LONDON: A total of £80m was spent in the latest English transfer market.

This was the lowest January total since the £37m spend in January 2010 and half of that was generated by the transfers of Amad Diallo and Said Benrahma to Manchester United and West Ham from Italy’s Atalanta and second-tier Brentford. The vast majority of the 200 transfers were loans.

Three factors influenced the semi-collapse of the market: the financial crisis prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the restrictions imposed by Brexit and clubs’ caution about releasing players they may need because of the high injury rate emanating from the congested fixture schedule.

The richest January window was in 2018 when more than £500,000 was spent.

The top five:

Amad Diallo, Manchester United from Atalanta, £21m

Said Benrahma, West Ham from Brentford, £20m

Morgan Sanson, Aston Villa from Marseille, £14m

Moises Caicedo, Brighton from Independiente del Valle (Ecuador), £4.5m

Ben Davies, Liverpool from Preston, £500,000

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