Premier League transfer window: winners and losers

The winter transfer period is over. The last day was traditionally very busy, but interesting transfers were seen throughout the month. Some clubs bought and sold in bulk, some are virtually unchanged. Who gained the most in the transfer market and who disappointed?

The winners

Aston Villa have had a very successful transfer window. Just the arrival of a player of the calibre of Philippe Coutinho is a big deal (and in the form of a guest appearance with an option), but it wasn’t enough for the Villans.

The quality on the edge of defence and the offensive support will be provided by Lucas Digne, who has a Premier League reputation similar to Coutinho. Callum Chambers is also coming in for free, and will be able to deputise pretty much anywhere in defence.

The departure of goalkeeper Jed Steer will be solved by the arrival of Swedish national team number one Robin Olsen.

If Villans lacked anything, it was players with Premier League experience – only Young, Ings, Mings and Targett (who also left) had 100 or more games played in the Premier League. Coutinho has 154, Chambers 151 and Digne 115.

Finally, we can include Newcastle among the more successful sides. For a while it looked like they would have to settle for just Wood and Trippier, but eventually the club did land some other interesting names.

The defence in particular needed improvement, which was quite successful – Trippier and Targett strengthened the squad on the fringes. The club wanted Sven Botman or Diego Carlos in the middle of the defence, which didn’t work out, but at least Dan Burn, an alumnus and big fan of the club, came in at the end of the transfer window.

Clubs with bigger ambitions than Newcastle now have were also interested in Bruno Guimarães, yet the Brazilian midfielder will wear the Magpies jersey.

After Wood, the management sought to further strengthen the attack, with Lingard and Hugo Ekitike being mentioned, but both remain at their clubs. Even so, it is a hilarious transfer window in the club’s current situation.

Manchester City and Liverpool basically didn’t need to strengthen and weren’t very active, yet both teams managed to improve the squad and acquire interesting offensive players.

The Citizens acquired talented Argentine striker Julian Álvarez, who will join the team in the summer and is a great promise for the future. In addition, they also managed to make a decent profit on the unwanted Ferran Torres, whom they sold to Barcelona for 55 million euros.

Although the Reds wanted Colombian winger Luis Díaz in the summer, Tottenham’s interest accelerated everything. Jurgen Klopp thus got an interesting reinforcement for the attack and competition for Sadio Mané.

From an individual point of view, Christian Eriksen can also undoubtedly be described as a winner as he has returned to the Premier League and will look to continue his successful career at Brentford.

Losers

West Ham have made several successful winter transfers in recent years – Soucek, Bowen, Lingard. This year, however, he hasn’t tried his luck. Which most fans are unhappy about.

No defensive reinforcements, no much-needed striker. Towards the end of the transfer window, the club was pushing for Lingard, Darwin Núñez and Rafinha, but David Moyes will ultimately have to work without reinforcements.

Probably the biggest disappointment of the Premier League, considering the Hammers are still fighting for the Top 6 and the Europa League awaits them.

Arsenal can take solace in getting rid of Aubameyang (and his salary) and other unnecessary players like Kolašinac, Chambers and Mari. However, in terms of arrivals, it’s a misery.

Despite a poor start to the season, the Gunners are challenging for positions to secure European Cups, but the activity in the market hasn’t matched that. The club made a bid for Vlahovic, then Isak, but in the end will have to rely on Lacazette and Nkethia, which may not be enough.

Like West Ham, Arsenal have a good squad, but for both teams, the season can be spoiled by a few injuries or a lapse in form of players for whom there are no adequate replacements.

Even Manchester United have not supported their fight for the Top 4 in the transfer market. Van de Beek, Dialo and Martial left the club, and for non-football reasons the club also lost Mason Greenwood.

As far as signings go, it’s simple, there were none. The necessary strengthening of the midfield will have to wait until the summer.

Although not as badly off as the aforementioned teams, even Chelsea are more in the loser category. While the Blues have most of the positions perfectly doubled, they badly needed to strengthen the left-back position, which they failed to do.

Even pulling Emerson off loan failed, due to which Thomas Tuchel now has to rely on Alonso and Kenedy. And that’s a very big risk the club shouldn’t take.

If we focus on the players, the losers include Jesse Lingard, who was again on his way out of United. West Ham and Newcastle in particular were interested in him, but the Red Devils blocked his departure.

Given Mason Greenwood’s situation, maybe Lingard will get some space in Manchester, but that connection hasn’t worked out in the long term. On the contrary, during his loan spell at West Ham, the player proved that a change of scenery will do him good. However, he will have to wait until at least the summer for a permanent change.

Question marks

Apart from the winners and losers, the transfer window has also brought a few question marks, the biggest ones probably being at Everton:: how will the still relatively inexperienced Frank Lampard cope with a struggling team? Will van den Beek and Dele Alli prove that they can still play at the top level? And how will the new talented full-backs Mykolenko and Patterson fare?

Source: Premier League, Transfermarkt