The winter transfer window shut down on the 2nd of February, 2026, and in all fairness, it was sort of an underwhelming transfer deadline day. Despite all the rumours, the transfer deadline day was far from entertaining.
To be fair, a lot of big clubs don’t actively deal in the winter transfer window unless the need for urgency arises, as was the case with Manchester City signing Marc Guehi and Antonie Semenyo, largely due to the injury crisis, to bolster their squad for the rest of the season.
Other top clubs like Bayern, Dortmund, Real Madrid and Inter Milan didn’t deal players. While in the Premier League, both Liverpool and Chelsea made no major signings, despite needing defensive reinforcements due to injury crises that affected squad depth and left both teams with obvious quality gaps.
However, the deadline day was still the busiest day of the winter transfer window, and here are a few deals that took place and deals that collapsed:
Benzema joins rivals Al Hilal
One of the most unexpected deals was the transfer of Karim Benzema from Al Ittihad to Al Hilal.
According to ESPN, Karim Benzema felt disrespected by Al Ittihad’s contract offer, as he was in the final years of his contract with the league champions. This prompted Karim to withdraw from the squad, and he began training on his own.
Karim was absent in their 2:2 draw against Al Fateh before finalising a deadline-day transfer to Al Hilal to team up with elite players like Ruben Neves, Savic, Bono, Theo Hernandez, etc.
The SPL official website claimed that Karim Benzema terminated his contract with Al-Ittihad and signed with Al Hilal on a free transfer for around 1.5 years.
Kalvin Phillips to revive his career at Sheffield United?
Kalvin Phillips joined Championship side Sheffield United on a season-long loan deal from Manchester City on deadline day.
Kalvin Phillips (30) was signed from his boyhood club, Leeds United, in 2022 for £41.6M, making 32 appearances for the English giants and spending the last two seasons on loan at Ipswich and West Ham United.
Kalvin Phillips fell out of favour at Manchester City after showing up overweight after the World Cup in November 2022. Several injuries hampered his ability to play regularly, and he only played 610 minutes during the Manchester City treble season.
The last time Kalvin Phillips played in the Championship was for his boyhood club, Leeds United, and he was their best player during the 2019/2020 season, when they earned promotion to the Premier League.
Although it is highly unlikely that he will return to the player he was at Leeds United, it is still a good opportunity to revive his career.
Alex Jimenez permanently moves to Bournemouth
Alex Jimenez has joined Bournemouth on a permanent transfer deal for €19.5m, add-ons worth €5.3m and a contract until June 2031, as reported by Fabrizio Romano.
Alex Jimenez was previously on loan from AC Milan to Bournemouth until the end of the season and has been a key player for Bournemouth this campaign. Alex has played in 20 matches out of 24 and has had 16 starts in the Premier League campaign.
The wonderkid is a product of Real Madrid’s academy (La Fabrica) and was sold to AC Milan in 2024 for €5 million and a 50% future sell-on clause.
Ademola Lookman plays under El Cholo
Former African Player of the Year in 2024, Ademola Lookman, has secured a move to Atletico Madrid on deadline day for around £30.3M.
Lookman left Atalanta as one of their key players; however, the relationship between Lookman and Atalanta strained when he was thrown under the bus by the then manager, Gasparrini, for a missed penalty in the 3:1 home defeat against Club Brugge in the Champions League playoff stages in 2025.
It also got strained after a failed move to Inter Milan in the summer of 2025, where he apparently had a gentleman’s agreement to leave for a European giant for around £40M, but the transfer stalled when Inter Milan came in for him due to the fact that they are rivals, and Atalanta were not interested in selling.
Lookman famously won Atalanta their first European trophy, famously scoring a hat-trick in the Europa League final in a 3:0 win over Bayer Leverkusen, who hadn’t lost a game all season.
He brings versatility and more offensive depth to this Atletico Madrid squad that has underachieved so far this season, as they sit 10 points ahead of league leaders Barcelona and haven’t been inspiring in the Champions League as well, with the latest being a 2:1 home defeat at the hands of Bodo Glimt.
Tyrique George becomes a Toffee
Tyrique moves on loan from Chelsea to Everton, with the move potentially becoming a permanent deal in the summer.
Tyrique George is a homegrown player and a product of the Chelsea Academy. George made 11 appearances in all competitions this season, scoring 3 goals and assisting one in 504 minutes of football this season.
This loan deal was believed to materialise as a result of Jack Grealish’s injury, which could potentially rule him out for the remainder of the season.
George was also attracted to the club by David Moyes and, according to the BBC, had this to say about him: “The gaffer, David Moyes, was another reason [I wanted to join]. He’s an amazing manager who has coached so many players, like Wayne Rooney and players like that. I’ve had a brief conversation with him, and he’s an amazing person as well. “I just want to enjoy it, learn under him and improve.”
From this, he sees David Moyes as a crucial figure in his development and could also help him reach his full potential.
Can Disasi liberate West Ham?
According to Standard Sport, West Ham United have completed the loan signing of Axel Disasi from London rivals Chelsea. The loan deal is believed to be around £1.8m until the end of the season.
The Hammers have been keenly looking for a centre back during the window in order to strengthen their chances of Premier League survival.
