Clearly wanting to avoid a repeat of the Mesut Ozil saga, Arsenal cut ties with their star striker after his falling out with Mikel Arteta, allowing him to join Barcelona and save close to £25m on wages in the process.
Following other outgoings of players such as Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Sead Kolasinac and Folarin Balogun, manager Mikel Arteta is now left with only 20 senior players to choose from.
Colorado Rapids defender Auston Trusty was the north London club’s only signing but the 23-year-old will remain on loan for the next season and a half.
Arsenal’s January deals
In: Auston Trusty (undisclosed from Colorado Rapids)
Out: Ainsley Maitland-Niles (loan to Roma), Folarin Balogun (loan to Middlesbrough), Pablo Mari (loan to Udinese), Sead Kolasinac (free to Marseille), Calum Chambers (free to Aston Villa), Auston Trusty (loan to Colorado Rapids), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (free to Barcelona)
With a long five months until the transfer window opens again, Arsenal’s recruitment department need to get busy as they look to build up their squad depth.
Below we take a look at the Arsenal’s current squad and assess the areas they most need to strengthen.
Goalkeeper
Players available: Aaron Ramsdale, Bernd Leno
Players needed: A new reserve goalkeeper to support Ramsdale
The arrival of Aaron Ramsdale last summer has pushed Bernd Leno closer to the exit door, which could explain the reported deal in principle for Matt Turner, 27, from the New England Revolution.
Leno almost immediately fell behind Ramsdale in the Arsenal pecking order, which came as a surprise to most observers who expected the twice relegated goalkeeper to only become a starter when the German left.
The 29-year-old fought hard to establish himself as No 1 ahead of Emiliano Martinez but now looks likely to leave this summer in search of regular first-team minutes.
Defence
Players available: Kieran Tierney, Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhaes, Ben White, Cedric Soares, Nuno Tavares, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Players needed: Return of Saliba should be enough for a position of relative strength
Pablo Mari was sent on loan to Italian club Udinese and Calum Chambers has joined Aston Villa on a permanent deal, which leaves Arteta with three centre-backs.
Mari is not the only central defender out on loan, as William Saliba is with fellow Arsenal player Matteo Guendouzi at Marseille.
The French defender has impressed on loan, with a notable performance against PSG in October, when he shut down Kylian Mbappe’s attempts on goal.
Saliba has impressed during his loan spells in Ligue 1 (Photo: Getty)
Saliba has voiced his disappointment at not having more of a chance at Arsenal but the exit of others may give him the opportunity to be reintroduced and challenge for a starting position next term.
The 20-year-old is a talent that Arsenal should utilise, and his integration into the first-team would allow for funds to be focused on other problem positions such as midfield and up front.
Midfield
Players available: Granit Xhaka, Thomas Partey, Emile Smith Rowe, Martin Odegaard, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Mohamed Elneny
Players needed: A new central midfielder if Xhaka leaves. Guendouzi’s return not a guaranteed success
Granit Xhaka was on the brink of leaving Arsenal for Roma in the summer but talks fell through after a fee could not be agreed. But Jose Mourinho has not given up on the Swiss international, meaning Arsenal are likely to need a replacement.
If Arteta’s relationship with Guendouzi is on the mend then the 22-year-old could serve as Thomas Partey’s midfield partner.
Similarly to Aubameyang, Guendouzi was dropped and later shipped out on loan because of disciplinary issues. But Marseille boss Jorge Sampaoli has praised the midfielder for his “natural” leadership qualities so perhaps he has matured since his last appearance in June 2020, when he had to be restrained by teammates following Brighton’s late winner.
Former target Bruno Guimaraes was snatched by Newcastle but Lille midfielder Renato Sanches could be available. The 24-year-old struggled to live up to the hype following his breakthrough success at Euro 2016 but has rebuilt his career in France and will only have one year left on his contract this summer. AC Milan are also known to be suitors.
Attack
Players available: Alexandre Lacazette, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka, Nicolas Pepe
Players needed: A new centre-forward to replace Aubameyang
Aubameyang’s deadline day move to Barcelona has left Arsenal with only Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah, who are both out of contract later this year.
Alexander Isak was linked to Arsenal in January but a rumoured release clause of around €90m (£75m) is on the 22-year-old’s contract which ends in 2024, which could prove a big stumbling block.
The Swedish forward was spotted in London during the international break to the excitement of Arsenal fans, but it turned out to be only a shopping spree rather than the finalising of a deal.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin has also been linked to Arsenal but Frank Lampard’s appointment at Everton could persuade the England striker to stay. The Merseyside club may not be willing to sell whilst attempting their restructure.
