The £215million spent by Premier League clubs during the January window has taken their total transfer expenditure for 2016/17 to a record £1.38billion.

And despite this record outlay, Premier League clubs recorded a net profit for the first time during a transfer window, according to a new report compiled by Deloitte.

The combined business of England's top 20 clubs left them with a £40m profit. Twelve months ago, they made a £100m loss.

The findings also show January spending among top flight English clubs is up 22 per cent year-on-year. Total spending for the season has increased by 32 per cent.

Clubs currently in the bottom six of the league accounted for 50 per cent of total expenditure, with clubs currently in the bottom half of the table spending £145m (67 per cent of total expenditure).

The Premier League was once again the highest-spending league in European football during the January window. The next highest spending league was Ligue 1, with total transfer expenditure of around £130m.

Clubs in the Bundesliga spent around £85m, with Serie A clubs spending around £80m. La Liga clubs spent around £20m.

Championship clubs spent a total of £80m, an increase of more than 125 per cent on last year’s total of £35m, and a new record for a January transfer window for the division.

Championship clubs spent a record £40m on deadline day – the same amount spent by Premier League clubs on deadline day in January 2016.

Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, commented: “Spending by Premier League clubs in this January’s transfer window totalled £215m, surpassing last year’s total of £175m as the second-highest ever, behind January 2011.

"The sales of Oscar, Dmitri Payet, Odion Ighalo and Memphis Depay, as well as around £20m worth of sales to Championship clubs, have helped Premier League clubs record net receipts for the first time in a transfer window."

He added: “As was the case last year, it is clubs in the bottom half of the table who have driven expenditure this January, investing in their squads in an attempt to secure survival. This is no surprise given clubs’ reliance on the revenues generated from the Premier League’s broadcast deals.” (Mirror)