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Premier League transfer spending dropped to a seven-year low of £30m in the January window, according to figures from Deloitte – down from £170m a year ago.

English clubs spent about the same as their Serie A rivals in the window, while the French, German and Spanish leagues paid out significantly less, indicating that the recession has finally caught up with European football.

Dan Jones, partner in the sports business group at Deloitte, said of the Premier League figures: "The absence of new club owners and the tightening of club finances and credit availability have helped to accelerate that trend and dampen down the market.”

Financial companies can only estimate transfer fees because some clubs choose not to make them public, and another report by KPMG claimed that Premier League clubs spent £41.5m last month – just over 20 per cent of the estimated £190.5m spent in 2009.

"The reason why it is the lowest amount spent in the modern-day transfer window is because all the banks have reduced the clubs' overdrafts rather than extended them," Paul Miller, the former Tottenham defender who specialises in football finances, told Reuters.