Analysis: Arsenal have taken a huge gamble
By Daniel Storey, i chief football writer
Well you can’t say that Arsenal haven’t trimmed the fat from their squad. Five vaguely first-team players left the Emirates before deadline day with no replacements, leaving supporters worried about a squad light on numbers. And then they allowed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to join Barcelona without signing anyone to fill that void.
In isolation, there were clear arguments for every exit and Mikel Arteta would reason that long-termism must win out. Arteta clearly decided that those who have left, even on loan, are not up to standard. The only mistake was not being ruthless on them earlier and thus managing to sell them on permanent deals for significant transfer fees.
The Aubameyang farce – on, off and on again on deadline day – resolved itself in the best possible way. Again failing to get a fee for their former captain and top goalscorer should be considered to be a backwards step, but that damage was done in awarding him such an overinflated salary. Saving £25m in wages and ridding the squad of a senior player in whom Arteta had clearly lost all faith is a satisfactory conclusion of a deeply unsatisfactory decline.
But with only 20 players in the first-team squad and Arsenal just two points off the top four with a game in hand, this January will be perceived as a missed opportunity to kick on. The mood will depend upon three things: 1) the ability of Saka, Smith-Rowe and Odegaard to provide a goalscoring threat as well as their creative one; 2) Arsenal’s immediate results after the close of the window given that they are low on strikers and haven’t scored in four matches; 3) the avoidance of injuries in positions where they are now lighter on numbers than they were a month ago.
The Gabonese striker, 32, was unveiled at the Camp Nou on Wednesday after being paid a reported £7m to terminate his £350,000 a week contract by “mutual consent” after being dropped from the squad due to disciplinary reasons.
In a message to Arsenal’s fans, Aubameyang posted on Instagram: “Thank you for making London home for myself and my family for the past four years. We went through ups and downs together and your support meant everything to me.
“I have always been 100 per cent focused and committed on doing everything I can for this club which is why leaving without a real goodbye hurts – but that is football.”
During his time at Arsenal, Aubameyang scored 92 goals in 165 appearances and won the Premier Golden Boot in his first full season (2018-19).
Arsenal said: “We wish Auba all the best for the next chapter in his career and thank him for his contribution to the club.”
Aubameyang has a reported €100m (£83m) buyout clause in a contract that runs until 2025, and signs for Barcelona despite previously admitting that he promised his grandfather he would play for their bitter rivals Real Madrid as it was his “childhood dream”.
Despite being in severe debt Barcelona also brought in Ferran Torres (£45m), Adama Traore in January as they bid to improve on their current position of fifth in La Liga.
Rio Ferdinand: “I wish him good luck, because I think for both parties Aubameyang needed to leave. For his sake, for his footballing sake, but also for Arsenal’s sake. You don’t want it as a club, a player hanging around who’s not really wanted by the manager.”
Emmanuel Petit: “I don’t want to show disrespect for Aubameyang because I believe he is a great player but for the last few months he hasn’t been. I believe Arteta made the right decision on Aubameyang and he made his mark in the dressing room with the choice he made.”
Emmanuel Adebayor: “I know he’s going through a lot because that’s Arsenal for you. They never learn, they never learn to forgive.”
Paul Merson: “If Aubameyang plays to his best ability he gets into the Arsenal team every day of the week so for me it’s a shame, it shouldn’t happen but it’s not the first time.”
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That the reaction between the leaked intentions to launch continent-wide Super Leagues in Europe and Africa were diametrically opposite came as no surprise.
The former was participant-led, a voracious money-grab by elite clubs. The latter was organisation-led: last November, CAF president Patrice Motsepe said his governing body was committed to the formation of a new future for African domestic football.
Yet in Africa, Infantino appears to have abandoned his principles of long-termism, sporting integrity and competitive balance. Which is predictable given that this is his brainchild. In 2019, he announced his intention for a pan-African league: “We have to take the 20 best African clubs and put them in an Africa league. Such a league could make at least $200m [£149m] in revenue, which would put it among the top 10 in the world.”
Where Infantino leads on African football, CAF tends to follow. In 2019, Fifa was called in to assist with the administration and organisation of African football’s governing body. That work has now officially ended, but there is some suspicion that it has left an extensive residual influence. “I am happy that Fifa could contribute, even if only a little, to this decisive moment for football on this great continent,” said Infantino after the election of Motsepe as CAF president. Rough translation: He’s my guy. Or “indirect recolonisation”, as one South African newspaper called it.
The details of the potential Super League are vague, but we can expect a 20-team league including such sides as Al Ahly and Zamalek from Egypt, Wydad and Raja from Morocco, Mamelodi Sundowns from South Africa, TP Mazembe from DR Congo.
