La Liga v Premier League – who will spend more this summer?

La Liga clubs have really splashed the cash, though. Real Madrid have spent more than £300m including the deal which brought Hazard from Chelsea, which could reach £150m.

Atletico Madrid made Felix the fifth most expensive transfer in history at £113m before Barca met Griezmann’s £107m release clause to make him the sixth.

“The big three La Liga clubs – Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid – have been the most notable spenders across Europe in this window so far,” Boor added.

“The start of a new domestic broadcast rights deal in 2019-20, which is expected to provide a boost to the leagues’ broadcast revenues of around 20% per season compared to the previous deal, may be helping to fund some of this spending.”

Indeed, it hasn’t just been a kneejerk reaction to English success in Europe. La Liga clubs sold broadcast rights individually until 2015, when a new law was passed to switch to the collective model, which the Premier League has used since it started in 1992.

“When clubs can forecast their income, that’s when they start to spend, and we’re seeing that in Spain now,” said Deloitte’s Tim Bridge. “La Liga clubs are well regulated in terms of what they can and can’t spend and now they’re at that inflection point where they can kick on in transfer terms and start to compete, in particular, with the Premier League.”

The Premier League’s new broadcast deal for the 2019-2022 cycle is worth £3.07bn per season, compared to £1.83bn for La Liga. But Barca and Real’s broadcasting revenue from La Liga is protected under the royal decree of 2015 so they will receive a minimum of £128m, just less than the Premier League’s top six received for 2018-19.