This year’s January transfer window has been the most expensive in the Premier League since 2018.
After a summer transfer window, that saw over £1 billion spent on Premier League arrivals, it was not to be expected that this year’s winter arrivals would be this costly.
A total of over £300 million was spent by the Premier League clubs across the January window, with Newcastle leading the way.
It comes as no surprise, however, to see Newcastle displaying the deepest pockets this winter. When Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund bought an 80% stake in Newcastle Football Club last October, it made Newcastle one of the wealthiest clubs in the world. Therefore, with the winter’s window being their first opportunity under such backing, they made sure to take full advantage.
Spending over £93 million on the signing of new squad players, Everton, Liverpool and Aston Villa were the next clubs to follow suit. Everton’s outlay of £40 million on the addition of Dele Alli, along with the signing of Nathan Patterson for £13 million and Vitaliy Mykolenko for £22 million made them the second-most spendthrift club.
Liverpool’s sole signing of Colombian winger, Luis Díaz from Porto was January’s most expensive signing, closely followed by that of Newcastle’s £40 million purchase of Olympic Lyon’s defensive midfielder, Bruno Guimarães.
Only 11 of the Premier League clubs decided to open their cheque books, with 9 clubs opting to make no new additions to their squads. Leeds and Leicester were the only two clubs to not even welcome returning loans to their squad.
For those clubs that did decide to spend, only Burnley and Manchester City returned a positive net spend. With the departure of Burnley’s frontman, Chris Wood to Newcastle, and City’s Spanish winger, Ferran Torres to Barcelona, both clubs concluded their transfer windows with a net income of around £15m and £40m respectively.
Biggest Arrivals
Despite no headlines being made involving record transfer signings, there has still been a wealth of notable introductions, or re-introduction, to the Premier League that we can all get excited about.
- Auston Trusty: £1.6 million
Colorado to Arsenal
- Phillipe Coutinho: Loan
Barcelona to Aston Villa
- Christian Eriksen: Free
N/A to Brentford
- Kacper Kozłowski: £9.9 million
Pogon Szczecin to Brighton
- Deniz Undav: £6.3 million
Union SG to Brighton
- Wout Weghorst: £12.6 million
Vfl Wolfsburg to Burnley
- Jean-Philippe Mateta: £9.9 million
Mainz 05 to Crystal Palace
- Vitaliy Mykolenko: £21.1 million
Dynamo Kiev to Everton
- Nathan Patterson: £12.6 million
Rangers to Everton
- Luis Díaz: £45 million
Porto to Liverpool
- Julián Álvarez: £14 million
River Plate to Manchester City
- Bruno Guimarães: £40 million
Olympique Lyon to Newcastle
- Kieran Trippier: £13.5 million
Atlético Madrid to Newcastle
- Rodrigo Bentacur: £17 million
Juventus to Tottenham
- Dejan Kulusevski: £9 million Loan
Juventus to Tottenham
- Hassane Kamara: £3.6 million
Nice to Watford
- Samir: £4.5 million
Udinese to Watford
- Chiquinho: £3.15 million
Estoril Praia to Wolves
Biggest Departures
Although the headlines on transfer day are typically captivated by the Premier League’s newest arrivals, there have still been multiple departures, some to big-named players, who we may never see play in the Premier League again.
- Ainsley Maitland-Niles: £450,000 Loan
Arsenal to Roma
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: Free
Arsenal to Barcelona
- Wesley: Loan
Aston Villa to Internacional
- Jürgen Locadia: Free
Brighton to Vfl Bochum
- Filip Benković: Free
Leicester City to Udinese
- Nathanial Phillips: Loan
Liverpool to Bournemouth
- Neco Williams: Loan
Liverpool to Fulham
- Ferran Torres: £49.5 million
Manchester City to Barcelona
- Anthony Martial: Loan
Manchester United to Sevilla
- Axel Tuanzebe: £540,000 Loan
Manchester United to Napoli
- Todd Cantwell: Loan
Norwich to Bournemouth
- Bryan Gil: Loan
Tottenham to Valencia
- Giovanni Lo Celso: Loan
Tottenham to Villareal
- Tanguy Ndombélé: £1.3 million Loan
Tottenham to Olympique Lyon
- Adama Traoré: Loan
Wolverhampton to Barcelona
Biggest Changes
We have welcomed this winter’s Premier Leagues additions and said our farewells to those leaving. Yet, there have still been some big changes between the Premier League teams that will we have to become accustomed to seeing play in a different kit.
- Calum Chambers: Free
Arsenal to Aston Villa
- Lucas Digne: £27 million
Everton to Aston Villa
- Dele Alli: £40 million
Tottenham to Everton
- Anwar El Ghazi: Loan
Aston Villa to Everton
- Donny van de Beek: Loan
Manchester United to Everton
- Chris Wood: £27 million
Aston Villa to Newcastle
- Dan Burn: £13.5 million
Brighton to Newcastle
- Matt Targett: Loan
Aston Villa to Newcastle
With the completion of yet another transfer window, we can only hope that such costly pay-outs produce the end to the season that all Premier League fans expect.