Barca, Chelsea... Among these 5 biggest spenders of this transfer window, who is the No.1?

Plenty of money was spent in January, mostly by Premier League and La Liga clubs

Football tends to take a backseat in January, as fans tend to get more absorbed in the vagaries of the transfer market. Case in point - Arsenal fans are currently glad, despite losing 1-3 to Swansea, due to the arrival of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on Deadline Day.

Clubs have to spend to rescue a bad situation in January, although there are some who are simply consolidating a strong position.

Without further ado, here are the biggest spenders of the January Transfer Window:

# All figures from Transfermarkt

#5 Chelsea

Antonio Conte has been complaining all season about Chelsea's lack of spending and when Emerson Palmieri is the most expensive signing of the January window, you'd have to agree with the Italian. Chelsea opted for quantity over quality, bringing in Emerson from Roma, Olivier Giroud from Arsenal and Ross Barkley from Everton for a total of €53.9 million in January.

However, as is customary, plenty of players left Chelsea on loan, with Nathan, Todd Kane, Kenedy, Baba Rahman, Michy Batshuayi and Charly Musonda all leaving London. In total, Chelsea raised €4 million from the loaness, and when added to Diego Costa's €66 million fee, Chelsea raised €70 million.

Thus, the Blues made a profit of €16.1 million in January, which is sure to irk Chelsea fans and perhaps, Antonio Conte as well.

#4 Arsenal

It's not often you see Arsenal high up in any spending lists, but Arsene Wenger has broken the club's transfer record in two consecutive windows for Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Gabonese striker arrived from Borussia Dortmund for an eye-watering €63.75 million, although the Henrikh Mkhitaryan-Alexis Sanchez swap did not dent Arsenal's finances.

Konstantinos Mavropanos's signing brought Arsenal's total spending in January to 65.85 million.

It wouldn't be Arsenal without them raising money from player sales, and with the departures of Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud, Mathieu Debuchy and Francis Coquelin, the Gunners raised €53.5 million. Net-spend is pretty much a meme when it comes to Arsenal, although €12.35 is a decent amount.

#3 Manchester City

Until January 29th, Manchester City had been curiously quiet in the transfer market. However, Pep Guardiola has overseen spending close to half a billion pounds in just 18 months - so it was no surprise when the Sky Blues paid Aymeric Laporte's release clause of €65 million.

In addition, Jack Harrison, Phillippe Sandler, Erik Palmer-Brown and Marlos Moreno arrived at City for €6.5 million (soon leaving on loan right after), bringing their total expenditure to €71.5 million in January.

Elaquim Mangala left for Everton on loan, thus City raised no money from player sales, keeping their net spend for the January window at €71.5 million as well.

#2 Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp's long-awaited pursuit of Virgil van Dijk finally came to an end in January, although the departure of Philippe Coutinho may have facilitated the move, with the Reds parting with a staggering €78.8 million for the Dutchman, making him the most expensive defender in all of football history.

The €78.8 million outlay was enough to make Liverpool the 2nd biggest spender of the January transfer market, although with the departures of Philippe Coutinho, Lazar Markovic, Daniel Sturridge, Marko Grujic and Jon Flanagan, the Reds raised €120 million, thus bringing their net expenditure for the winter window to a profit of €41.2 million.

#1 Barcelona

With the money from Neymar's €222 million transfer still burning a hole in their pocket, it was obvious that Barcelona would be one of the biggest spenders in the winter transfer window. Having missed out on Philippe Coutinho in the summer, the Blaugrana finally managed to complete the deal, parting with a staggering €120 million for his services.

In addition, Yerry Mina arrived from Palmeiras for a €11.8 million fee, while Sergi Samper returned from his loan to Las Palmas. In total, Barcelona spent €131.8 million in the January Transfer Window.

Javier Mascherano, Gerard Deulofeu, Arda Turan and Rafinha left the club on a mixture of permanent deals ,and loan moves, with Barcelona raising €6.5 million from their sales, thus making it a net spend of €125.3 million.