Billion-pound summer transfer windows are the new norm in the Premier League, according to Deloitte's sport business group after a near-record recruitment period.
Top-flight clubs broke the 10-figure barrier for the fourth successive summer after a flurry of big moves in the final week of the window.
Total spending was £1.41billion, only just short of 2017's record of £1.43bn. Manchester United made Harry Maguire the world's most expensive defender at £80million, while Arsenal shelled out £72m on Nicolas Pepe and over £170m was spent on deadline-day deals including Alex Iwobi, Ryan Sessegnon and Kieran Tierney.
Deloitte's Dan Jones told PA: "It's the second-highest spending in a single window. That's four successive summers we've now had over £1bn, and I see no reason to think that any summer from here on in will be quieter than £1bn.
"Revenues are over £5bn across the Premier League clubs so £1bn of spending is around 20 per cent of revenues, which we've seen as the benchmark across the 15 years we've had a transfer window."
A late deal for Chelsea defender David Luiz pushed Arsenal past Manchester City as the Premier League's biggest spenders this summer, with Pepe accounting for nearly half of their £155m outlay.
There were also significant moves out of the Premier League, leaving the net spend at a four-year low of £625m.
"It's been quite active on both the big numbers and the volume of transfers and we've seen a pretty busy last week of the window, because some deals are contingent on others happening – it's just the nature of the beast."
With three weeks remaining until the deadline elsewhere in Europe, Spain's LaLiga has already broken the billion-pound barrier with Italy's Serie A close to the milestone.
Jones added: "At the start of August we were wondering whether the Premier League would spend more than LaLiga, but we're now pretty confident – even with three weeks left in Europe – that the Premier League will be the biggest-spending league again.
"But LaLiga has been very active, Italy as well, it's been record spending across the top five leagues."
