City lead the way as clubs splash out

MANCHESTER City was one of the biggest spenders as Premier League football clubs splashed out £130m in this year’s January transfer window, research shows.

The biggest spenders were Premier League Champions Manchester City along with league leaders Chelsea and Arsenal, which between them accounted for around half of the total, according to Deloitte.

Manchester City’s £28m purchase of Swansea’s Ivory Coast striker Wilfried Bony was the most expensive signing of the January window.

A clutch of last-minute deals worth some £45m helped to lift the total to £130m, which was unchanged on the 2013 figure.

Deloitte said despite clubs “relative restraint” in January, 2014/15 was still a record season for transfers. The accountancy firm said clubs in total had spent more than £950m on acquiring players, easily surpassing the 2013/2014 season’s record of £760m.

However, the amount for the January window was significantly less than the record £225m seen in January 2011.

“Given the record level of spending seen in the summer, it is not entirely surprising that we haven’t seen a new record for the January window,” said Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte in Manchester.

Big deals on Monday’s final day of the window included Chelsea’s £23.3m payment for Colombian winger Juan Cuadrado from Italian club Fiorentina, which was part-funded by the club’s sale of Andre Schurrle to German side Wolfsburg.

Deloitte said increased spending on players by Premier League clubs was largely the result of increased broadcast revenue.

The rights to cover Premier League football between 2013 and 2016 were sold for £3bn in 2012 – a 70% rise on the previous deal.

All 20 Premier League clubs now rank in the global top 40 based on their revenue.