The January mid-season transfer window shuts on Thursday night.
The spending levels have significantly gone down compared to past seasons when clubs splashed large chunks of money to bolster their squads.
Only 17 players have been signed by Premier League clubs in January.
10 of those deals are permanent transfers, seven loan deals and disclosed fees of about £50m.
At the same point last year, on the eve of deadline day, there had been 38 transfers worth about £550m - 10 times this year's amount.
Top-flight clubs went on to spend a record-breaking £843m in last season's January window.
That included Chelsea's record £107m deal for Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez from Benfica on deadline day.
The low-key transfer window has been necessitated by Profit and Sustainability Rules with clubs fear facing charges for breaching the Financial Fair Play Regulations.
No team will want to risk a 10-point deduction such as Everton's for a breach in their accounts up to 2021-22.
Under the Premier League's PSR, clubs are only allowed to make losses of £105m over a rolling three-year period.
But it is not only PSR that is having an effect.
"There is no real domino effect," Professor Rob Wilson, football finance expert at Sheffield Hallam University, told BBC Sport.
"The super clubs in Europe have not spent much. If a top-six club spends £50m on a back-up striker, the selling club has that money to spend.
"Because there is no money in the market, clubs are having to look abroad to sell. But Saudi Arabia has been much quieter and Premier League wages are so much higher compared to other leagues in Europe that players are less incentivised to move."
