Like sleepy days in winter, the January transfer market is usually a sombre affair. The best deals are usually saved for deadline day, when clubs suddenly wake up and realise they've spent the whole month sleeping.
But, blame it on global warming if you want to, the 2018 January window has been anything but cold, sleepy days, particularly in England. British clubs have spent January scampering around the market and throwing money like there is no tomorrow.
The mid-year transfer window has always helped European teams beef up their worn-out squads ahead of the business end of the year. But, after the likes of PSG and Barcelona mind-numbingly inflated the player market in the summer of 2017, this January window continued the trend and it seems to have bridged the gap between the two annual windows, in terms of money spent.
Thankfully though, there weren't any cringe-worthy social media announcements like in the 2017 summer.
Here we give you the ten talking points of the winter market:
1. The big swap
Alexis Sanchez finally departed from Arsenal, after almost a year of whining. Manchester City were close to signing him on deadline day of the summer window, but talks broke down and he stayed. City once again pursued the Chilean, but gave up after refusing to meet his salary demands.
Manchester United then joined the race for Sanchez, and after agreeing to make him the highest-paid player in the league (£350,000), Jose Mourinho got his man. Interestingly, the deal involved no cash and Arsenal got attacker Henrikh Mkhitaryan in return. Both players fit the requirements of the respective clubs, although United get the better deal, considering Sanchez's attacking prowess.
2. Bermuda Triangle
To make up for the loss of Sanchez and the lack of teeth in the striker department, Arsenal went on to poach Borussia Dortmund for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. But the German club would not relent until they found a replacement for their long-serving talisman. This led to a domino effect and a set of bizarre movements.
Arsenal secured the Gabon striker for a club-record of £55 million, but only after Dortmund got Chelsea to allow Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi to leave on an 18-month loan, which in turn led Chelsea to lure Olivier Giroud away from Arsenal for £17m. All this on deadline day! In the end, all the parties involved are happy, but considering all three teams are underperforming in their respective leagues, this might just go down as the most useless transfer triangle ever.
3. 'Dream' moves
English clubs hogged all the headlines, but the biggest was reserved for Barcelona. If it wasn't enough that they signed Ousmane Dembele in the summer for a deal that is said to go up to around 160 million euros, the Catalans snared Phillipe Coutinho from Liverpool for a stunning £142 million.
Coutinho had long expressed his desire to play for Barcelona, and though Liverpool managed to hold on to him, it wasn't enough to keep him from leaving for greener pastures. Liverpool might not be affected much, considering the trio of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohammed Salah are in incredible form, while for Barcelona, Coutinho is Andres Iniesta's long-term replacement.
The other dream move was Diego Costa's official signing for Atletico Madrid. Though the Chelsea rebel had signed for the Spaniards several months ago, he wasn't allowed to feature on their books until the transfer market reopened. It was a match made in heaven as he returned to his former club, and even got off to a flying start on his return debut—a goal and a red card. Typical Costa!
4. Costly CBs
If the attackers got the juiciest deals, Liverpool and Manchester City ensured the defenders weren't too far behind. Liverpool kicked off proceedings by buying Virgil van Dijk from Southampton for a whopping £75 million, just days before the window opened. Jurgen Klopp hopes the Dutchman will help plug his leaky defence line, which has cost his side many a game.
More than a month after Liverpool set the record for the most expensive defender, Manchester City made a massive bid for another centre back. Aymeric Laporte was bought from Athletic Bilbao for £57 million, making the 23-year-old the Mancunian club's record signing. The ball-playing CB slots perfectly in Pep Guardiola's plans.
Having earlier bought defenders like Eliaquim Mangala, John Stones and Kyle Walker for nothing less than £40 million, City seem to be the only club that prioritises defence as much as attack. Any surprise that Guardiola's unstoppable machine is clear at the top of the table by 15 points?
