breaking 500 million pounds ($894 million) was spent by Premier League clubs on players in the mid-year transfer window, according to a report by consultancy firm Deloitte. Last-minute deals on Monday including Robinho's move from Real Madrid to Manchester City for an estimated 32.5 million pounds and Dimitar Berbatov's transfer from Tottenham Hotspur to Manchester United for 30.75 million pounds raised total spending to around 500 million pounds. That was around 30 million pounds more than the same transfer window last year. “This level of transfer spending is far in excess of spending by other European leagues,” Deloitte's Paul Rawnsley said in a statement on Tuesday. “With the majority of their revenue streams already contractually secured, English football clubs are proving resilient to the current challenging economic environment,” added Rawnsley, director of the company's sports business group. “While football is not recession-proof it is recession-resistant.” Deloitte said Premier League clubs spent around £215m buying players from each other, representing more than 40 percent of the transfer activity during the window. Ronaldinho, Robinho top transfers Ronaldinho, who left Barcelona for AC Milan, and Manchester City-bound Robinho were the two top names to have completed transfers. Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo and Andrei Arshavin of Zenit St. Petersburg had been tipped for big-money moves but they came to nothing. The transfer deadline passed at midnight on Sept. 1, meaning players cannot now move clubs till the winter transfer window opens in January. AC Milan's 20-million-euro purchase of the 2005 European Footballer of the Year could prove a rebirth in the career of Ronaldinho, who teams up with Brazilian compatriots Kaka and Pato at the San Siro. Andrei Shevchenko has also returned to AC Milan from Chelsea. Manchester City signed Robinho from Real Madrid for a fee of around 42 million euros. Brazilian international Robinho agreed a four-year contract with Mark Hughes' side shortly before the close of the transfer window. Juventus contented itself with the 22.8 million-euro capture of Brazilian striker Amauri from Palermo as its top signing. Coach Jose Mourinho was the big investment by Inter Milan who brought him in as a replacement to Roberto Mancini and their major signing of the season was made on Monday when they took on board FC Porto winger Ricardo Quaresma for around 17 million euros. Inter also landed Roma's Brazilian midfielder Mancini and Ghana midfielder Sulley Muntari. In Spain, Real Madrid purchased striker Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart from Hamburg, joining up with fellow Dutchmen Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben, Royston Drenthe and Wesley Sneijder at the Santiago-Bernabeu stadium. Van der Vaart's inclusion no doubted consoled the Meringues somewhat having failed to prise Euro 2008 top scorer David Villa from Valencia. Barcelona opened its wallet wide to pay for the incoming players of Daniel Alves, Alexander Hleb and Seydou Keita. Manchester United beat the transfer deadline to complete a 37.7 million-euro deal for Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov. Berbatov, 27, agreed a four-year contract with United and Tottenham confirmed the deal on its website 45 minutes after the transfer window shut. Arsenal's Arsene Wenger brought in Marseille's midfield maestro Sami Nasri and defender Mikael Silvestre from Manchester United. Liverpool however splashed out 24 million euros to buy Tottenham striker Roy Keane to create a new strike partnership at Anfield with Fernando Torres. Chelsea's new coach Luiz Felipe Scolari brought in midfielder playmaker Deco from Brazil. $210m for Ronaldo: City Manchester City's new billionaire Arab owners say they are willing to pay £135 million ($210 million) to land Cristiano Ronaldo from the Red side of the city. According to the report Tuesday, City also wants to track down other major stars, including Thierry Henry and David Villa as City heads for the footballing stratosphere.