“In a way, the CAF Champions League is broken,” says Algerian journalist Maher Mezahi. “Most people I have spoken to – players, coaches, fans – aren’t against a revamp of the competitions. But they have no idea what the Super League is going to be. There is a complete lack of detail.”
Chiefly, this is a money grab. Infantino spoke of $200m annual revenue, while Motsepe ran with that number into the far distance, suggesting a potential $3bn generated over a five-year cycle. But that seems fanciful. CAF terminated a 12-year, $1bn rights deal with Lagardere Sports after rulings over breaches of competition law.
One way in which that money could be generated is by charging clubs to participate – $20m a year has been mentioned. But again, that is pie-in-the-sky thinking. “Al Ahly are one of Africa’s biggest clubs,” Mezahi says. “The prize money for winning the Champions League is around $2.5m and that is around the same as the annual salaries for two of their better players. If they cannot afford it, nobody else can either.”
Is there suddenly going to be more interest in this new competition? How many Nigerians are going to watch a new CAF Super League if no clubs from their country are involved and they already have European football on tap? At most, this Super League is likely to represent 12 of CAF’s 56 nations each year, considering the probable number of multiple entrants from single nations.
How can you purport to represent a continent if some nations have no feasible chance to participate?
And, as with the European Super League’s great flaw, how quickly does watching the same teams play each other get boring? At least in Europe you had the unique selling point of the best players in the world.
The thoughts of supporters have clearly not been canvassed. The greatest element of African club football – at least as a spectacle – is not the CAF Champions League final but the derbies between great rivals and the fan culture they provoke. Either these teams will be separated – Kaizer Chiefs with no Orlando Pirates, Simba but no Young Africans, Esperance but no Club Africain – or you remove the context of what makes them so special: titanic tussles for domestic supremacy.
The devastation of fan culture would be predictable. Travelling across the continent would be arduous for clubs, let alone supporters. There are almost 9,000km between Cairo and Johannesburg, with a flight time of eight hours each way. Away support will be impossible.
But most damaging is the probable impact on the continent’s domestic leagues. With financial futures already uncertain, smaller clubs depend on the presence of bigger clubs for match-day revenue. Their survival would depend on CAF sharing the revenue of its new competition with teams in domestic leagues, enabling them to bridge the gap. But with player wages low and the talent drain to Europe relentless, that is highly optimistic.
There are systemic issues within African domestic football, including organisational structure, a decline in advertising revenue, corruption, football infrastructure (pitches, equipment, fan safety), subservience to European football, the domination of the Premier League over fan culture in certain countries, transport issues. Nobody is claiming that the system does not need reformation or revamp.
But a closed-shop Super League is surely not the answer.
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Manchester United entered the January transfer window in precisely the same position as any other: doubts over the long-term future of the manager, an inability to fit current players into a coherent system, several expensive pieces of deadwood needing to leave and a flashing neon sign marked “holding midfielder” that described the pressing need.
In their defence, players have been cut from the squad, albeit only on temporary deals that simply kick the can slightly further down the road.
Anthony Martial began his Manchester United career with plenty of promise but waned badly, while Donny van de Beek’s barely began at all. But they are at least out of sight and out of mind.
The treatment of those two players was a sort of such intense discussion between supporters that a decision of any sort is a step in the right direction.
But then United have not really stepped forward anyway. Buying the superstar holding midfielder they needed was probably never likely in January – if Declan Rice or Kalvin Phillips are the two top choices than that would have to wait until a summer window – but there were cut-price options available who would have vastly improved their midfield. Denis Zakaria cost Juventus £5m. Bissouma would have been available had they bid £45m.
Man Utd’s January transfers
In: n/a
Out: Teden Mengi (loan to Birmingham), Ethan Laird (loan to Bournemouth), Axel Tuanzebe (loan to Napoli), Anthony Martial (loan to Sevilla), Amad Diallo (loan to Rangers), Reece Devine (loan to Walsall), Donny van de Beek (on loan to Everton), Matej Kovar (loan to Burton)
Transfer window rating: 4
Some deadwood still remains. Phil Jones reportedly turned down a loan move to Bordeaux and Jesse Lingard must be furious about United’s demands to allow his loan exit.
If nothing else, let the experience of those two – and other – players be a warning to United that they must not sanction new contracts for fringe members of their first-team squad.
And so United will plod on, no problems solved but at least none badly exacerbated. They still need a central midfielder or two, they still need a definite identity, they still have highly talented but underperforming players and they still have at least four players whose futures must be decided definitively in the summer. Plus ca change.
Wout Weghorst arrives in the Premier League via the road less travelled.
At 6ft 6ins tall and with strong opinions on everything from Covid vaccines to the “selfish, every-man-for-himself” world of football, Weghorst feels like the most intriguing of all the Premier League’s deadline day deals.
