Heading into the delayed summer transfer window for European leagues, much was made of the effect of the pandemic on football finances: How would teams react to the lost income from the end of last season and the beginning of this, given that the absence of fans in stadia will likely continue until the end of the year?
The answer in many quarters was a resounding "business nearly as usual" with a total of £3 billion (S$5.3 billion) being spent on 1,344 deals in Europe's big five leagues - England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain by Monday (Oct 5) - ahead of the domestic-only deadline.
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