SAINTS played their part as Premier League clubs smashed the record for spending on transfers in the summer window after splashing out £835million on new players.

Manchester United led the way, with a record for an English club of £150million spent during the summer, as the Premier League clubs displayed the spending power of their huge domestic TV deal.

Saints spent almost £60m on new players, making them the fifth highest spenders after United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.

Business advisory firm Deloitte said the total was almost double the sum spent by clubs in Spain's La Liga this summer.

The £835million is also over £200million more than the previous record of £630million, also by Premier League clubs in 2013, and the net spend was £410million - £350million to overseas clubs and £60million to Football League clubs.

Dan Jones, partner in the sports business group at Deloitte, said: "This summer transfer window has again been one of records with Premier League clubs spending more than in any previous transfer window.

"This summer has also seen the highest gross spend in a single transfer window by a single Premier League club and a new record transfer fee for an individual player in English football [Angel di Maria, £59.7m]."

The total only includes £6million from the loan fee of Radamel Falcao to United from Monaco however - if the striker moves on a permanent basis at the end of the season that fee will form part of transfer spending in 2015.

Jones added: "We continue to see the increased resources that Premier League clubs enjoy, as a result of improved broadcast deals, translate into investment in players.

"Last season the average Premier League club received over £25million more in central broadcast distributions than they did in 2012/13, which has helped fuel a new record spend this summer.

Spending across the other top divisions of Europe saw La Liga splash out £425million, Italy's Serie A next with £260million, followed by the Bundesliga in Germany with £250million and France's Ligue 1 with £100million.