LONDON – The Premier League has smashed its summer spending record for the second successive season as once again England's top-flight clubs flex their financial muscles.
Manchester City's signing of Everton forward Iliman Ndiaye for a reported 65 million pounds ($87 million) pushed the total gross spend in the window to an eye-watering 3.198 billion pounds.
With more late deals still in the pipeline, the total already eclipses last summer when the combined spend of the 20 clubs breached the 3 billion pounds barrier for the first time.
Five years ago the total was 1.13 billion pounds.
Three players alone cost a combined 333 million pounds with Manchester City signing midfielder Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest for 116 million pounds, Morgan Rogers switching from Aston Villa to Chelsea for 117 million pounds and Tottenham Hotspur breaking their club record to sign Sandro Tonali for a fee that could reach 100 million pounds from Newcastle United.
On Monday, Liverpool agreed to pay an initial 107 million pounds to Paris St Germain for France forward Bradley Barcola with that deal likely to rise to 123 million pounds.
Of the 11 most expensive signings ever, three of them - Anderson, Rogers and Barcola - have happened this summer.
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To highlight the complete domination of Premier League clubs' purchasing power over their European rivals, only Yan Diomande's move to Real Madrid from Leipzig and Anthony Gordon's switch from Newcastle to Barcelona involved fees in excess of 60 million pounds while newly-promoted Ipswich Town spent more on squad-strengthening than Barcelona, AC Milan and Juventus.
The spending spree continued right up to the final hours of the window with several more big-money transfers.
Aston Villa announced their 11th signing of the window with the 47 million pounds purchase of Senegal winger Ibrahim Mbaye from PSG, while Newcastle paid 51.4 million pounds to bring in forward Matias Fernandez-Pardo from Lille.
The trend for clubs to buy from English top-flight rivals continues to rise with around 38 percent of deals made between Premier League clubs - up from 30 percent last summer.
Chelsea were the biggest summer spenders as new manager Xabi Alonso enjoyed a 347 million pounds influx of players while Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur were not far behind.
Tottenham splashed out 303 million pounds as they rebuild after two successive seasons close to being relegated.
According to website transfermarkt, promoted trio Ipswich, Coventry City and Hull City spent more than a combined 400 million pounds to prepare themselves for life in the top flight.
