After a hectic January window for clubs across the Premier League, football correspondent Ollie Audis takes a look at some of the biggest deals of the window.
After a hectic January window for clubs across the Premier League, football correspondent Ollie Audis takes a look at some of the biggest deals of the window.
The two North London clubs had a busy end to the window with Tottenham adding Juventus duo Rodrigo Bentancur, 24, and Dejan Kuluveski, 21, to their side. The latter currently has two goals and five assists in his twenty-nine games for Juventus this season which he looks to improve upon in his 18 month loan deal which includes an option to buy.
The red side of North London saw their ex-club captain Pierre Emerick Aubameyang leave on a free transfer to Barcelona. One that instilled a sense of relief into most Arsenal fans after his last season and a half at the club in which he rarely featured due to a falling out with the Arsenal boss, whilst remaining the club’s highest earner.
After a long spell out following the tragic scenes in the European Championships last summer, Christian Eriksen returns to football and the Premier League. He joins fellow London side Brentford. A team with many Scandinavian players, and manager, which is likely to have been a reason for their pulling power with the twenty-nine-year-old Danish midfielder.
Fellow mid-table side Aston Villa arguably produced some of the best transfers out of the twenty clubs. They bolstered their midfield with Brazilian international and ex-Gerrard teammate Philipe Coutinho, 29, who comes in on loan from Barcelona with an option to buy in the region of thirty million pounds. After his falling out with the then Everton manager Rafa Benetiz, the prestigious left-back Lucas Digne,28, went to Villa Park for a fee of around twenty-five million pounds.
Further up the table saw a very quiet transfer window for Manchester United and Chelsea. However, the table toppers Manchester City bought in attacker Julian Alvarez,22, from South American side River Plater for £16 million, having sold young Spanish prospect Ferran Torres, 22, to Barcelona for a fee of £55 million. Their title challengers, Liverpool, added to their options upfront with the signing of Columbian speedster Luiz Diaz, 25, from FC Porto for £49 million. On the contrary, the club looked to give valuable minutes to players as they loaned out Neco Williams, 20, to Fulham and Nathaniel Phillips, 24, to fellow promotion chasers Bournemouth.
At the opposite end of the table, Newcastle fans witnessed their first transfer window under their new owners. Full-backs Kieran Trippier, 30, and Matt Targett, 26, were bought in. The former arriving from La Liga champions Atletico Madrid for a fee of £15 million and the latter loaned in from Aston Villa. The Magpies also swept up striker Chris Wood from fellow strugglers Burnley as well as the versatile defender in Dan Burn from Brighton. Both combining a fee of under £40 million. 24-year-old Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimares was another addition for Newcastle before the window closed. He signed for around forty million from French Ligue 1 side Lyon.
With Newcastle sneakily pinching Burnley’s top scorer, the clarets bought in Dutch international Wout Weghorst, 29, from Wolfsburg who played in Germany’s top tier. The twenty-nine-year-old currently has 8 goals in 29 games this season for the German outfit.
It comes with no surprise that the club’s fighting relegation made the most signings. Watford signed a total of four players in order to keep their hopes of staying in the top division. Two of which featuring in defence: Hassane Kamara, 27, and Samir, 27 and two further up the pitch with midfielder Edo Kayembe,23, and striker Samuel Kalu, 24.
In contrast Norwich City made no new additions to their side. Instead, they chose to loan out English 23-year-old Todd Cantwell to Bournemouth. Clearly Dean Smith and the Norwich City board are filled with optimism in their squad that currently sit seventeenth.