The European winter transfer window closed on Monday with English Premier League clubs making significant moves in the market.
Premier League clubs spent more than £370 million in the winter transfer window, significantly up on the £100m paid out last year. By comparison, that's more than double than the next most expensive league, Italy's Serie A (£183.7m) and significantly more than the combined total of Saudi Pro League clubs (£143.5m).
By far the biggest spenders were Manchester City. Having already signed Omar Marmoush (£59 million-plus from Eintracht Frankfurt), Abdukodir Khusanov (£33.6m from Lens) and Vitor Reis (£29.6m from Palmeiras) City concluded their winter window with the addition of Nico Gonzalez (£50m from Porto) on transfer deadline day.
They also signed Argentina Under-17 midfielder Claudio Echeverri for £12.5m but immediately loaned him back to River Plate.
The figures, according to Transfermarkt and Football Transfers, means City spent just over £180 million, or €217m, the second-highest spent by any club in any winter transfer window.
While City were the big spenders overall, it was Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr who made the single most expensive transfer.
The SPL transfer window closed last week, on January 30, but before it did the Riyadh club were able to negotiate the transfer of Colombia striker Jhon Duran from Aston Villa for a club record of €77m.
It is topped only by Neymar's €90m move to Al Hilal, which ended ignominiously last week when the Saudi club agreed to tear up the Brazilian's contract.
Another Saudi club, Al Ahli, forked out a reported €50m to sign Brazil winger Galeno from Porto, while Paris Saint-Germain added to their ranks Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the Napoli winger costing the French club a cool €70m.
Despite that outlay, the Parisians were actually outspent this window by their Ligue 1 rivals Stade Rennais.
According to Football Transfers, Stade Rennais spent a total of €72.8m on the likes of Seko Fofana (Al Nassr), Brice Samba (Lens), Anthony Rouault (Stuttgart), Kyogo Furuhashi (Celtic), Mousa Tamari (Montpellier) and Kazeem Olaigbe (Club Brugge).
Balancing the books is essential, although Manchester City seem unperturbed by the impending decision by the Premier League over 115 alleged breaches of its financial rules.
While spending almost £180m on new players in an effort to salvage their season, City have recouped nothing from sales. Several players have been allowed to leave on loan, most notably club captain Kyle Walker, who has joined AC Milan for the remainder of the season.
The club who have earned the most from sales, according to Transfermarkt, are Aston Villa, aided by the sale of Duran to Al Nassr as well as moving on the likes of Jaden Philogene (€23.7m) and Diego Carlos (€10m).
Eintracht Frankfurt recouped €78.5m in sales: Marmoush's move to City (€75m) and Jens Petter Hauge for a modest €3.5m to Bodo/Glimt.
The sale of Georgia winger Kvaratskhelia helped Napoli pocket €71m while the sale of Uzbekistan defender Khusanov to City saw French club RC Lens make over 500 times what they paid for him.