The Hammers are currently six points behind Nottingham Forest and Leeds United, who sit in 18th place, and 5 points above Burnley.
Axel Disasi is known for his dominance in the air and brings Premier League experience to the Hammers.
Axel joins the likes of Taty Castellanos, Pablo Felipe, Keiber Lamadrid and Adama Traore in being poached by West Ham United in the winter transfer window.
The Kanté and En-Nesyri drama
This was one of the moves which brought drama on the January transfer deadline day. Initially, both teams had given the green light for the move to go ahead, which would see N’golo Kanté and Youssef En-Nesyri go in separate directions.
The Saudi Pro League giants, Al Ittihad, view En-Nesyri as a direct replacement for their talisman, Karim Benzema, who departed earlier to rivals, Al Hilal.
However, the Washington Post reported that it fell through due to administrative errors by the Saudi Pro League champions, Al Ittihad, leaving Fenerbahçe frustrated by the decision.
According to ESPN, this was confirmed in the club’s official statement, saying, “Due to incorrect entry of the relevant TMS (Transfer Matching System) information by the opposing club, the procedures could not be completed within the transfer registration period for reasons independent of our club.”
Both clubs made an appeal for an extension of the deal, and Bein Sports reported that the extension was granted, allowing Kanté to sign a deal with Fenerbahçe until June 2028.
ESPN reported that Al-Ittihad confirmed this by posting a goodbye message on X, verifying that an agreement has been reached “to sell the remaining period” of Kanté’s contract.
While En-Nesyri was able to move to Saudi Pro League giants Al-Nassr for £13M from Fenerbahçe, where he scored 38 goals and provided 8 assists in 79 games during his one-and-a-half-year stint in Turkey.
Mateta’s failed Medical at Milan
Mateta had a failed medical ahead of his AC Milan move on deadline day, which forced AC Milan to pull out of the deal.
AC Milan’s director of football, Igli Tare, when speaking to DAZN, had this to say: “The Mateta operation was about the future and not the present.
“We tried to anticipate it, and then we found this physical problem and decided not to go ahead with the negotiation.
It was as a result of his knee, which forced AC Milan to pull away from the transfer worth around €30m and would have helped them bolster their attack in their quest for the Serie A title, as they currently sit 2nd on the table, 5 points behind league leaders and City rivals, Inter Milan.
Sandro Tonali Rumours?
The biggest story to blow up was the rumour that Sandro Tonali was set to join Arsenal on deadline day.
The rumour started when the club statement confirmed Merino is injured, saying, “Mikel will have surgery in the coming days and will then begin his recovery and rehabilitation programme.
“Mikel is expected to be out of action for an extended period, with the aim of returning to full training before the end of the season.”
From this, we can see that Mikel Merino is out for a long time and could miss the season, which, in my opinion, led to Sky Germany coming out with such a farce.
However, several reports denied that such a transfer had taken place, including Sky Sports, which ruled out the possibility. Sky Sports News also insisted that his agent, Giuseppe Riso, had denied claims that he had offered Tonali out to several clubs.
When asked about the fiasco of Tonali becoming unsettled, Newcastle manager Eddie Howe had this to say: “There was certainly no intention from our side to lose Sandro at all. He’s such an integral player in what we’re doing. He’s very happy here.
“He is absolutely fine. I had discussions with him yesterday [Monday], and he is absolutely focused on playing for us.
He has been able to shut down those rumours of him being unsettled at Newcastle and is really happy at the club, so a transfer is very unlikely to happen in the near future.
Personally, the contract duration, as his contract expires in 2029, also makes it a difficult transfer to pull off, including the fact that Newcastle have Lewis Miley, Bruno Guimarães and Joelinton out due to injury, which also makes it an almost impossible transfer to pull off.
Other transfers that took place?
Simon Adingra joined AS Monaco from Sunderland on a loan deal with a £17M option to buy as part of the loan deal. Angel Gomes joins joins Wolves on a loan deal with an option to buy for £7M, will he help Wolves stay in the premier league?
Allan Saint-Maximin signed with Lens after leaving America. 18-year-old striker James Wilson left the Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts of Midlothian and signed with Tottenham on a loan deal with an option to buy. Chelsea recalled Mamadou Sarr to bolster their defensive depth after failing to get Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes.
Georges Ilenikhena joins Saudi Pro League champions, Al Ittihad, on a permanent deal worth £33M from Monaco. Atletico Madrid finalised a deal for Elche midfielder Rodrigo Mendoza for £16M amid interest from Premier League clubs. Nottingham Forest signed Borussia Monchengladbach left-back Luca Netz on a permanent deal for around £2.2M, and Sunderland signed Angulo from Anderlecht for £14.7M, who is a direct replacement for Simon Adingra.
Conclusion…
The deadline winter transfer window was a busy one as it’s meant to be, but in terms of the quality of transfers which were done, it was still decent, but some clubs were still able to get deals closed to address injury issues and bolster their squad.
However, we still got some decent deals like the Lookman to Atletico, we also got drama like the Benzema and Kante, and we also got transfer rumours like the Tonali saga to Arsenal, which kept a lot of fans anticipating.