Premier League teams splashed out £1.1 billion ($1.5bn) on new signings throughout the summer transfer window – a reduction in spending for the second year in a row.
According to an analysis from Deloitte, this year saw clubs in the English top-flight register their lowest summer spend since 2015.
It marks an 11 per cent drop from last year’s gross expenditure on transfers, which was 9% lower than the previous year, meaning spending has declined for consecutive years for the first time since 2008 to 2010.
The Premier League clubs spent a total of £150m on the final day of the window.
Nikola Vlasic’s move to West Ham for £26 million ($35m) was the biggest of the day, but Cristiano Ronaldo completing a return to Manchester United for £20m ($28m) and Tottenham snapping up Emerson Royal from Barcelona added to the total.
Meanwhile, Daniel James joined Leeds from United for around £25m, Arsenal brought in Takehiro Tomiyasu from Bologna for £16m (€19m/$22m) and Brighton landed Spain international Marc Cucurella from Getafe before the window closed.
Manchester City made the biggest splash with a single transfer when they brought in Jack Grealish from Aston Villa for a fee of £100m ($139m), which set a new British record.
Chelsea came close to matching that figure when they spent £98m ($136m) to bring Romelu Lukaku back from Inter.
United made more expensive moves than Ronaldo, finally acquiring £73m ($101m) Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund and Raphael Varane from Real Madrid for £40m ($55m).
Arsenal were big spenders, too, bringing in the likes of Ben White, Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale for a total spend of £150m.
There was an increase in players joining clubs on free transfers this year.
A total of 22% of the signings by Premier League sides did not involve a transfer fee, which is up from the 20% of last summer.
As many as 16 clubs signed at least one player for free throughout the window.
