With the final international break before this winter’s World Cup underway, domestic football is on hiatus.
The pause comes less than a month after the drama of the transfer window ended, a window which saw Premier League clubs spend a record £1.9bllion. That dwarfed the rest of Europe as the English top-flight splashed the cash following some conservative years in the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
And it wasn’t only the usual suspects who spent big - although Chelsea and Manchester United were at the top of the pile when it came to expenditure. Elsewhere across the continent, Barcelona were back in the headlines, belying suggestions they were anywhere near a financial meltdown.
