Manchester City are almost £75million in front of the rest of the English Premier League pack after a transfer window of big spending. Backed by the cashed-up Abu Dhabi United Group, City went on a summer spending spree in an attempt to break into the league's top four which has been controlled by Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea for much of the last decade.

Last season's biggest challengers to this quartet, Aston Villa, also spent big but they were no match for Mark Hughes' City who amassed over £100million in purchasing fees.

The following is this summer's club by club transfer expenditure:

£118m - Manchester City £43.6m - Aston Villa £39m - Liverpool £31.4m - Sunderland £27m - Tottenham £22.2m - Everton £21.85m - Stoke City £21m - Manchester United £19.75m - Chelsea £19.45m - Birmingham £16.5m - Wolves £13m - Hull City £12m - Blackburn £11.3m - Arsenal £10.75m - West Ham £9.4m - Wigan £9m - Portsmouth £8.7m - Bolton £6.65m - Burnley £5.5m - Fulham

Top flight clubs spent just over £460million on transfers in the recent window.