Ipswich and Saints lead second tier spending - and they're still in profit

Relegated pair Ipswich Town and Southampton were the top two spenders among Championship clubs in the summer transfer window.

- by Simon Carter

Of the 11 most expensive recruits made by a second tier outfit, they were responsible for eight of them.

The Tractor Boys shattered the Championship record at the weekend by signing Norwegian youngster Sindre Walle Egeli from Danish club Nordsjaelland.

The fee? A whopping £17.5m, beating the £15.4m Burnley splashed out on Mike Tresor last summer.

That took Ipswich's summer towards the £50m mark, given they had previously brought in Kasey McAteer (Leicester, £11.5m), Azor Matusiwa (Rennes, £7.8m), Marcelino Nunez (Norwich, £7.5m) and Darnell Furlong (West Brom, £3.5m).

They are still in profit, though, on their transfer business, having brought in almost £70m just by selling two players-Omari Hutchinson to Nottingham Forest for £37.5m and Liam Delap to Chelsea for £30m.

And, lest we forget, Ipswich also have a parachute payment of £40m!