Premier League clubs smash own transfer spending record with £1.184 billion outlay

Southampton’s £15 million ($19.19 million) purchase of Lazio centre-back Wesley Hoedt brought the overall spend by England’s 20 elite clubs to £1.1849 billion, the respected website Sporting Intelligence said.

The figure exceeded the £1.18 billion pounds the clubs spent in last summer’s window.

Across the 20 clubs, net spending stands at £565 million, with £619.9 million received. The figures do not include add-ons or agent fees.

Although the biggest deal of the window was done by French club Paris Saint-Germain, who paid Barcelona €222 million ($261.58 million) for Neymar, English clubs have rivalled them for overall spend with Manchester City (£221.5 million) leading the way, ahead of Manchester United (£145.8 million) and Everton (£139.9 million).

Barcelona could yet emerge as the biggest spending club, however, with British and Spanish media reporting they are about to table a £138 million bid, including add-ons, for Liverpool’s Brazilian midfielder Philippe Coutinho.

The Spanish club have already paid China’s Guangzhou Evergrande €40 million for Paulinho and been heavily linked with a move for Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele.

Should the Coutinho deal go through, it would trigger a chain reaction with Liverpool reported to be interested in signing Southampton centre back Virgil van Dijk and Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in deals that would exceed £100 million pounds. Reuters