FIFA's Global Report reveals where Leeds United lie among Europe's big spenders

The Whites, who earned promotion from the Championship to the Premier League at the end of last season, had the fourth highest transfer fee spend in England and came in sixth in the list of UEFA clubs for spending as they added quality ahead of their top flight return.

Chelsea topped the list, followed by Manchester United, Manchester City, Barcelona, Juventus and Leeds.

Other Premier League outfits including Spurs, Wolves, Arsenal and Leicester City made the top 20.

Leeds captured Rodrigo from Valencia for a club record fee of around £29m and Real Sociedad's Diego Llorente for approximately £18m, which in turn helped make the movement of players from Spain to England become the richest transfer route of 2020. A total of 64 transfers took place via that particular route.

A total of almost £250m was spent by English clubs on players from Spain, while the transfer of Robin Koch from SC Freiburg to Leeds United for £13m was part of a £180m spend by English clubs on players in Germany.

The Whites also landed Brazilian winger Raphinha from French side Rennes for a fee in the region of £19m. The total spend by English clubs on players in France was nearly £160m and there were more Brazilian players sold, for more money, than players of any other nationality.

None of Leeds' signings made the top 10 moves with the highest transfer fees. Kai Havertz' move to Chelsea from Bayer 04 Leverkusen topped that list.

Of the 2,273 transfers with fees, the top 80 were responsible for 50 per cent of all transfer fees in 2020.

Player movement from Brazil to Portugal accounted for the highest number of transfers, with 274.

The impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic was seen in the first decline in the number of international transfers since 2010. A total of 17,077 international transfers were completed, representing a decrease of 5.4 per cent compared to 2019.