Premier League transfer spending hits £1bn this season

Kevin De Bruyne, Anthony Martial and Raheem Sterling were three of the biggest transfers in 2015

Premier League football clubs spending on transfers this season has broken the £1bn mark for the first time.

Spending for the January 2016 window currently stands at £175m, the biggest January window for five years, according to sports business analysts at Deloitte.

The transfer window closed at 11pm on Monday.

During the 2015 summer transfer window, £870m was spent, making the total for the 2015-16 season £1,045bn.

That compares with a record £965m being spent in 2014-15.

The biggest for the January window was the deadline day deal which saw Stoke paying £18.3m for Giannelli Imbula from Porto.

In the summer, the biggest spenders Manchester City, paid the two biggest fees, £55m for Kevin De Bruyne from Wolfsburg and £49m for Raheem Sterling from Liverpool.

"We've seen Premier League clubs again use the January window to invest significantly in playing talent," said Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.

"Notably, this January's spending has been driven in large part by clubs in the bottom half of the table," he added.

"The promise of the new broadcast deal for Premier League clubs from next season onwards and the threat of missing out through relegation is contributing to clubs investing in an attempt to stay in the league."

The combined spending by clubs in the bottom six of the of the League was £90m in January, according to Deloitte, which makes up half of the total Premier League spending. Last year it was £20m, less than 20% of the total.