Pierre-Emerick move to Arsenal

A transfer window that produced record spending by Premier League teams closed with a shuffle of strikers.

A logjam was broken on deadline day in European football when the path was cleared for Arsenal to pay a club-record €63.75 million ($80 million) for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Borussia Dortmund only agreed to sell the striker once it had a replacement secured from Chelsea in Michy Batshuayi. Chelsea in turn only offloaded the Belgium international once its arduous search for a new striker ended across London. Arsenal recouped some of the Aubameyang expense by selling Olivier Giroud to Chelsea for £18 million ($25 million).

The deals helped to push Premier League spending in the January transfer window to £419.5 million ($596 million)around £200 million above the previous high set in 2011.

These were the final splurges and additions to squads this season. By the next time English teams can trade in the summer they will know how much wealthier they will be getting through the next set of Premier League television rights. But looming are potential new curbs on spending from UEFA, which is assessing the future guise of Financial Fair Play regulations to rebalance the European game.

For now it's clear the spending power is loaded in England's favour across Europe.

Players exerted their power, too, in recent weeks.

The most unexpected move in January saw Alexis Sanchez take advantage of his dwindling Arsenal contract by joining Manchester United last week. It was part of a rare swap deal that sent Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the opposite direction. The overhaul of the Arsenal attack was completed by Mkhitaryan being reunited with Aubameyang by Sven Mislintat, the head of recruitment who joined in advance last year from Dortmund. Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan scored 62 goals between them in the 2015-16 season at Dortmund. And in Aubameyang, Arsenal have acquired the type of target man they have missed so often in their forlorn quest for a first Premier League title since 2004.

Only eight players from Europe's top five leagues have scored more goals than the Gabon striker since 2014. Since joining from Saint-Etienne in 2013, Aubameyang netted 98 goals in 144 Bundesliga games including a league-high 31 for Dortmund last season.

With Aubameyang leading the line, perhaps Arsenal will have fewer embarrassments like Tuesday's 3-1 loss at Swansea that saw Arsene Wenger's sixth-place side slip further from the contention for the four Champions League places.