The 2023 January transfer window has been a rollercoaster of hijacked deals. Expectedly, the majority of deals were completed by Premier League teams, a symptom of just how much money flows through the league. From Mudryk to Chelsea and Danjuma to Spurs, here’s a rundown of how each big team’s transfer window went.
- CHELSEA
Chelsea may be comfortably midtable in the Premier League, but they definitely won this transfer window. Following their crazy summer spending spree, Chelsea completed eight transfers this January, hijacking deals for Mykhaylo Mudryk, Joao Felix, and David Datro Fofana while also completing deals for the likes of Noni Madueke, Benoit Badiashile, and Malo Gusto. They also completed the move for Enzo Fernandez on deadline day to bring their total spend from the summer until now up to over €500 million.
2. ARSENAL
Arsenal, who are currently top of the Premier League, looked to strengthen in three areas, bringing in Leandro Trossard from Brighton after losing Mudryk to Chelsea in a surprise move. Jakub Kiwior was also brought in to serve as Gabriel’s defensive cover. Following the injury to Mohammed Elneny, Arsenal unsuccessfully pursued Brighton’s Moises Caicedo before securing the signing of Jorginho from Chelsea on deadline day.
3. MANCHESTER UNITED
Presently in a rich vein of form, Erik Ten Hag’s Red Devils were able to get some much-needed cover in key areas, bringing in Wout Weghorst as cover for the seemingly always injured Anthony Martial, Jack Butland after Martin Dubravka was recalled by Newcastle, and after seeing what happens without Casemiro in the team, Marcel Sabitzer was signed on loan on deadline day.
4. TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Hijacking seems to have been the theme of this window as Tottenham signed Arnaut Danjuma on loan from Villarreal, who had seemed set to move to Everton. They also secured the services of Pedro Porro from Sporting and completed an unexpected move for Jude Soonsup-Bell from Chelsea.
5. MANCHESTER CITY
Finding themselves in an unfamiliar second place, Manchester City didn’t bring in any big players this window, only getting Maximo Perrone from Argentina before letting Joao Cancelo go out on loan to Bayern Munich after his relationship with the club soured.
6. LIVERPOOL
Liverpool fans must be really frustrated right now. Last season, they were pushing for four trophies, and now, they find themselves ninth in the Premier League and out of both domestic cup competitions, with a Champions League tie against Real Madrid coming up this month. This window, they only brought in Cody Gakpo, who has failed to hit the ground running.
7. BAYERN MUNICH
Following Manuel Neuer’s skiing accident, Bayern Munich signed Yann Sommer, who has proven to be their achilles’ heel in recent years. They also brought in Joao Cancelo on loan on deadline day, taking advantage of the broken relationship between the player and Manchester City.
8. ATLETICO MADRID
After sending Joax Felix out on loan, Atletico brought in Memphis Depay as a replacement before completing a surprise move for Tottenham’s Matt Doherty.
9. REAL MADRID
This window, Real Madrid didn’t sign anyone who would join their team immediately. They only secured the future transfer of Brazilian forward Endrick, who will join them in the summer of 2024 after he turns 18. This transfer is quite similar to Vinicius Junior’s.
10. NAPOLI
Napoli are currently top of Serie A and are the clear favourites to win the title, so January was a good time to strengthen, and they did so, signing Pierluigi Gollini and Bartosz Bereszynski as cover for Alex Meret and Giovanni Di Lorenzo, respectively.
11. AC MILAN
Given their lackluster post-World Cup performance, AC Milan is currently having the worst title defense of the top 5 European leagues. Denis Vasquez was the only goalkeeper they were able to secure as backup, and they unsuccessfully tried to sign Nicolo Zaniolo, who at one point appeared more likely to sign with Bournemouth.
Outside of the transfers listed above, there wasn’t much else in the way of incoming transfers to big clubs, as PSG failed to sign Hakim Ziyech, with rumors circulating that this was due to Chelsea repeatedly sending over the wrong documents and Barcelona only completing outgoing transfers.
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