Premier League clubs spent a record £1.4 billion on players this summer, including an unprecedented £210million on transfer deadline day, according to football finance experts Deloitte. The English Premier has been rated as the most competitive, most glamorous and most watched league in the world.

Viewed as less tactical than the Spanish La Liga, it has however continued to attract big TV viewership across the globe with increasing niches of followers and admirers worldwide.

This late flurry of spending took the league’s overall outlay on players since the first transfer window in January 2003 past £10billion.

The total summer spend in England’s top flight was up 23% on last year’s record figure, which is already a record amount for a single season and a new milestone for a calendar year.

But with several major transfers falling through at the 11th hour on Thursday, the league’s net spend was £20million less than last summer’s record of £685million.