Premier League clubs have smashed the record for spending on transfers in the summer window after splashing out a mind-boggling £835 million on new players, according to analysts.

In an age where grass-roots football is suffering and clubs are failing to produce enough quality players for the national side, teams across England once again spent millions on overseas players and in turn cast home-grown talent to the side once again.

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

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

The £835m is also over £200m more than the previous record of £630m, also by Premier League clubs in 2013, and the net spend was £410m — £350m to overseas clubs and £60m 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 £6m from the loan fee of Radamel Falcao to United from Monaco,  who is reported to be earning £346,000 a week in Manchester.