Granted, Newcastle’s Saudi-powered trolley dash and Everton’s capture of two international calibre playmakers might have swiped the headlines but Weghorst arrives with the potential to transform Burnley’s season.
“There have been a lot of teams looking at him over the years but he gets judged because of his size I think. It’s exceptional business from Burnley,” one recruitment source said.
It was ever thus for Weghorst, who was passed up by all of the big clubs in Holland and started out with amateur Dutch side NEO as a 17-year-old calling out teammates who made mistakes after – in his words – “getting really bothered when I heard those guys had been out on a Friday night and how drunk they’d been”.
It wasn’t until 2014 that he was discovered by Heracles Almelo thanks to the input of data scientists at Dutch company Sci Sports. They were handed the unenviable task of finding a target man on a meagre budget and found Weghorst, whose statistics were an “outlier”.
“He looked a little bit clumsy but scored a lot of goals,” said Sci Sports founder Giels Brouwer. They rated his anticipation in the box and ability to score “important goals” despite mostly coming off the bench.
“If you want something enough, you can go far,” Weghorst said in an interview in 2014. “Sometimes my fanaticism gets me into trouble. Sometimes when I see myself on TV I think ‘What are you doing?’
That experience of “fighting” for his career means he will fit right in at Turf Moor, where they need to rediscover their edge and ability to prove the doubters wrong.
For Burnley, it was a deal that they desperately needed. With mounting questions about their ability to stage another great escape and rising concern about the ambition of Alan Pace’s ALK Capital group, a statement signing was required to plug the gap left by top scorer Chris Wood.
Weghorst, with 59 goals in 118 games for an ordinary Wolfsburg side over the last four seasons, looks just like that and more.
Since the start of the 2018-19 season, only Robert Lewandowski has scored more Bundesliga goals than Burnley’s new No 9.
“It seems like a pretty big upgrade on Chris Wood to me,” Bundesliga journalist Matt Pearson said.
“He has the size and is very good in the air but he’s an all-round footballer as well. He can drop off and play in between the lines and he’s an excellent finisher.
“People see his height and presume he’s someone who flicks it on, wins the ball in the air and who you throw balls into the box for, but he’s better than that.
“He presses the ball really well – which is what everyone in the Bundesliga needs to do – and it feels like an excellent fit.”
Fans can expect a big personality in Weghorst, who recently had to apologise for posting anti-vaccine messages on his Instagram account. He has qualifications in sports management and business and reckons he might one day follow his brother in studying architecture.
At Burnley, they’ll build their survival hopes around the 29-year-old. There is a lot riding on Weghorst, which makes him one to watch among the Premier League’s crop of new arrivals.
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Welcome to a special edition ofThe Score, Daniel Storey’s weekly verdict on all 20 Premier League teams’ performances. This week he takes a look at their dealings in the January transfer window. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every Monday morning
Arsenal
Well you can’t say that Arsenal haven’t trimmed the fat from their squad. Five vaguely first-team players left the Emirates before deadline day with no replacements, leaving supporters worried about a squad light on numbers. And then they allowed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to join Barcelona without signing anyone to fill that void.
In isolation, there were clear arguments for every exit and Mikel Arteta would reason that long-termism must win out. Arteta clearly decided that those who have left, even on loan, are not up to standard. The only mistake was not being ruthless on them earlier and thus managing to sell them on permanent deals for significant transfer fees.
The Aubameyang farce – on, off and on again on deadline day – resolved itself in the best possible way. Again failing to get a fee for their former captain and top goalscorer should be considered to be a backwards step, but that damage was done in awarding him such an overinflated salary. Saving £25m in wages and ridding the squad of a senior player in whom Arteta had clearly lost all faith is a satisfactory conclusion of a deeply unsatisfactory decline.
But with only 20 players in the first-team squad and Arsenal just two points off the top four with a game in hand, this January will be perceived as a missed opportunity to kick on. The mood will depend upon three things: 1) the ability of Saka, Smith-Rowe and Odegaard to provide a goalscoring threat as well as their creative one; 2) Arsenal’s immediate results after the close of the window given that they are low on strikers and haven’t scored in four matches; 3) the avoidance of injuries in positions where they are now lighter on numbers than they were a month ago.
Transfer window rating: 5 (out of 10)
Aston Villa
It says plenty about Aston Villa’s new-found ambitions that plenty of supporters were left concerned by Matt Targett’s loan to Newcastle United because now there is only Ashley Young to be backup for Lucas Digne. That’s when you know things are going well.
