It’s now February 1st which means only one thing. The January Transfer window is officially CLOSED! Here, we look at some of the biggest deals of this record breaking window.
The first big deal of this window was undoubtedly Virgil Van Dijk’s long awaited move from Southampton to Liverpool. A deal which many expected to happen in the summer, but eventually happened very early on in this window. £75m
The next big deal, and a surprising one, which had been mooted for a while was Ross Barkley joining Chelsea for £35m. This deal almost happened in the summer with Barkley supposedly walking out of a medical, but eventually, Chelsea got their man who had fallen out of favour at Everton.
Arsenal kicked off their window with the signing of young Greek defender Konstantinos Mavropanos. He was the first signing of a surprisingly busy transfer window for Arsenal, with more ins and outs.
With bids for Oliver Giroud and Diego Costa rejected in the summer, Everton finally got the striker they were after, in prolific Turkish international Cenk Tosun. There was a lot of interest in his services, with Newcastle reportedly also interested in his signature.
The next deal was the biggest of the lot, valued at around £146m, Phillipe Coutinho joined Barcelona from Liverpool, this was another deal which was rumoured to be happening in the summer but never came to fruition. Barcelona though held out, and eventually got their man.
Young midfielder Francis Coquelin, who was thought of quite highly from some in North London, was sold to Valencia by Arsenal.
Claude Puel’s first signing as Leicester Manager was Fousseni Diabate who they signed from French Ligue 2 Club Ajaccio. The last two signings they had from France weren’t bad either with N’golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez the others signed from the French Leagues.
Sam Allardyce spent some £20m of the Ross Barkley money, splashing out on Arsenal’s Theo Walcott, who was somewhat out of favour at Arsenal, a great move for Walcott, with the World Cup coming up in the summer.
Brighton smashed their transfer record, bringing in Dutch Striker Jurgen Locadia for £14.1m from PSV Eindhoven where he had scored 9 goals in 14 games this season. However, his debut has been delayed due to a slight hamstring niggle.
Then came the most shocking deal of the entire window. With Alexis Sanchez nailed on to join Manchester City last summer in a £60m deal which never came to fruition, there were enquiries made to obtain his signature again this time around. City, though, were unwilling to pay the fee Arsenal were asking for him, and it paved the way for their biggest rivals, Manchester United to swoop, and pull off arguably one of the great deals of this window. No cash changed hands, just Number 7 Shirts, with Alexis Sanchez joining United taking the famous jersey, and Arsenal and Sanchez’s vacated one taken up by Henrikh Mkhitaryan. A great signing for Arsenal, and one which arguably both sides will be happy with.
After Theo Walcott joined Everton, he came straight into their team, meaning that Aaron Lennon was free to leave. He was snapped up by Sean Dyche at Burnley, in what could turn into a very shrewd deal.
Newcastle signed their first reinforcement in the window, as Kenedy joined from Chelsea on loan. With little game time under his belt at Chelsea, could this be the move which kick starts his career in England?
Having lost Frank de Boer after just four games this season, new Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson didn’t have anytime to bring in any of his own players in the Summer window. He made his first signing of this window bringing in Polish Centre Half Jaroslaw Jach for an undisclosed fee.
Southampton were the next club to break their transfer record, splashing out £19.1m on Argentinian striker Guido Carillo from Monaco. We have seen some great Argentinian Strikers in the Premier League over the years, and Southampton will undoubtedly be looking forward to this one.
David Moyes did his first piece of business at West Ham, by bringing in Joao Mario from Inter Milan on Loan for the rest of the season. He had been linked with a number of clubs, but ultimately TheLondon Stadium, and West Ham proved to be his destination.
With the form of Liverpool’s front three, and the lure of a World Cup around the corner, Daniel Sturridge felt moving from Liverpool was the best idea. There were no shortage of clubs vying for his signature, with Inter Milan, Newcastle and Sevilla all looking to sign the England International. It would therefore come as a bit of a shock to see him end up joining West Bromwich Albion on loan until the end of the season.
Chelsea continued their trend of sending youngsters out on loan with Charly Musonda joining SPFL Champions Celtic. Brighton re-signed old player and cult hero Leonardo Ulloa from Leicester on Loan until the end of the season whilst West Ham sold Diafra Sakho to Rennes, when it was expected he could join Crystal Palace.
Aymeric Laporte became Manchester City’s record signing, joining the Citizens for £57m after initially rejecting their interest in October. He has provided defensive reinforcements paving the way for Eliqiam Mangala to join Everton on loan.
Arsenal’s search for a Sanchez replacement could have been found, in what has been named as ‘The Transfer Triangle‘ Pierre-Emerick Aubamayeng joined Arsenal for £60m, with his replacement at Dortmund being Michy Batshuayi from Chelsea on Loan and Oliver Giroud then taking the place of Batshuayi at Chelsea for a fee rumoured to be around £18m. This seems like good business all around.
More Premier League business from elsewhere in the world as Tottenham splashed the cash paying £25m to bring in Lucas Moura from Paris St. Germain and Senegalese Midfielder Badou Ndiaye completed a £14m move from Galatasaray to Stoke, whilst internally Andre Ayew rejoined Swansea from West Ham for an initial £18m, linking up with his brother Jordan and Andy King also joined the Swans on loan from Leicester.
Newcastle finally signed a striker, after missing out on Sturridge and Tosun, by bringing in Algerian striker Islam Slimani from Leicester on loan, there was also another loan deal on Tyneside as goalkeeper Martin Dubravka joined from Sparta Prague.
West Ham signed young Jordan Hugill from Preston for an undisclosed fee as a replacement for Ayew.
Teams generally don’t like this window, but you couldn’t tell, judging by the business which has been done. The window was bookended by the most expensive deals with most clubs strengthening. What effect, if any, will it have on the remainder of the season? Let’s wait and see, Will United get closer to City with Sanchez? Will Sturridge and Slimani fire West Brom and Newcastle to safety? We look forward to finding out.
If you’re not all transfer rumoured out then check out our Transfer Deadline Day Spoof!