Premier League club's gross spend of £100 million ($127.7m) on transfers in January was £715m lower than the record amount (£815m) that changed hands during the window in 2023, new data released by Deloitte has found.
Apart from in January 2021 when spending was restricted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the only time clubs have spent less on new players in a single window was in January 2012 (£60m).
- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)
However, away from England, spending by clubs in Europe's "top five" leagues increased from €255m in January 2023 to €455m in January 2024.
Clubs in France's Ligue 1 had the highest gross transfer spend with an expenditure of €190m -- a 53% increase on the previous year's total -- while Serie A, LaLiga and the Bundesliga also experienced year-on-year increases in gross transfer spend.
Despite the relatively quiet window in which the most expensive new acquisition was Tottenham's signing of defender Radu Dragusin from Genoa, Premier League clubs have spent a total of £2.5 billion across the 2023-24 season's summer and winter transfer windows -- the second-highest figure in the competitions history.
The growing influence of Financial Fair Play regulations and the willingness of leagues and governing bodies to enforce profit and sustainability regulations (PSR) may have been a factor in the decrease in expenditure on transfers.
Everton have been charged twice by the Premier League this season for breaching PSR regulations and have been docked 10 points as a result. Nottingham Forest have also been charged with a breach of the competition's financial policies.
Deloitte, who are one of the largest accounting firms in the world and regularly investigate finances in football, found that the 44 transfers completed by Women's Super League (WSL) clubs was a 14% fall from the amount of business conducted in the 2023 January transfer window.
But the 226 transfers by WSL clubs that have taken place across the two windows in the 2023-24 season outstrips the amount completed across each of the previous three campaigns.