Premier League clubs have had their most cautious winter transfer window for at least a decade.
Top flight English clubs have spent a combined total of £61.2m on new players in the winter transfer window.
That’s less than a third of the £218.3m they spent this time last year and the lowest in the last decade.
The previous record low was the £86.7m spent in January 2012.
Premier League clubs also received £24.4m in transfer fees, working out at a net spend of £36.8m.
It takes total Premier League spending for 2020/21 to £1.26billion.
That’s the lowest amount since 2015/16 when £1.137billion was spent on new players.
It is perhaps no surprise that clubs have been cautious in their transfer spending this January.
The Covid-19 pandemic has meant no crowds have been at games since March 2020, depriving clubs of vital match day income.
The five current Premier League clubs to have released their 2019/20 accounts have reported an average drop in income of 12% - Brighton & Hove Albion (10%), Everton (1%), Manchester United (19%), Southampton (15%) and Tottenham Hotspur (15%).
Only six Premier League clubs spent any money on transfers this window.
West Ham United topped the list with the £20m spent to bring Said Benrahma to the club.
Manchester United spent the next most, £18.2m on Amad Diallo.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, spent £16m on Morgan Sanson, Brighton spent £4.5m on Moises Caicedo, Liverpool spent £2.0m on Ben Davies, and Arsenal spent £540,000 on Omar Rekik.