Is FFP having an effect on the transfer window?

In my last article I mentioned the fact that we are, so far at least, the biggest spenders of this transfer window.

I also said how surprised that with just one week to go we still hold that accolade, so I thought I'd take a look at it and see just what is going on.

So far in this window a total of £18.4m has been spent by Premier League clubs according to Sky Sports, with the bulk of that figure coming from the transfers of Papiss Demba Cisse to us and Gary Cahill to Chelsea. Beyond that though not a lot of clubs are doing anything which is in stark contract to last January when a total of £215m was spent. It would take some serious investment for this window to equal the last one!

What is causing this though? Do clubs, in general,not have the cash they once had? Are they keeping their powder dry for the latter stages of the window? Are they watching the purse strings in anticipation of these much talked about Financial Fair Play Rules coming into play?

I don't know. There are clubs who have been told that they must sell before they buy. Tottenham are one of them and they love to do a deal in January. It's why Sky love Harry Redknapp. Liverpool are very quiet also. Perhaps Dalglish's boss is less than impressed with the players bought for the best part of £150m? Alex Ferguson insists he is not really looking in January as you can't get any value, which is odd for a club the size of Manchester United, and Arsenal are just Arsenal.

Pretty much none of the big hitters have done anything yet, but the thing that strikes me is that they don't look likely to do anything. Rumours are thin on the ground and whilst it's not a complete picture it's a marked contrast to previous seasons.

The obvious fact is that these big hitters can just go out and splash the cash at very short notice, or at least they used to be able to, so things could change at very short notice. I don't envisage the transfer window ending with so little cash spent. Only 18 deals have been completed and eight clubs are still yet to sign anybody. It's quiet, very quiet.

I just hope it stays that way!