Summer transfer window 2016: What does the Premier League’s spending extravaganza mean for the wider European game?
Just over two months after its national team were humiliated in front of Europe at the hands of Iceland, English football has reminded the world, when it comes to the transfer market, it remains king.
The Premier League flexed its financial muscles this summer by spending a record-breaking £1.165bn on new players, crushing the outlay of Europe's biggest leagues.
Europe's second-highest spending league, Italy's Serie A, still spent some £565m less than England's top division.
A huge new £8bn Premier League broadcasting deal that guarantees every club at least £100m in TV money at the end of this season has widened the chasm between English and European clubs' financial power.
Read more: Six charts that sum up the Premier League's record-breaking summer transfer window spending spree
Manchester City, the league's biggest spenders this summer with over £180m splashed on new players, even managed to top the total division outlay from the top divisions in China, France, Russia, Turkey and Holland.
(Source: statista.com)
Even Bournemouth were able to convince Jack Wilshere that a stint on the South Coast was a better option than a loan to seven-time European champions AC Milan, while the £40m Premier League parachute payments allowed the Championship's Newcastle and Aston Villa outspend last year's Champions League finalists Real and Atletico Madrid.
"The big difference now is that nearly all the English Premier League clubs can be competitive in the European market for players as no other country has such a lucrative contract spread across the league," says Philip Shepherd, a partner at PriceWaterhouseCooper.
Already the repercussions are being felt in the European game, with concerned European giants leading a charge for Champions League reform which has led to Uefa guaranteeing the top four leagues four teams in the group stage every year from 2018/19.
And while European sporting directors may frown, financial officers' eyes may light up at the prospect of English clubs spending themselves silly on their players.
According to figures from Deloitte's Sport Business Group, 62 per cent of the Premier League's record expenditure went into the accounts of overseas clubs as clubs continue to prioritise playing ready made stars proven on the continent.
Chelsea, for example, have sent out 38 predominantly young players out on loan this summer while spending £90m on players from abroad.
Agents, too, will be feeling flush with cash. Paul Pogba's representative Mino Raiola made a reported £20m from his clients Old Trafford move while according to Fifa worldwide intermediary fees have surpassed £100m this year, a huge percentage of which will have come from English clubs.