London:
Fernando Torres joined Chelsea from Liverpool for a reported 50 million pounds (USD 79.5 million) on Monday, a British-record transfer fee on the final day of the biggest spending January transfer window for English clubs.
More than 215 million pounds (USD 345 million) were spent this month by Premier League teams, smashing the previous biggest outlay of 181 million pounds (USD 290 million) in 2009 despite Britain being currently in the midst of a severe economic downturn.
Liverpool replaced Torres by breaking the club's transfer record twice in the space of a few hours to bring in Andy Carroll from Newcastle and Luis Suarez from Ajax - for a combined fee of 58 million pounds (USD 93 million).
"I am very happy with my transfer to Chelsea and I am looking forward very much to helping my new teammates this season and for many years to come," said Torres, a World Cup winner with Spain last year and the scorer of the only goal in the European Championship final against Germany in 2008.
Chelsea also spent a reported 25 million pounds (USD 40 million) to sign Brazil defender David Luiz from Portuguese side Benfica, bringing the total figure of those four transfers alone to 133 million pounds (USD 213 million).
Previous transfers this month have seen Edin Dzeko join Manchester City from Wolfsburg for about 27 million pounds (USD 42 million) and Darren Bent move to Aston Villa from Sunderland for a fee that could rise to 24 million pounds (USD 38.5 million).
This month's outlay easily eclipsed the 30 million pounds (USD 48 million) spent by English clubs in the 2010 January window. The rest of Europe generally settled for loan signings.
Chelsea's amazing outlay of about 75 million pounds (USD 120 million) came on the day the club announced losses of 70.9 million pounds (USD 113.7 million) last season, despite winning the Premier League and FA Cup.
Torres' move from Liverpool is the third most expensive transfer in the history of world football, bettered only by Real Madrid's purchases of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka in 2009. It is similar to the fee reportedly paid to Inter Milan by Barcelona the same year for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, with Samuel Eto'o joining the Italian club as part of that deal.
Such was the frenzied activity at Liverpool, comfortably the busiest mover on deadline day, that the club even had to temporarily change the page layout of its website to safeguard its stability. The Reds had unprecedented levels of traffic on the site, with 1.1 million fans having visited it by 2200 GMT, generating a record 8.5 million page impressions.
Manchester City forward Carlos Tevez was widely recognized as being the previous most expensive transfer within British football after moving from Manchester United for about 47 million pounds in 2009. Former Bulgaria striker Dimitar Berbatov joined United for 30.75 million pounds in 2008.
Liverpool first broke the British-record fee by signing Carroll for a reported 35 million pounds (USD 56 million) after the striker had a transfer request accepted by Newcastle. The Reds had earlier wrapped up the signing of Suarez for euro 26.5 million (USD 36 million).
Last week, the Reds turned down Torres' request to leave the team he joined for a then club-record 20.3 million pounds (then USD 40.6 million) from Atletico Madrid in 2007.
He now joins Chelsea's star-studded attacking lineup that includes Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba and former France forward Nicolas Anelka.
After reining in his spending over the past couple of years, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich showed his club can still be a big mover in the transfer market by signing Luiz to strengthen the team's defensive options.
Argentina star Sergio Aguero won't be appearing on a list of record transfers anytime soon after he signed a new contract with Atletico Madrid early on Monday, ending any hopes Tottenham or Chelsea had of signing him.
In other Premier League deals, United States midfielder Michael Bradley became Aston Villa's fourth signing of the transfer window - after Bent, Jean Makoun and on-loan Kyle Walker - by joining the club on loan until the end of the season from Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Villa has also sent Irish midfielder Stephen Ireland out on loan to Newcastle.
Blackburn signed Argentine playmaker Mauro Formica from Newell's Old Boys and Spanish striker Ruben Rochina from Barcelona on 3-year deals, and struggling Birmingham brought in Nigeria striker Obafemi Martins on a six-month loan deal from Rubin Kazan.
Wolfsburg started spending some of the money that Man City paid for Dzeko this month, signing South Korea international Koo Ja-choel from Jeju United, teenager Yohandry Orozco from Venezuelan club FC Zulia and Turkey forward Tuncay Sanli from Stoke.
Loan moves were common across Europe as teams sought value and a close look at players before deciding whether to sign them permanently at the end of the season.
Brazil striker Andre joined Bordeaux from Dynamo Kiev on a six-month loan deal, while Villarreal loaned out winger Jefferson Montero t o Levante and Sevilla presented Chile midfielder Gary Mendel and Croatia international Ivan Rakitic.
In Italy, AC Milan announced it had acquired Nicola Legrottaglie from Juventus, signing the defender until the end of this season, and Juventus signed striker Alessandro Matri on loan from Cagliari.