris Saint-Germain (£20,8m).
Newly promoted Hull City’s £13,6m spend was the eighth highest among European clubs, while Fulham, bottom of the Premier League, were ninth after paying out £12,6m to bring in seven players including record signing Konstantinos Mitroglou.
The Soccerex Transfer Review by Prime Time Sport showed Chelsea were comfortably the most active European club during last month’s window, topping the list of the biggest selling clubs, too. Roman Abramovich recouped £51,5m from player sales — most notably Juan Mata’s £37m move to Manchester United, but Mike Ashley did not do too badly either. Newcastle received £20,8m from the January sales, including Yohan Cabaye’s £19m switch to PSG, which put the club second in the table of Europe’s selling clubs.
HIGHEST SPENDERS IN JANUARY
1. Chelsea £43,8m
2. Manchester United £37,4m
3. PSG £20,8m
4. Galatasaray £15,1m
5. Zenit £14,9m
6. Wolfsburg £14,1m
7. Inter Milan £13,9m
8. Hull City £13,6m
9. Fulham £12,6m
10. Napoli £11,6m
BIGGEST SELLERS IN JANUARY
1. Chelsea £51,5m
2. Newcastle £20,8m
3. Benfica £20,8m
4. Olympiacos £18,3m
5. Saint Etienne £16,3m
6. Rubin Kazan £15m
7. Lazio £14,3m
8. Anzhi £13,3m
9. FC Basel £11m
10. Lokomotiv Moscow £7,9m — Mailonline
Online Reporter