Manchester City's summer transfer spending, which reached UK£120 million, bucked the trend in the Premier League, where overall spending dropped by 10 per cent compared to 2008.

Deloitte's Sports Business Group claims that City's spending made up some 27 per cent of the Premier League total, which reached UK£450 million compared to UK£500 million in 2008, and also failed to match the UK£470 million spent in the summer of 2007.

Had City, owned by the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, spent a more normal amount then the overall spending of the league would have fallen dramatically but would not have dropped to the UK£260 million level of 2006, before the Premier League's latest jump in television revenues.

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Mark Hughes, the Manchester City coach, insists that such spending will not be the norm for the club. "It's unprecedented, really, the amount of business we have done and we won’t go through this process again because we won't need to," he said. "We feel we have the building blocks in place now that we needed."

Paul Rawnsley, Director in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said: "As expected, despite the significant spending by Manchester City, Premier League clubs' transfer spending declined in summer 2009. Economic conditions may improve in 2010 and the Premier League is expected to secure enhanced values for international media rights generating higher revenue for Premier League clubs. However, without further significant capital injections from owners, transfer spending is unlikely to exceed the record level achieved in 2008."