Despite the recession the country finds itself in at the moment, football does not seem to have suffered, and this past transfer window has proved that beyond all doubt with Liverpool and Chelsea smashing records to sign Andy Carroll and Fernando Torres respectively.
Deadline day in this country always provides football fans with a transfer saga that is not resolved until the dying minutes of the window, and this time it gave us three. Firstly Chelsea signing Fernando Torres for £50 million, smashing the British transfer record set by Manchester City's £32.5 million deal for Robinho. Then Andy Carroll's £35 million move to Liverpool, setting a new record for an English signing previously held by Rio Ferdinand (£30 million), and Chelsea again who added £21 million David Luiz to the £50 million they had already spent.
The most controversial of the three has to be Carroll's switch from Tyneside to Merseyside. £35 million does seem an awful lot for a 22 year old who is really yet to prove himself at the highest level, he has had an impressive start to the season but many people must be questioning whether that alone warrants such a hefty price tag, more than players such as Robinho, Berbatov, David Villa and Wayne Rooney.
Plus it's no secret he has had trouble keeping his nose clean which is something Liverpool are not going to want to continue following his move. However he clearly has both talent and potential, and throw in the fact that he's English, it was never going to be easy or cheap to prise him away from Newcastle. The rumoured rejected 25 and 30 million pound bids show both Liverpool and Newcastle's high valuation of the promising young forward.
With the £50 million from the sale of Torres, Kenny Dalglish had money to spend. Even though he may have had to pay over the odds no one can really doubt that Carroll and earlier acquisition Luis Suarez as a Premiership strike partnership is a mouthwatering prospect, and maybe even a good 'swap' for El Nino once fans have had a chance to get used to his departure.
Which brings us to Torres, and this deadline day's massive spenders, Chelsea. With Liverpool's recent fall from grace it was always going to be a matter of 'when' rather than 'if' it came to the striker's departure. The Spaniard came to England in search of titles, and after having no such luck at Liverpool has turned to Chelsea who were more than willing to cough up the £50 million for his services.
Luckily for the Londoners Torres' form has dipped recently, because a year and a half ago the fee would have most likely been around the 70m mark, although Liverpool would have probably been less likely to have let him go back then. £50 million is a lot of money, is any player worth that much? That's 16 million more than Barcelona paid for his Spanish strike partner David Villa, who has been a lot more prolific in front of goal as of late.
If Torres can find the form he had when he joined Liverpool he is most definitely one of the best strikers in the world right now. But the pressure is on and with a 1-0 loss at home to Liverpool getting his Chelsea career under way, surely it can only get better for him from here.
The third of the three big deals on deadline day, almost overshadowed by the aforementioned transfers, was David Luiz's move from Benfica to Chelsea for just over £21 million. This seems a lot of money for a defender who until now has only plied his trade in the Portuguese league, and who unsurprisingly many Chelsea fans would not have heard of.
However he helped steer his side to the league title in 2009 and a league and cup double last season, plus on top of that he has recently broken into the Brazil squad. No mean feat considering that's a defence containing Lucio, Maicon and Dani Alves, and all at the age of 23, maybe not such a bad deal after all?
In amongst these big money moves were some other interesting transfers. A welcome return to the Premier League for Obafemi Martins who joined Birmingham City on loan, and some great signings for Blackpool who managed to sign proven striker James Beattie, youngster Jason Puncheon (who has already bagged a goal on his debut for the club) and midfielder Andy Reid, all whilst keeping hold of club captain Charlie Adam. A loan move to Newcastle for Stephen Ireland should also hold some promise, as he continues to try and recreate the form he showed with Manchester City.
So an expensive and controversial deadline day to say the least and three signings with some big transfer fees to justify. But with FIFA introducing new rules soon to try and quash massive spending, is this the last we are going to see of the lavish transfers? Or will the rules, like so many before it, be quickly forgotten? Only time will tell and who knows, in a few transfer windows time we could be talking about the first £1 billion transfer..!