ENGLISH TOP-FLIGHT clubs spent £100 million (€117m) in the transfer window, down from a staggering £815m (€938m) last January and an average of just over £319m (€374m) since the 2016-17 season, when the value of domestic television rights first jumped past £5 billion (€5.8bn) for a three-year cycle.

The threat of sanctions under the league’s profit and sustainability rules, with Everton already docked 10 points this season, has been cited as a potential reason – though spending over the full season still hit £2.4bn (€2,81bn), second only to last season’s £2.7bn (€3.17bn).

Calum Ross, assistant director in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, said: “I think compliance with financial regulations is a key part of it.

“We’re seeing a lot more planning going into the window and different types of deals – loans with options and obligations to buy that is playing with the financial year they’re recognising those fees within.

“There’s other reasons as well. In the summer we saw transfers like (Jude) Bellingham, (Declan) Rice, (Harry) Kane, which then create that domino effect across the market.

“We’ve come off the back of three consecutive record-breaking windows so we’re probably seeing a moment to pause and reset – the fact they’ve done a lot of that business in the summer is probably a key factor as to why they’re not doing as much in January.”

Only £30m (€35.1m) was spent on deadline day on permanent moves into the Premier League, the majority of that money heading into the Championship as Crystal Palace signed Adam Wharton from Blackburn and Aston Villa brought in Middlesbrough’s Morgan Rogers.

Radu Dragusin’s move to Tottenham for a reported £26.7m (€31.3m) on 11 January remained the biggest of the month as Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool and Manchester United all opted not to make a single addition. Manchester City’s £12.5m (€14.6m) signing Claudio Echeverri was loaned straight back to River Plate.