For the second successive year the winter transfer window, which closed on Monday, was dominated by loan deals across Europe - with cash-strapped clubs keeping a tight hold of the purse strings.

　　The big exceptions were in England. Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal, locked in a three-way battle for the premier league title and all challenging for the Champions League as well, all spent more than 10 million pounds (US$18.4 million), while Tottenham Hotspur, bidding to revive former glories, spent 7 million pounds on transfer deadline day on Monday.

　　United spent 12.8 million pounds for Fulham's French striker Louis Saha, who scored on his debut in United's 3-2 win over Southampton on Saturday.

　　Arsenal paid Sevilla an initial fee of 7 million pounds - rising to a possible 17 million, for 20-year-old midfielder Jose Antonio Reyes, while Chelsea's spending under Russian owner Roman Abramovich rose to 121 million pounds since August when the Blues bought midfielder Scott Parker from London neighbor Charlton Athletic for 10 million pounds.

　　Tottenham bought England Under-21 striker Jermain Defoe from West Ham - with Bobby Zamora going in the other direction as part of the deal.

　　Apart from that the only English clubs to commit more than 1 million pounds in a single deal were Aston Villa, which bought Peruvian midfielder Nolberto Solano from Newcastle United for 1.5 million pounds; Manchester City, which bought England goalkeeper David James from West Ham for 2 million pounds and Wolverhampton Wanderers, who bought Carl Cort from Newcastle for 2 million pounds.

　　Other main transfer activity across Europe:

　　Italy

　　It was another quiet winter transfer window for the big clubs with only Inter Milan moving to strengthen its squad.

　　Inter signed Brazilian striker Adriano from Parma whose financial problems also led it to loan out Japanese midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata to Bologna. Inter also signed Dejan Stankovic from Lazio with the Serbia and Montenegro midfielder moving for 4 million euros (US$4.96 million) on deadline day.

　　Most of the moves in the market came from clubs battling for Serie A survival.

　　Winless perugia bought in out-of-contract former Juventus striker Fabrizio Ravanelli, veteran forward Dario Hubner from Ancona and Italy Under-21 striker Giuseppe Sculli on loan from Chievo.

　　Bottom club Ancona replaced Hubner with Brazilian striker Mario Jardel, from Bolton, and brought home two Italians from Blackburn Rovers - midfielder Dino Baggio and striker Corrado Grabbi.

　　Spain

　　Transfer activity in Spain during the window was limited to one big-money sale, a high-profile loan acquisition and a handful of cheap buys from European hopefuls and relegation candidates.

　　Arsenal's swoop for Sevilla forward Reyes, for a fee of up to 24.5 million euros according to the English club, was by far the biggest deal involving a Spanish club.

　　Barcelona was quick to react when Juventus decided it would be willing to let Edgar Davids go, bringing in the Dutch international midfielder on a loan deal to help its bid to get back in the Champions League.

　　Espanyol, in deep trouble just one place off the bottom, was linked with just about every available striker in Europe, including Rivaldo, before opting for Steaua Bucharest's Romania striker Claudiu Raducanu for an undisclosed fee.

　　Germany

　　The transfer market remained very quiet with most clubs short of cash.

　　Vfb stuttgart was poised to strike the two most expensive deals - with two players arriving from FC Basel of Switzerland.

　　Swiss international midfielder Hakan Yakin was due to complete his move from Basel to Stuttgart for 2 million euros after a medical.

　　Stuttgart also bought promising striker Marco Streller for 2.75 million euros.