As with every team here, we are dealing only in hypotheticals. We can make no firm conclusions about how transfers will work out. But in the signings of Philippe Coutinho and Digne, Aston Villa’s owners offered evidence that they believe their club merits status as the biggest challenger to the Big Six. Steven Gerrard’s midfield options alone rank amongst the best in the division and then he added Robin Olsen and Calum Chambers as defensive cover.
Villa have also avoided stockpiling players. The departure of Wesley, Targett, Keinan Davis and Anwar El Ghazi may only be temporary, but Gerrard has clearly made up his mind on each of them and it would be a surprise to see any in Villa’s first-team squad next season. Like his seniors, Gerrard is ambitious and has demanded upgrades. The only fly in the ointment is the lack of new central defender given the wavering form of Tyrone Mings, but Chambers could play there if required.
Transfer window rating: 9
Brentford
Jonas Lossl may have arrived as an emergency signing following the injury to David Raya and the tribulations of Alvaro Fernandez, but the headline news waited until the final morning of the window. There are reasons for Christian Eriksen to have chosen Brentford – familiar city, manager he knows from his youth, international teammates – but it is still an extraordinary coup for a promoted team. It is also wonderful to see Eriksen back in the game.
Eriksen’s stay may well be short. If he performs well and stays healthy then he will have higher-profile suitors and if he fails to perform well Brentford will wish him well and say goodbye after the six-month contract expires. But Thomas Frank’s team have lacked creativity in central areas and, at his best, Eriksen was one of the best in Europe at picking passes and finding space. It will be fascinating to see how this works out.
Transfer window rating: 7
Brighton
How very Brighton, as another transfer window passes by without them adding a new striker to their squad. Graham Potter did sign two first-team players, but one of those has been loaned to sister club Royale Union St-Gilloise and the other was signed from there but allowed to stay until the summer. Which doesn’t help Brighton much now.
Potter will be happy to have cleared out some deadwood – Aaron Connolly and Jurgen Locadia in particular – and delighted that Yves Bissouma is still a Brighton player. He may also reason that the best time to do business is in the summer when long-term plans can be drawn up.
But with Dan Burn leaving for Newcastle on deadline day, there’s little doubt that Potter is dealing with a weaker squad than he had on 1 January. Time for him to take another large jug of water and turn it into wine.
Transfer window rating: 4
Burnley
Who knows if Burnley have improved their squad. They have sold a striker in Chris Wood who was dependable, even if his goalscoring rate had dropped off over the course of this season. They have bought a striker in Wout Weghorst who fits the Dyche model of physically imposing, back-to-goal centre forward who scored almost 70 Bundesliga goals in three-and-a-half seasons at Wolfsburg but whose potential to continue that in the Premier League is entirely unknown.
On balance, a £13m transfer fee profit probably swings those two deals in Burnley’s favour. But that Weghorst was the only arrival is a clear negative given Burnley’s perilous league position. Mislav Orsic looked as if he was the answer to reducing the creative onus on Dwight McNeil and Maxwel Cornet, but that deal collapsed when Orsic chose to stay in Zagreb. Unless Weghorst fires immediately, Dyche is effectively working with the same squad that has taken 12 points from 18 league games.
Transfer window rating: 5
Chelsea
Very little to say because there’s very little to discuss. In 2017-18, Chelsea bought Emerson Palmieri, Olivier Giroud and Ross Barkley in the January transfer window.
Since then, Christian Pulisic (2019) is their only permanent midseason signing and their only transfer business this year was to let Lewis Baker leave Stamford Bridge for Stoke City. Exciting stuff.
Transfer window rating: 6
Crystal Palace
A good window became a tepid one with the news that Donny van de Beek preferred a move to Goodison over Selhurst Park and that Eddie Nketiah would not be arriving from Arsenal. It left Jean-Philippe Mateta – who was already on loan at Palace – and Luke Plange – who will back out on loan – as their only first-team arrivals.
But that need not cause great panic. If we assume that Patrick Vieira’s side are not in serious relegation danger, they will enter the summer having lost Cheikhou Kouyate (who is likely to leave on a free transfer when his contract expires) and Conor Gallagher. It makes more sense to seek replacements for them at the point they leave.
Transfer window rating: 6
Everton
A rollercoaster month ends with supporters just about back onside, but it is impossible to conclude with any certainty whether Everton have generated enough goodwill to shift a mood that seemed likely to take them increasingly close to peril.
Firstly, let’s be frank (ignore that pun). A well-run, stable club does not appoint a new manager on the final day of a transfer window. It does not sack a manager four days after selling one of your best players because said manager has fallen out with him and three weeks after your owner has gone on live radio to publicly back him.
But having that series of rotten mistakes, Everton have at least attempted a salvage job. They were dissuaded from appointing Vitor Pereira and were surely sensible to do so. It is hard to tell whether Frank Lampard is a good fit or not, but he is at least the more popular choice. Given the mood at Goodison lately, that matters.
