LEAD: Premier League clubs spend 60 million on transfers in January

By Ben James Feb 1, 2012, 9:25 GMT

London - Some 60 million pounds (94.5 million dollars) was spent on players in the January transfer window, way down from the record of 225 million pounds spent in 2011.

According to analysis by business advisory firm Deloitte, Chelsea, Queens Park Rangers and Newcastle were the biggest spenders, combining for more than half of the total, which was back to the levels seen between 2004 and 2007.

Around half of the overall total exchanged hands on deadline day Tuesday, with QPR splashing out around 11 million pounds to bring in former Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse from Lazio and Bobby Zamora from Fulham.

'I rate Djibril very, very highly,' QPR manager Mark Hughes said of the signing of the 30-year-old Cisse. 'He's got great pace, power and movement and that's something we will hopefully benefit from.

'He's scored goals wherever he's played. He was desperate to come here once we showed our interest in him and we can't wait to get the best out of him.'

Hughes will be reunited with Zamora after the two worked together at Fulham last season before the manager resigned in the summer.

'He was the difference for us at Fulham last season,' Hughes said. 'He came back from injury and he made such an impact in the second half of the campaign. He's got great power and pace and his technical ability is top class. He's got an excellent left foot.'

The biggest individual signing on deadline day was Everton's 6 million-pound deal for Glasgow Rangers striker Nikica Jelavic.

'It is great news for us,' Everton manager David Moyes said. 'We have been looking for a centre forward for a while.

'He is coming from a great football club but I think he is coming to another great football club. He really wants to play in the Premier League and he really wants to play for Everton. That goes a long way.'

Moyes also re-signed midfielder Steven Pienaar from Tottenham, with the London side selling Roman Pavlyuchenko to Lokomotiv Moscow for 7.5 million pounds and bringing in Everton striker Louis Saha on a short-term contract until the end of the season, with the option of an extra year.

The declining level of transfer spending in January may have something to do with the UEFA fair-play regulations, according to Dan Jones, a partner at Deloitte.

'As clubs are now in the reporting period that will count towards the first assessment for UEFA's financial fair play break-even requirement, their comparative restraint is indicative of an overriding reflection on spending levels,' he said.

'The focus on football's future financial sustainability is more prevalent in Europe than at any time in the past 20 years and, going forward we remain keen to see that translated into a better balance between revenue and expenditure.'

But Jones said he expected to see another active summer of spending in 2012, with the European championships the perfect shop window for the sport's top players.

'The global popularity of the English game helps drive continuing growth for Premier League clubs' revenues, with transfer spending further supplemented from the pockets of some owners,' he said.