Sissoko and Luiz deals push deadline-day spending to £155m

Premier League clubs embarked upon a £155 million deadline-day spree as spending during the summer transfer window smashed through the £1 billion barrier for the first time.

Analysis carried out by Deloitte’s Sports Business Group shows the latest window, which closed on Wednesday night, saw top-flight clubs invest at record levels for the fourth successive season, with the first wave of new broadcast-deal cash fuelling a major recruitment drive.

Partner Dan Jones said: “At the start of the 2013-14 season, the summer transfer spending record had stood at £500m, and the fact that this record has more than doubled since then is a clear indicator of the financial growth of the league.”

Moussa Sissoko’s last-gasp move from Newcastle to Tottenhamafteradayofbrinkmanship and David Luiz’s surprise return to Chelsea

0 Moussa Sissoko: Late move. from Paris St Germain reportedly accounted for in excess of £60m of the late rush.

In total, Premier League clubs spent £1.165bn during the summer window, an increase of 34 per cent on the same period 12 months ago, when £870m changed hands, and the average gross investment amounted to around £60m.

Slightly under a third of that overall figure – in the region of £385m – was paid out by Champions League quartet Arsenal, Leicester, Manchester City and Tottenham, although it was Manchester United who set a new British transfer record with their £89m capture of France midfielder Paul Pogba.

The fee Juventus received for Pogba contributed to a £720m flow of cash from the Premier League to overseas clubs, representing 62 per cent of the total, although the ratio fell by 5 per cent on 2015 levels.

English top-flight clubs have now spent a collective £1.34bn during the current calendar year, another new high.

Comparative figures against Europe’s other top leagues show gross spending of £590m in Serie A, £460m in the Bundesliga, £400m in La Liga and £165m in Ligue 1.