And their transfer business is, on the surface, exciting. Nathan Patterson is rated highly. Donny van de Beek and Dele Alli provide creativity from central midfield that Everton badly lacked under Rafa Benitez, even though it isn’t quite clear how you fit both into the same team. Vitaliy Mykolenko must suffer the fate of not being Lucas Digne, but Lampard is likely to give everyone a clean slate.
If we consider that Everton are firmly in a relegation battle, only Newcastle signed more players. Their season will only be saved if Lampard can hit the ground running, and there’s a chance that this could go sour very quickly, but Everton supporters will at least have woken on Tuesday morning infinitely more hopeful than they were a month ago.
Transfer window rating: 7
Leeds United
“Marcelo Bielsa has exacting standards of the type of player he likes to recruit, typically those who are able to meet his physical demands but also prepared to be moulded by a manager. That’s hard to find in January because it leaves little time for them to acclimatise to Bielsa’s system and because Bielsa has been so reluctant to use the transfer market in midseason.” So said my preview to the January transfer window… and so it proved.
There were links to Takumi Minamino that never materialised and a host of other names who merely passed on the gossip column wind, but Leeds ended the window as they started it. At least Raphinha hasn’t gone anywhere and Kalvin Phillips and Patrick Bamford will be back soon.
Transfer window rating: 5
Leicester City
An unsurprising, if therefore flat, transfer window for Leicester City. With the owner’s wealth related to the performance of the travel industry in the midst of a global pandemic, it always seemed unlikely that Brendan Rodgers would splurge. He signed five players last summer on the understanding that there would be little to spend in January.
That said, supporters were hopeful that an exception might be made for another central defender after the injury to Wesley Fofana and the continued struggles of Jonny Evans to stay fit and Caglar Soyuncu to avoid making mistakes. It barely seemed that Leicester made offers for players, let alone got close to signing any.
Transfer window rating: 4
Liverpool
Liverpool – and Jurgen Klopp – do not really like buying January. They believe that the market is inflated by desperation and that desperation is proof of poor planning. The best clubs make their moves in the summer.
But they are also perfectly prepared to be opportunistic. They signed Virgil van Dijk in January and he has become one of the best defenders in the club’s history. And when they learned of Tottenham’s pursuit of Luis Diaz, they took their chance to make a move.
There was talk of gazumping, and there is little doubt Spurs’ approach helped Liverpool. They had persuaded Porto to countenance a sale and persuaded Diaz – and his agent – that a move was palatable. They could also offer far more than Tottenham: a title challenge, a club with solid foundations, high-class teammates, Champions League football.
Diaz is not a replacement for anybody. Klopp now has five forwards for three places and can rotate as he sees fit in three competitions. He neither needs to rush Diaz into a spate of first-team starts while he acclimatises to life in England nor needs to rush Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah back when they return from Afcon. This is the best of both worlds.
And Salah is worthy of mention here, for the signing of Diaz will have given Liverpool greater leverage in those contract negotiations and allayed some fears of supporters who are concerned about a lack of ambition on FSG’s part. Now just to hope Diaz is as good as everybody thinks he is going to be.
Finally, there need be no panic about the failure to get Fabio Carvalho over the line. He was going back out to Fulham on loan anyway and their January pursuit will surely make the deal a formality in the summer. Some people just like having things to fret over.
Transfer window rating: 8
Manchester City
The signing of Julian Alvarez may well be a masterstroke, given that he was one of the best young players in South America last year, can play centrally or out wide and only cost £14m at the age of 22. He will presumably replace Ferran Torres, on whom City made more than £30m profit on an attacker who had only played four times in the Premier League this season.
With Alvarez staying at River Plate until the summer, you’d have to argue that City’s squad is weaker than at the start of the season. But then given the depth of the squad and their commanding lead in the Premier League – despite the Southampton draw – that likely doesn’t matter. Pep Guardiola will hope that Alvarez is his latest Argentinean prodigy.
Transfer window rating: 7
Manchester United
Manchester United entered this transfer window in precisely the same position as any other: doubts over the long-term future of the manager, an inability to fit current players into a coherent system, several expensive pieces of deadwood needing to leave and with a flashing neon sign marked “holding midfielder” that described the pressing need.
In their defence, players have been cut from the squad, albeit only on temporary deals that simply kick the can slightly further down the road. Anthony Martial began his Manchester United career with plenty of promise but waned badly, while Donny van de Beek’s barely began at all. But they are at least out of sight and out of mind. The treatment of those two players was a sort of such intense discussion between supporters that a decision of any sort is a step in the right direction.
