Premier League crushes rivals in January spending

LONDON (AP) — English Premier League clubs were once again the biggest spenders in Europe in the January transfer window, splashing out around 130 million pounds ($213 million) to break the record for the season as a whole.

Figures by football finance experts Deloitte released Saturday show that teams in England's top division had an outlay of 760 million pounds ($1.25 billion) over the summer and January windows, shattering the previous record of 670 million pounds from the 2008/09 season.

The Premier League is midway through the first year of lucrative broadcasting deals that are generating more than $8.5 billion through 2016.

France's top clubs were the second heaviest spenders in Europe in January, according to Deloitte, although their total outlay was only around 40 percent of the Premier League.