As Winston Churchill might have said if stepping in for a stint of analysis on deadline day: "Never before have so many been bought for so much by so few." Liverpool and Chelsea paid out over £130 million for the services of Fernando Torres, Andy Carroll, Luis Suarez and David Luiz to end a record-breaking transfer window.
When Roman Abramovich took over Chelsea, the Russian's millions led to hyper-inflation of fees and Manchester City took the baton and ran with it following their takeover by owners from Abu Dhabi.
City then paid a massive £32.5 million for Brazilian forward Robinho and this month laid out £27 million on Edin Dzeko, a good but hardly extraordinary Bundesliga striker.
Their squad is so bloated that they currently have 15 players out on loan with a collective price tag of nearly £100 million.
There is no hint of a need to balance the books, despite the demands of UEFA's forthcoming "financial fair-play" rules and the government's austerity measures, as the owners have funds beyond the comprehension of most clubs.
They announced a loss of £70.9 million on Monday but far from worrying about that figure, issued a statement stressing the good news that they were "cash positive". Hours later they had splashed out £75 million on Torres and Luiz.
Liverpool's new American owners seem to operate along a more normal business model and though the £60 million they paid for Carroll and Suarez looks extraordinary, they are young players tied to long contracts who might yet prove profitable.
Torres was a big dent in the balance sheet when he arrived from Atletico Madrid for £26 million but, having had three and a half years of generally excellent service from the Spaniard Liverpool have just about doubled their money.
Now he has been sold for £36 million, the sixth most expensive transfer the game has ever seen. That sort of money can go a long way if used wisely - or it can fly straight out of the door again on a few new players in the ever-desperate battle to stay in the Premier League.
