Premier League spending reaches £1 billion for first time

Transfer spending by Premier League clubs this season has surpassed the £1billion mark for the first time, according to Deloitte.

It may have been a quiet start to deadline day on Monday, but total spending in the whole of the 2015-16 campaign has already reached an eye-watering amount.

Deloitte estimates that £130million has been spent so far in the January transfer window, which takes the total sum for the season beyond £1billion for the first time in history.

Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said: “We’ve seen Premier League clubs again use the January window to invest significantly in playing talent. With a day left, the total gross spending this season has already reached £1bn for the first time.”

Newcastle have been the biggest spenders of the January window so far, bringing in the likes of Jonjo Shelvey, Andros Townsend and Henri Saivet for a combined total of almost £29million.

The Magpies are expected to make further additions to their squad before Monday’s 11pm deadline, with West Brom striker Saido Berahino top of their wishlist.

Newcastle spent £46million last summer while Manchester City parted with over £150million to sign Kevin De Bruyne, Fabian Delph, Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Otamendi to help their title charge.

Manchester United also spent over £100million on six new signings and Liverpool invested almost £80million in new players, although most of that money came from the sale of Sterling to City.

The likes of Norwich, Bournemouth and Sunderland have all spent over £15million in the current window, which highlights their determination to stay in the Premier League in order to start reaping the rewards from the £5.136billion TV deal that kicks in from next season.