But then United have not really stepped forward anyway. Buying the superstar holding midfielder they needed was probably never likely in January – if Declan Rice or Kalvin Phillips are the two top choices than that would have to wait until a summer window – but there were cut-price options available who would have vastly improved their midfield. Denis Zakaria cost Juventus £5m. Bissouma would have been available had they bid £45m.
Some deadwood still remains. Phil Jones reportedly turned down a loan move to Bordeaux and Jesse Linard must be furious about United’s demands to allow his loan exit. If nothing else, let the experience of those two – and other – players be a warning to United that they must not sanction new contracts for fringe members of their first-team squad.
And so United will plod on, no problems solved but at least none badly exacerbated. They still need a central midfielder or two, they still need a definite identity, they still have highly talented but underperforming players and they still have at least four players whose futures must be decided definitively in the summer. Plus ca change.
Transfer window rating: 4
Newcastle United
Read Mark Douglas’ verdict on Newcastle’s first transfer window under their new owners here.
Three weeks ago, the thought of Norwich failing to sign anyone in January may have caused social media mutiny amongst their supporters. Their side had lost their previous six league matches without scoring and Dean Smith seemed unable to shift the pattern established during 12 months of Premier League football under Daniel Farke.
But since then, things have changed. Norwich have won their last two, are outside the relegation zone as things stand (albeit having played more games than those below them) and Smith has changed the team’s shape to great effect. The importance of Josh Sargent and Adam Idah has increased drastically.
In that context, you can understand why Smith did not push for more deals. Perhaps this will all come back to haunt Norwich, and they will curse not signing a central defender (Nat Phillips went to the Championship after all). But, for now, Smith and Norwich merit our faith. They have rarely been a club that panics in the transfer market.
Transfer window rating: 6
Southampton
When Ralph Hasenhuttl was asked at the beginning of January about whether Southampton’s takeover might allow him to improve the squad in the current transfer window, he seemed very upbeat.
“We get the chance to be earlier in our signings, definitely,” Hasenhuttl said. “It doesn’t mean that we change our behaviour and go out into the market and buy everything that is available for us – that doesn’t make sense. But this new owner gives us the chance to get these guys earlier, maybe even this winter when before they are only coming in the summer. So we can go very early for these players and this is what we want to have.”
Southampton’s CEO Martin Semmens was a little more circumspect, pointing out that the new owners had bought the club because they liked the way in which it operated and that their data-driven approach was likely to bear more fruit in the summer rather than the mad rush of January.
But it is still a little surprising that Hasenhuttl has no new players as February begins. Perhaps the club merely decided that eight points from their last five league games has allayed any relegation concerns. If so, fine. Perhaps the right players just weren’t available and so they preferred to wait. We will reserve judgement until August. The job until then is to bob around near midtable.
We should not ignore that this transfer window started miserably. Tottenham missed out on Luis Diaz, who preferred Liverpool. They missed out on Adama Traore, who preferred Barcelona. They missed out on Ollie Tanner, who preferred to stay at Lewes and provoked a thousand banters about Tottenham even being turned down by non-league players.
And for an owner who had forged a reputation for being a master negotiator, Tottenham’s exits in January have been an admission of gross mistakes. In the space of two days, they allowed three players to leave on loan who were signed for over £100m and let Dele Alli – once discussed as a £100m midfielder – join another Premier League team on a deal that may well only cost Everton £10m. These are extraordinary events for a club that is looking to punch above its weight.
But Spurs, Fabio Paratici and Daniel Levy did save themselves on the final day. Rodrigo Bentancur should provide much needed energy to central midfield – the anti-Ndombele, perhaps – and forge a link between midfield and attack that has often been a little lacking when Oliver Skipp is not on the pitch. Dejan Kulusevski can play anywhere behind a centre forward – the right wing seems most likely when Kane and Son are fit – and is an inexpensive gamble given that his move will only become permanent if certain obligations are met.
If nothing else, those final days prove that Conte is being bestowed the power to shape this squad as he sees fit. Loaning out Lo Celso, Ndombele and Gil – three of the club’s most expensive signings – suggests both that Conte didn’t fancy any of them and that the club were happy to swallow pride and listen to Conte’s instruction.
Transfer window rating: 7
Watford
From our January transfer window preview: “This is Watford, so there will be deals. This is Watford, so there will be signings that you have never heard of, some of whom prove to be brilliant value for money and some who you forget about within three months. This is Watford, so goodness only knows if they have the same manager who signed them at the start of next season.”
Step forward Maduka Okoye, Hassane Kamara, Samir, Edo Kayembe and Samuel Kalu. Also step forward Roy Hodgson, a new manager to oversee them. As we said, this is Watford.
