The January transfer window has slammed shut.

The chance to sign players midway through the season to help you achieve your ambitions is an opportunity many clubs simply can’t turn down.

However, some of the biggest clubs in England were actually rather quiet this month.

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Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea failed to sign a senior player between them while Manchester City and Liverpool signed a player each in the form of Julián Álvarez and Luis Diaz respectively.

However, English clubs lead the way when it comes to the transfer market in recent years.

With the huge amount of money in the Premier League thanks to lucrative TV rights, English sides are often splashing the cash.

And to prove just that, we’ve turned to Transfermarkt to look at the net spend in the previous 10 windows - including the recent January transfer window.

Dating back to the summer of 2017, it’s actually Man United who have the biggest net club in world football in the last 10 windows.

Jadon Sancho

United have spent £665 million and sold £186 million worth of players. That gives them a net spend of £479 million in the last five seasons. They have exactly zero trophies to show for it…

Their Manchester rivals, Man City, are in second with a net spend of £433 million - £46 million less than United. They do have a few Premier League trophies to show for it too…

Unsurprisingly, Paris Saint-Germain come next with AC Milan completing the top four.

Arsenal actually find themselves in the top five having spent big on the likes of Nicolas Pepe and Thomas Partey in recent years.

Juventus, Chelsea, Tottenham, Barcelona and… Aston Villa find themselves in the top 10.

Aston Villa

English clubs dominate the next 10, too.

Both Everton and Newcastle find themselves above Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp’s side are actually in 13th with a net spend of £197 million. Not bad considering they’ve won the Champions League and Premier League during that time.

West Ham, Wolves and Brighton follow ahead of Bayern Munich in 17th.

Zenit, Championship side Fulham and Wolfsburg make the top 10 with net spends around £150 million in the last five seasons.

Parma, Leeds, Napoli, Leicester and Marseille make up the top 25.

Check out the entire top 25 - including all the figures below:

The top 25 net spend clubs in the last 10 transfer windows

Net spend
Net spend
Net spend

So, what conclusions can be drawn by the 25 biggest net spenders in the world in the last five seasons (10 windows)?

Well, it goes to show that United really need to sort out their transfer business. There’s set to be an overhaul in the club’s structure at the end of the season with Ralf Rangnick set to move upstairs following his interim role. The club really need to be start being a success in the transfer market again.

City and PSG are always going to be up there in terms of net spend but they both will be looking to add a Champions League trophy to their trophy cabinets given their heavy investment.

Milan and Arsenal haven’t won the title since 2011 and 2004 respectively despite their hefty net spend in the last five years. While Milan have an outside chance to end that wait this season, the Gunners still look a long way away.

Arteta

Elsewhere, the fact Villa, Everton and Newcastle all have a bigger net spend than Liverpool in the last five years is something that needs to be mentioned.

Klopp has led Liverpool to English, European and world titles in that period.

Newcastle, meanwhile, are likely to rocket up this list in the transfer windows to come.

Only one second tier side features in the top 25 with Fulham having a net spend of £158 million in the last 10 windows. Big fees spent on Jean Michaël Seri, André Zambo Anguissa and Aleksandar Mitrovic contribute to that.

TRANSFER SHAMBLES FOR RANGNICK! Man United News (The Football Terrace)