A frantic deadline day on Monday culminated in Premier
League clubs spending a total of £295 million in January – marking the second-highest
spending winter transfer window of all time.

Tottenham Hotspur secured some of the biggest
deals from among the 12 Premier League transfers completed on deadline day, as
clubs seemed to have recovered from the crippling effects of the COVID-19
pandemic on finances.

The total spent by top flight clubs on transfers
this month is the highest since the £430 million spent in January 2018. Premier
League clubs spent only £70 million in January 2021, with less than £10 million
on deadline day. However, it was the highest net spend (purchases minus sales) –
£180 million – shelled out by Premier League clubs since the January transfer
window was introduced in 2003.

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Spurs signed Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo
Bentancur from Juventus for a reported £24 million, while selling midfielder
Dele Alli to Everton for a fee that could rise up to £40 million apart from loaning
out three players.

Among the other big moves, Newcastle United signed
two defenders from rival Premier League clubs, while Manchester City and
Burnley brought in strikers for around £10 million.

But the headline transfer on deadline day was
of Arsenal striker Pierre Emerick Aubameyang joining Barcelona on a free transfer.
The Gabonese, who was stripped of captaincy and fell out of favour with manager
Mikel Arteta, arrived in Barcelona ahead of an expected transfer but called it
a ‘family trip’ once negotiations broke down between the two clubs.

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The Catalan club finally announced his arrival
after agreeing to terms with the North London side.

Interestingly, more than half the money spent
in January, £150 million, came from the bottom five clubs – the bottom five
spent a total of £5 million combined last year.

The rest of the top four leagues in Europe spent
a combined total of £317 million, just £2 million more than the Premier League
EFL combined.