Manchester City have spent almost £600m on players over the past seven years - with only Real Madrid having spent more.

The staggering figure was revealed during The Transfer Review at this year's Soccerex Global Convention at Manchester Central.

Esteve Calzada, the chief executive of Prime Time Sport, is the man behind the 2015/16 Transfer Review and reported findings in front of hundreds of delegates.

City have shelled out 815m euros - or £596m - on players in the past seven years, Calzada said, while Real Madrid have spent 817m euros - or approximately £598m - on players.

Manchester United lie fifth in the spending table with 488m euros - or £356m - spent.

Over the summer, City's big money signings of Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne heavily influenced City's outlay of 200m euros - or £160m - on players.

The figure is a Premier League record for money spent on hiring new talent during a summer transfer window.

Mr Calzada, a former commercial chief at Barcelona, also said Manchester United topped the table when it came to income gained from player sales, mainly because of Angel Di Maria's move to Paris Saint Germain.

He revealed that the combined spend on players in all top five European leagues was around 3bn euros - with the Premier League 'very much the driving force behind it'.

Mr Calzada told football journalist Henry Winter, during a discussion session, that English clubs will continue to buy big in the future, especially with the new multi-billion-pound TV rights deal coming into force soon.

"The perception (in Spain of the Premier League) is that it is like a big monster," said Mr Calzada.

"The president of La Liga says it is the NBA of football. There's an agreement in Spain that there's no way to compete with them. But clubs in Spain are trying to take advantage of the situation by signing the best players."

He added: "I think there will be more spending because of the new TV rights coming into force in England.

"There will continue to be player sales. The transfer market will be very active and there will probably be another record spend next summer."

Mr Calzada has been compiling The Transfer Review since 2009.

He said the released figures only take into account the fixed amount of any transfer agreement, not bonuses or anything to do with third parties.