Championship summer spending: Newcastle and Aston Villa laid out more than Real Madrid and AC Milan

WITH Aston Villa and Newcastle spending more than Spanish giants Real Madrid this summer, it shows not just Premier League sides are splashing the cash.

England's top flight grabbed the headlines spending more than a staggering £1.2billion, but the Championship also broke their own record.

£215m was spent in the second tier this summer - more than double the previous record fee.

Recently relegated Newcastle were the biggest contributors to that figure spending a whopping £50m whilst Aston Villa broke a Championship record to sign Jonathan Kodjia from Bristol City for £15m.

Wolves also pulled off a major coup in landing former Monaco winger and Portuguese international Ivan Cavaleiro for a rumoured £7m fee.

With rewards of £100m to finish bottom on the Premier League, it is no surprise that Championship sides are going for broke in the hope they reach the promised land.

But how does Championship spending compare to that of Europe's top leagues who aren't blessed with the same TV riches?

French Ligue 1 - Approx spend £190m

Unbelievably the 24 clubs in the Championship spent more money than the whole of France's top division.

Their approximate spend is valued around £190m with mega-rich Paris-Saint Germain splashing £64m on the likes of Jese Rodriguez (£21.25m) from Real Madrid and Grzegorz Krychowiak (£25m) from Sevilla.

Taking away PSG and Marseille's combined spend, just £90m was spent by the remaining 18 clubs averaging just £5m per club.

Teams in France can't compete with wages English sides are able to offer which has seen some of the country's brightest talents cross the channel for a bigger pay-day. The latest being Sofiane Boufal as the 22-year-old completed his £21m move to Southampton.

Spanish La Liga - Approx spend £370m

In previous windows, Barcelona and Real Madrid have been renowned for spending their huge wealth in the transfer window.

And although Barcelona spent around £115m on the likes of Andre Gomes and Paco Alcacer, surprisingly that wasn't the case for Real Madrid who only spent £25m on striker Alvaro Morata.

That's just £4m more than Fulham.