Transfers are set to break the £1bn barrier as Premier League sides are made to pay ‘Stupid English Money’ for top talent

HE Premier League is set to underline its status as the world’s richest division as clubs take their collec tive spending beyond £1bn for the first time before the transfer window closes tomorrow night.

Deadline day itself has been something of an anti-climax in recent seasons but the new £8.3bn television deal gives our clubs unprecedented financial power.

English football’s European rivals have thus far dug in as best they can. UEFA last week ceded to demands from elite clubs on the continent by modifying the Champions League format by ensuring four teams from Spain, Germany, Italy and the Premier League will all receive automatic entry into the group stage from 2018-19 — a move designed to negate English football’s monetary dominance in future.

In the c u r re n t marke t , P re mi e r League sides frequently face ludicrous valuations for players based on the knowledge our sides have cash to burn. Certain foreign clubs use an acronym to describe the ridiculous sums they can extract: SEM — Stupid English Money.

Not that the jokes have stopped the Premier League juggernaut. Claudio Bravo’s £17milliom move from Barcelona to Manchester City took Premier League clubs’ overall spend past the previous record of £870m and it stood as of this morning at £945m.

Eleven clubs — Manchester United, Liverpool, Crystal Palace, West Ham, Southampton, Swansea City, Bournemouth, Leicester City, West Bromwich Albion, Watford and Burnley — have all broken their transfer record, with Jose Mourinho sanctioning the highest fee ever paid as Paul Pogba left Juventus for Old Trafford in a £89m deal.

But many European clubs are holding out as they attempt to keep their prized

James Olley