5. The let downs
After 12 years of failing to live up to the lofty standards set for him, Arsenal's pacy winger Theo Walcott finally left the Gunners for Everton. The team from Liverpool had splashed the cash in summer with several high-profile signings, but things have gone downhill ever since.
Everton's poor form ended with manager Ronald Koeman leaving and the arrival of Sam Allardyce. Big Sam stemmed the rot but needed more pace in attack. Walcott, who had long wanted to be Arsenal's spearhead in attack, was relegated to the bench for most of the last few years. His Everton career, though, got off to a cracker when he scored a brace in the club's clash against Leicester City.
Meanwhile, another English forward, Daniel Sturridge, also took a step down, moving from Liverpool to West Bromwich Albion on loan. With a plethora of attackers in Liverpool, the 28-year-old Englishman has been sidelined for long, despite a stellar couple of years until last season. Proving his worth will now be an uphill task, with his best years behind him.
6. Real misery
Being the defending champions of Spain and Europe comes with its share of expectations, and Real Madrid have managed to fall short of each of them. Struggling to keep up in the domestic circuit—crashed out of the Copa del Rey and fourth in the league, 19 points behind Barcelona—and up against Paris St Germain in the CL round of 16, the remainder of the season will be very crucial for the club.
It is, thus, surprising that the Madrid team did nothing to secure reinforcements in the transfer window. After a brief chase for Chelsea's Eden Hazard, Zinedine Zidane affirmed that he was happy with his squad and there would be no new signings. With the kind of financial muscle at their disposal, the summer of 2018 will be Zidane's turn to bring in some Galacticos.
7. Barcelona's changes
In addition to the big catch of Coutinho, Barcelona have had a pretty busy January. The young Gerard Deulofeu, who was often deployed in the position vacated by an injured Dembele this season, left on loan to Watford. Arda Turan also left on loan to Istanbul Basaksehir, after what has been a disappointing spell at the club.
Meanwhile, Colombian centre back Yerry Mina was brought in from Palmeiras. Powerful and comfortable on the ball, Mina was a steal for Barcelona (11 million euros). The youngster's arrival meant that it was the end of the road for Javier Mascherano. The veteran defender/defensive midfielder left for China after a highly rewarding seven years in Spain, and was given a fitting farewell by the club and his teammates.
8. The almosts
While a disgruntled David Luiz was close to leaving Chelsea, having fallen down Antonio Conte's pecking order, Manchester United's attempt to offload Daley Blind to AS Roma fell flat. After Chelsea bought left back Emerson Palmeiri from Roma, the Italians were in search of a replacement. Blind fit the bill, but was unaffordable.
The biggest miss, though, was Manchester City's pursuit of Riyad Mahrez on deadline day. Liverpool had earlier shown interest in signing the former player of the season from Leicester City, but on the final day, City offered big money for the Algerian winger. The deal was so close to happening that Mahrez even submitted a transfer request to the Leicester management. It wasn't to be, after Leicester rejected three bids, leaving him red-faced.
9. Contract extensions
Amid all the big-money transfers, were several big-money contract extensions, aimed to ward off preying buyers. Gerard Pique extended his contract to 2022 and a buyout clause of $600 million was appended to it.
Manchester City wonder boy Kevin De Bruyne signed a new five-year contract until June 2023 and will get a reported £280,000 a week, making him rather deservedly one the highest paid players in the league.
Mesut Ozil, whose future at Arsenal was subject to much speculation, finally put pen to paper to make him the second-highest paid player in England (after Sanchez). He will earn £300,000 a week and his new contract runs till 2021.
10. Winner of the month
Convincing Ozil to commit long term, landing a fiery Aubameyang and getting a tactically sound Henrikh Mkhitaryan makes Arsenal the winner of the January market, despite losing their best player to a direct rival.
Arsene Wenger's decision to loosen the club's purse strings is probably an attempt to salvage his dwindling career, and it will now be up to him to make the best of these deals and drag Arsenal back to the Champions League. No excuses anymore.
