Premier League clubs spent £180million during the January transfer window, the first time the figure has fallen since 2012, according to football finance experts at Deloitte.
Last year top flight clubs shell out £430million, with big money moves including Virgil van Dijk at £75million and Aymeric Laporte for £50million, however, this season, most of the major transactions saw players leaving Premier League.
Tim Bridge, director in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said: “As we approach a decisive phase of the season, Premier League clubs’ January transfer spending has been relatively muted in comparison to what we have seen in previous years.”
Nearly a third of the total expenditure was accounted for by Chelsea’s £55million move for Christian Pulisic.
January spending was at £225million in 2011 but fell to £60million in the following year.
It doubled the following year, and remained steady at £130million in 2014 and 2015, before jumping to £175million, £215million and £430million over the last three seasons.