PREMIER LEAGUE clubs once again shattered the £1BILLION barrier during the summer transfer window.
But for the second straight year, spending in the English top-flight took a slight dip.
In total, Premier League clubs combined to spend a whopping £1.1bn from July 1 to August 31 in terms of permanent transfers.
Jack Grealish’s British record £100million move from Aston Villa to Manchester City was the biggest individual move.
Chelsea‘s £97.5m swoop for Romelu Lukaku was a close second, with Jadon Sancho’s £73m move to Manchester United third.
Ben White swapped Brighton for Arsenal in a £50m deal, Cristian Romero moved to Tottenham for a deal worth up to £47m and Raphael Varane joined Sancho in heading to Old Trafford in a deal rising to £42m.
Despite the monster moves – with 103 permanent transfers in all – Premier League spending was down by nearly £300m from last summer.
A year ago, top-flight sides splashed out £1.31bn – £267m MORE than 2021.
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The £1.1bn spent this summer is also the LOWEST tally since 2015 and miles adrift of 2019’s record £1.4bn outlay.
A sign of the times, Premier League clubs also raked in more money in sales as they aimed to balance their cheque books.
Prem teams recouped £466m in player sales, compared to £385m in 2020.
Arsenal were the biggest spenders of the summer, splashing out £157m – more than Man Utd (£134m) and Man City (£100m).
And while Chelsea spent £97.5m, they also recouped £94m – meaning their net spent was under £3m after they managed to flog a chunk of their deadwood.
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