It was supposed to be the transfer window when belts were tightened.

When everything changed as result of the pandemic. Even in the bulletproof Premier League.

It turns out the Prem isn’t like that. Normal rules need not apply, it seems.

Now, one of nation’s best known football finance experts has said he was NOT surprised to see big deals go through. And that includes Albion’s survival rivals for much last season, Aston Villa.

He also believes the Seagulls have done good, if more understated, business in the recent window.

And he says some of those spending big now are only trying to make up ground lost last year.

There have been concerns about a lack of striking options from many fans as they assess the Albion squad.

Those concerns are not shared by management at Albion, who have let Glenn Murray and Viktor Gyokeres join the long since departed Jurgen Locadia out on loan.

Potter has said he found it strange to be asked about potential big money signing in this summer of the pandemic.

But Kieran Maguire said he was not so taken aback by the money being spent.

The football finance lecturer at Liverpool University told The Argus: “There was a report that billionaires’ wealth has increased substantially during Covid-19.

“Let’s take a look at the Premier League and try to spot a few billionaires.

“If you asked anybody, the first two they would shout out would be Chelsea and Manchester City.

“They were the two biggest spenders.

“Then you look at their specific circumstances.

“Chelsea are coming off the back of a transfer ban in 2019 so they are trying to squeeze two years of expenditure into one transfer window.

“Manchester City were aware last year that potentially they were going to be up on a charge from UEFA so therefore they didn’t spend very much money 12 months ago because they were genuinely fearful of having a UEFA competition ban.

“Having overturned their ban, happy days.

“When you start to look at the back story of some of this spending, it makes a lot of sense.

“In the case of the Albion, they sort of did some of their spending for this season earlier in the form of Alexis Mac Allister and Tariq Lamptey.”

Mac Allister was not expected in England until this season – but his loan at Boca Juniors was cut short midway through last season.

Lamptey came in on January 31, again with an eye to this season.

Maguire said: “We wouldn’t have seen Tariq last season without Covid.

“As a result of lockdown, he had that settling period and became first choice right-back late last season.

“If we had signed him in the summer rather than January, we’d be saying, ‘What a great signing’ “The Ben White contract and the Lewis Dunk contract are expensive so the money is being spent on wages as opposed to transfer fees.

“Personally I think that is a smart piece of business.”

While City and Chelsea splash out, perhaps the bigger concern for Albion fans is to see clubs they hope could finish below them in the standings adding players. Such as Aston Villa.

Albion were interested in Ollie Watkins before the bidding started to heat up.

Maguire said: “Villa have certainly got the billionaire owners. Remember this is their second season in the Premier League.

“If you look at the Albion’s second season spending in the Premier League, we were pretty much up for it.

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“You are looking to replace what? Five or six players in each season. Then it tends to drop down a bit.

“I wasn’t surprised by Villa at all. First, they have got the money and, second, it’s second season syndrome.

“They had got rid of a proportion of the side who got them promoted.

“Now they wanted to get rid of another five or six players.

“Some of their spending 12 months ago was an absolute disaster and that’s what people forget.

“Why have they signed Ollie Watkins?

“Well, it’s because they spent £30 million on a striker 12 months ago and he was rubbish.

“If Neal Maupay had turned out to be rubbish last season, the Albion would have been signing a striker this season. But I think most people are pretty pleased with Neal Maupay.”

As well as spending on fees, a large part of Albion’s transfer policy in recent years has been about keeping hold of what they have. Offers have been resisted in recent years for Dunk, White, Dale Stephens and Anthony Knockaert - until the time came when it was felt the player in question could go.

Albion let Knockaert join Fulham in 2019 but that was on loan.

The permanent deal kicked in this summer and that is an amount some reviews of the window seem to forget.

So it WAS a careful window for Albion by Prem standards but it had to be.

It was one where they held on pieces they wanted and added where they could. It is what you get out of it which really counts.