Transfer window rating: 5 (with absolutely no degree of certainty)
West Ham
David Moyes, 11 January: “We could probably do with some more cover after Angelo Ogbonna’s season-long injury. If I can get Kurt [Zouma] back quickly that eases the pressure in central defensive areas. But we are always looking to strengthen here, we are always looking to find players who can help us or improve us.”
David Moyes, 21 January: “The board have been really good. They have supported me greatly and said ‘go and get what you need if you can David.’ Like everything else things are expensive in this window and there’s not a great pool for the positions we are looking for. The last couple of January windows we’ve been able to do that, but this window has felt a wee bit more difficult. But if things go right and we get a good run of things I am still hopeful that we will add a couple of players before the window closes.”
West Ham signings by 1 February: None.
A dry January does not stop West Ham maintaining a brilliant season, but this month will be perceived as what might have been should Moyes’ side finish fifth or sixth. It is a damn shame that they couldn’t get a deal done for Jesse Lingard.
Transfer window rating: 4
Wolves
Not an awful lot to say. They signed three players, two of which immediately went out on loan and the other is a Portugal Under-21 international and Jorge Mendes client, which is pretty much the standard Wolves January transfer window. They also confirmed that Hwang Hee-chan will join on a permanent deal in the summer for a reported £12m, which makes sense.
But there is a vague sense of missed opportunity here. Bruno Lage has Wolves four points off the top four with a game in hand on Manchester United. There is no pressure on him to deliver a top-six finish given the preseason expectations, but chances like these don’t come around every season.
Maybe this is simply the reality of life with Mendes, but losing one of your most exciting attacking players (albeit one who wasn’t starting regularly under Lage) while failing to add any senior players makes an already unlikely task even harder.
Transfer window rating: 5
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Mikel Arteta may well have got what he wanted by finally seeing the back of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – a striker who has proved as disruptive to the manager’s Arsenal reign as he has been the instigator of its rare successes.
The Gabon international agreed an 11th hour move to Barcelona on Monday as the transfer deadline loomed, and Arteta may well have cracked a smile knowing he won’t have to work with Aubameyang again.
The pair have had their ups and downs over their two-and-a-bit years together. It was the ex-Borussia Dortmund sensation who catapulted Arteta’s Gunners to FA Cup success in 2020. He was rewarded a few months later with a bumper £350,000-a-week contract – and from there on it all went downhill.
Multiple “disciplinary” issues followed over the past year or so, and he was stripped of the captaincy before Christmas. Arteta – never one to shy away from blaming players when the time suits – has never seemed too interested in keeping Aubameyang onside. The chance to cut ties was always going to be taken.
Indeed, shipping out a disinterested, dissatisfied player is all part of football. But what is crucial in the transfer game is making sure there is a replacement lined up.
And Arsenal may well come to rue sending the club’s most lethal attacking talent away from north London without having anyone coming in.
Aubameyang was already in Spain when the call came to have a late Barcelona medical. Perhaps not a coincidence as he has family there.
At 32, Aubameyang was never going to have much sell-on value and his four league goals this season have hardly justified his wages. Offloading him now saves the club £25m. The likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe is where Arsenal’s future lies.
But Aubameyang’s departure from the Emirates leaves the immediate problem of just two recognised strikers being there to fill his shoes. One, Alexandre Lacazette, has blown hot and cold all season and boasts just five goals. The other, Eddie Nketiah, has never convinced Arteta he is worthy of regular starting opportunities. He has also scored five – all in the Carabao Cup.
Both men are out of contract in the summer. This is perhaps the most alarming thing; not the fact they have lost Aubameyang and not replaced him, but that they could see all three strikers leave within the space of six months.
The response? Most likely pinning Lacazette and Nketiah down to expensive long-term deals akin to the one Aubameyang signed.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Pablo Mari, Sead Kolasinac and Calum Chambers have all left.
Arsenal fans must be wondering how it has come to this. Arsenal and Barcelona were in talks over Aubameyang earlier in this transfer window, which means the Gunners had time to find a replacement.
It means that tactically Arsenal find themselves in the unenviable situation of having no trusted focal point up front, and no-one coming through the system. Arteta appeared to take one look at Folarin Balogun at the start of the season before sending him on loan to Middlesbrough.
Failing to replace a focal striker is a mistake Arsenal have made before. In 2009, they sold Emmanuel Adebayor to Manchester City and didn’t find an alternative. They finished 11 points behind league champions Chelsea that season.
This term it islikely to be more than double that gap. Liverpool and Manchester City have both signed attacking talent in this window, while Chelsea have been on the lookout.
With Newcastle, Everton and Spurs doing deals, sitting back and looking after the pennies could be a disastrously short-sighted move from Arsenal, one that Arteta may live to regret sooner than he expects.
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