The credit crunch has clearly passed by the big spenders of the Barclays Premier League because they have out-spent every other league in European football in their quest for the best players in the world. Transfer spending among the 20 Premier League clubs soared to a record £150 million during the January transfer window, which was more than the total for all the top division clubs in the other nations of the “Big Five” of European leagues in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Experts at the Sports Business Group at Deloitte say that money committed to transfers was more than double last year’s sum - with only seven players accounting for half the total.

The upward trend has been fired by the huge increase in revenues pouring into club coffers from Premier League television deals. While clubs committed only £35 million in 2003, spending has increased every year since, culminating in the astonishing £150 million outlay last month.

Paul Rawnsley, a director of the Sports Business Group, said: “Premier League clubs are investing some of the additional £300 million broadcast revenues received in 2007-08 to strengthen their playing squads as they seek to challenge for the top spot, secure qualification for European club competitions or retain Premier League status.”

Nicolas Anelka’s £15 million move to Chelsea was the highest January transfer on record and one of only six moves worth more than £10 million since the January window was introduced five years ago. He contributed to Chelsea’s £27 million spend, a sum rivalled only by Tottenham Hotspur, whose outlay was close to £20 million.

But Deloitte also calculated that the net spending, after receipts for player sales were taken into account, was about £75 million, which underlines the frenetic activity as clubs rushed to close in on their prey and shake out the dead wood from their squads before the transfer deadline expired at midnight on Thursday.