Two surprise Premier League sides among Europe’s top 10 biggest spenders in January | OneFootball

Bayern Munich, Crystal Palace and Lyon were among Europe's biggest spenders.

Evidence, if it were needed, of how deathly quiet January was is right here in the top 10 biggest spenders of the window. Two Premier League sides feature in a list headed by some fuming, fretting Frenchmen.

All fees and figures are taken from Transfermarkt…

10) RB Leipzig – £20.5million (€24m) Leipzig didn’t wait for the window to open to treat themselves to Eljif Elmas. The North Macedonia midfielder agreed in December to join from Napoli for just over £20million, with another £850,000 due in potential add-ons.

9) Tottenham – £21.3million (€25m) Spurs’ spend accounts only for the addition of Radu Dragusin from Genoa. They might also be liable for another £15.5million if they choose to take the option to sign Timo Werner on a permanent deal after his half-season loan.

8) Rennes – £22.6million (€26.5m) In an attempt to drag themselves out of mid-table in Ligue 1, Rennes treated themselves to defensive midfielder Azor Matusiwa, who cost £13.2million from Stade Reims, and £9.4million centre-back Alidu Seidu from Clermont.

7) Benfica – £23.02million (€27m) Benfica did what they do, shopping in South America for £15.3million Santos centre-forward Marcos Leonardo and winger Gianluca Prestianni from Velez Sarsfield. Still, they were only a million euros from breaking even after selling four players for actual money.

6) Crystal Palace – £24.8million (€29.1m) Palace there, spending more than any other Premier League club, most of it going to Blackburn in exchange for Adam Wharton. Genk also made a few euros from the Eagles by sending Daniel Munoz to Selhurst Park.

5) Zenit St. Petersburg – (€29.85m) Zenit spent all but £725,000 of their January budget in Brazil on Artur, Pedro and Nino from Palmeiras, Corinthians and Fluminense respectively.

4) Bayern Munich – £25.58million (€30m) Bayern’s spend here only accounts for the signing of Sacha Boey from Galatasaray. The Bavarians have also borrowed Eric Dier, who could sign permanently in the summer, and brought forward their deal to sign Bryan Zaragoza by chucking another €5million on top of the deal they had agreed with Granada for the summer. But Zaragoza is officially on loan for the rest of the season so Bayern will be liable for that payment later in the year.

3) Paris Saint-Germain – £34.1million (€40m) PSG split their spend on a couple of Brazilians: Lucas Beraldo, a centre-back from Sao Paulo, and Corinthians midfielder Gabriel Moscardo.

Vitor Roque celebrates scoring his first goal for Barcelona.

2) Barcelona – £34.1million (€40m) Barca found another lever to chuck a big wedge at Athletico Paranaense for 18-year-old centre-forward Vitor Roque. Still, at least the teenager has already started repaying the fee with a winner against Osasuna a minute after coming on in the first game since Xavi announced he’d had enough.

1) Lyon – £42.6million (€50.13m) Lyon had to do something big this month while they remain embroiled in a relegation scrap at the foot of the Ligue 1 table. They pumped most of their cash into Gent while taking Malick Fofana and Gift Orban away with them. They also signed a pair from Botofogo as well as Orel Mangala from Forest and Nemanja Matic from Rennes. They wanted Said Benrahma too but encountered a ‘profound lack of respect’ from West Ham. The Hammers screwed up in more ways than one.