PREMIER LEAGUE clubs splashed £1.24billion on new signings this summer, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The figure represents a £160m decrease from last season – but is still £70m more than was spent in the 2016 summer window.
Chelsea were the league’s top spenders, splashing £226.1m on fresh talent, including Timo Werner (£45m), Hakim Ziyech (£37m), Edouard Mendy (£22m) and Ben Chilwell (£50m).
And their headline recruit Kai Havertz was the league’s most expensive new acquisition – arriving from Bayer Leverkusen for £75.8m.
The Blues were able to splash the cash after being restricted by a transfer embargo last season – and by getting good fees for the likes of Alvaro Morata and Mario Pasalic.
TRANSFER NEWS LIVE: Breaking news, juicy gossip and the biggest deals
Manchester City were unsurprisingly second biggest spenders, splashing cash on Nathan Ake (£41m) and Ferran Torres (£37m) early on in the window.
And Pep Guardiola’s side responded to their shambolic 5-2 defeat against Leicester City by splurging a further £65m on defender Ruben Dias from Benfica.
Aston Villa responded to squandering over £100m in last season’s market by this time spending another £85m – although signings like Ollie Watkins appear to have actually hit the ground running this time around.
And Leeds United wasted no time following their promotion back to the top flight, recruiting the likes of Rodrigo, Robin Koch and Diego Llorente – as well as Raphinha from Rennes on Deadline Day.
Wolves increased their Portuguese contingent even further by spending north of £70m on Fabio Silva and Nelson Semedo – in addition to signing Marcal and Ki-Jana Hoever.
Next up on the list are Liverpool, who spent £45m on Diogo Jota and £27m on Thiago Alcantara – as well as recruiting competition for Andrew Robertson in the form of Kostas Tsimikas,
Arsenal finally matched Thomas Partey’s £45m release clause late on Deadline Day, after already signing Gabriel Magalhaes and Runar Alex Runarsson.
Everton spent £65m on fresh talent including the likes of Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure – while Tottenham parted with £62m to secure the permanent acquisitions of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Sergio Reguilon among others.
Manchester United finally added to their earlier signing Donny van de Beek on Deadline Day by bringing in fresh talent including Alex Telles – taking their overall spend to £54.4m – £1.4m more than Sheffield United, whose window was headlined by the signings of Aaron Ramsdale and Rhian Brewster.
Leicester City’s main signing was Timothy Castagne as they splashed £51.5m overall, while Newcastle United spent £35m on Callum Wilson and Jamal Lewis.
Southampton took huge hits shipping out the likes of Guido Carrillo, Wesley Hoedt and Sofiane Boufal, but did manage to seal the permanent signings of Kyle Walker-Peters, Mohammed Salisu and Ibrahima Diallo.
Newly-promoted West Brom and Fulham spent £27.3m and £23m respectively – while Crystal Palace recruited exciting youngsters Eberechi Eze and Nathan Ferguson for around £20m.
West Ham also spent £20m, while Brighton parted with just £13.4m.
Burnley, meanwhile, hardly spent a penny, snapping up only Dale Stephens and Will Norris.
