Premier League clubs spent a combined £96.2m across the January transfer window, almost £700m less than in 2023’s winter window.

Chelsea splashed the best part of £300m last year on the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk and Benoit Badiashile, but did not recruit a single player this time around as they were one of several sides wary of breaching the league’s Profit and Sustainability Rules.

Clearly fearing the sort of sanctions handed out to Everton and Nottingham Forest already this season, clubs drastically reduced their winter spending from £780m in January 2023 to under £100m this time around. That figure is the lowest since 2021, when just £84.2m was spent.

The biggest spenders in the Premier League this time around were Crystal Palace, who dropped a total of £30.5m to sign midfielder Adam Wharton (£22m) and right-back Daniel Munoz (£8.5m).

Tottenham’s £26.7m signing of centre-back Radu Dragusin was the most expensive deal across England’s top flight, while only Manchester City (£12.5m), Aston Villa (£9.3m), Brighton (£7.9m), Nottingham Forest (£5m), Brentford (£2.6m) and Luton (£1.7m) actually reported fees for signings.

Instead, the January window was largely about offloading players. Premier League clubs parted ways with 150 players this winter, compared to just 43 new signings.

Of that 150, 121 were loan deals, with Manchester United topping the scales with a whopping 12 temporary exits. Jadon Sancho, Donny van de Beek and Hannibal Mejbri were among the biggest names to depart Old Trafford for at least the next few months.

As far as permanent sales go, Aston Villa were the only team to sell a player for a disclosed fee, generating £2m from Finn Azaz’s move to Middlesbrough.

Manchester City sold lesser-known defender Nahuel Ferraresi to Sao Paulo for what is believed to be a similar fee, while Gustavo Scarpa left Nottingham Forest for around £4m and Conor Coventry swapped West Ham for Charlton for a reported £1m.

Once this financial year comes to a close, clubs are expected to enjoy further spending power, with a handful of superstar names already linked with summer switches to the Premier League.