The Premier League again saved European football by splashing out over £178 MILLION in the winter market.

While the rest of Europe were moaning about a doom-and-gloom economic downturn, English clubs again went on an exciting spending spree to lift fans around the world.

Manchester City laid out £51m, with Spurs boss Harry Redknapp paying £44m.

That included the last-gasp £12m spent on Robbie Keane from Liverpool, while Arsenal also forgot the credit crunch yesterday with their £15m spree to capture Zenit St Petersburg's Andrei Arshavin.

Apart from those clubs who did not spend at all, Chelsea were the most miserly. They handed over just £500,000 for Gokhan Tore from Bayer Leverkusen.

When the January transfer window was first introduced in 2003, clubs spent just £35m on players. By last season that figure had rocketed to £146m.

SPENDING TOTALS: Jan 2009 £178m; Jan 2008 £146m; Jan 2007 £63m; Jan 2006 £70m; Jan 2005 £50m; Jan 2004 £50m; Jan 2003 £35m.