The arrival of Roman Abramovich at Chelsea in the summer of 2003 is often said to have inflated prices across the transfer market, but the opposite occurred at first. The net transfer outlay of the West London club’s main domestic rivals fell for the first two years of the Russian’s reign as Chelsea were embarking on an extraordinary spending spree.

Short of money during the season before Abramovich bought them, Chelsea had received more from transfer fees during that campaign than they laid out. They used their newfound wealth to record net transfer outlays of more than £125 million in each of the first two years of his reign. Sixteen players in total were signed for £6 million or more within 13 months of the new owner taking charge. Other leading English clubs did not follow suit.

Among the dozen clubs, apart from Chelsea, who have been ever-present in the top flight since 2002, net transfer spending fell in successive years after the Russian’s arrival to 57 per cent of the immediate preAbramovich level. The financial superiority at Stamford Bridge was such that Chelsea’s net outlay was more than double those of the other 12 ever-present clubs combined in 2004-05.

Since that point, however, there has been a dramatic switch in direction, with Chelsea contributing only £11.7 million of the £148.9 million net outlay among the 13 ever-present clubs in 2006-07.

Reasons can be speculated upon. In the early days of Abramovich’s reign, perhaps some clubs spent less than expected because their big-money targets were taken by Chelsea – Manchester United were beaten to the signatures of Damien Duff, Arjen Robben and Michael Essien.

Since then, Chelsea have become so well-stocked with high-class players that extensive squad reinforcement has been unnecessary, while their rivals have splashed out, armed with cash from new television deals and wealthy investors.