January transfer spending at five-year high as overall Premier League figures surpass £1bn mark
With big clubs preferring to wait until the summer, when Messrs Klopp, Guardiola and Wenger will get to flex their financial muscle, the smaller sides took centre stage during an intriguing, if unremarkable, January transfer window
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Your support makes all the difference.An absence of blockbuster signings did not prevent January spending reaching a five-year high of £175m.
That figure pales in comparison to the overall number for the 2015/16 season with top-flight clubs parting with a record £1.0145bn. Porto’s Giannelli Imbula joined Stoke City for £18.3m, a club record, on a day which also witnessed Everton capture Lokomotiv Moscow striker Oumar Niasse for £13.5m.
Football League clubs received £20m this month while another £110m was sent abroad, with this window doing little to belay fears that the Premier League is providing financial relief for its immediate rival divisions in Spain, Germany and Italy.
One success for the English top flight’s global appeal, however, came as Pep Guardiola was announced as the man to replace Manuel Pellegrini at Manchester City. The out-going Chilean has since been suggested as a candidate to fill the shoes soon to be left unoccupied by Guus Hiddink at Chelsea.
Dan Jones of finance experts Deloitte told the BBC this morning: “Notably, this January's spending has been driven in large part by clubs in the bottom half of the table.
“The promise of the new broadcast deal for Premier League clubs from next season onwards and the threat of missing out through relegation is contributing to clubs investing in an attempt to stay in the league.”
Newcastle United embodied that fear most acutely as they moved to splash £12m apiece on Swansea City’s Jonjo Shelvey and Andros Townsend from Tottenham Hotspur. Steve McClaren, the Magpies manager, also succeeded in luring Bordeaux’s £5m defender Henri Saivet before loaning Seydou Doumbia from Roma on deadline day.
Bournemouth spent a combined £16m on strikers Lewis Grabban and Benik Afobe, with Norwich buying Steven Naismith for £8.5m.
However, despite the record numbers, the final day of 2016’s first transfer window was a day of missed opportunities with a host of clubs aiming high but eventually settling for second or third choices as the clock ticked down. Some others were not even that fortunate and missed out on targets altogether.
Tottenham Hotspur yet again failed to persuade West Bromwich Albion to sell forward Saido Berahino. Jeremy Peace, the Baggies chairman, has presumably been scratched from the Spurs Christmas card list after making it as difficult as possible to do a deal.
A late loan bid by title-chasers Leicester City for Chelsea striker Loïc Rémy, too, fell by the wayside as the Blues raced to complete Radamel Falcao’s return to Atlético Madrid, to no avail. Liverpool’s audacious move for Shakhtar Donetsk’s Alex Teixeira, meanwhile, ended with the usual taste of disappointment for Jürgen Klopp’s Reds too.
Arsenal signed just one outfield player, following criticism of Arsène Wenger for just securing Petr Čech in the summer, as Mohamed Elneny signed at the Emirates earlier in the month for £5m from Basel. With big clubs preferring to wait until the summer, when Messrs Klopp, Guardiola and Wenger will get to flex their financial muscle, the smaller sides took centre stage this time around.
Season-by-season Premier League spending
2003-04 - £265m
2004-05 - £265m
2005-06 - £305m
2006-07 - £320m
2007-08 - £645m
2008-09 - £670m
2009-10 - £480m
2010-11 - £590m
2011-12 - £545m
2012-13 - £610m
2013-14 - £760m
2014-15 - £965m
2015-16 - £1.045bn
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