The biggest Premier League January signings of the last 2 years

With the 2020 January transfer window reaching a conclusion, various Premier League sides have made use of the market and brought in new reinforcements. Whilst we were watching the coverage of “Deadline Day”, we began reminiscing of how hectic the transfer window used to be, with crowds behind the various supporters and staying up late to see any last-minute deals come through being 2 of the highlights. While taking a trip down memory lane, we started to recall some of the biggest Premier League transfers to occur over the last few years. Please note that when we say “biggest” we aren’t necessarily referring to how good the player turned out to be at their new clubs, rather how memorable the transfer was at the time, and that we won’t be mentioning players who agreed to join their respective clubs in summer but joined in January.

After being linked with United for the best part of a year, Bruno Fernandes’ rumoured move to Manchester United looked to be a repeat of the Wesley Sneijder saga a few years ago, with the deal constantly looking on, then off, then back on again. The Sporting Lisbon midfielder enjoyed a fantastic 18/19 season, scoring 15 goals and providing 14 assists in 28 games for the Portuguese side and was heavily linked with the likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham during the summer of 2019. As a result of both Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay suffering injuries, United severely lacked options in midfield and were once again linked with Fernandes, and after being linked with him for the entire window, United finally announced the signing on january 29th.

Since joining Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund back in 2018, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has carried over his fantastic form from the Bundesliga made a name for himself as one of the best strikers in the Premier League, scoring 57 goals in 91 appearances for the Gunners. With Alexandre Lacazette also playing his football in an Arsenal shirt, Arsenal currently possess 2 of the best strikers in Europe and have massively underachieved considering the firepower they have available upfront. Where Arsenal have fallen short however is their defense, as they have only kept 4 clean sheets in their opening 24 Premier League games this season.

By far the most shocking transfer on this list includes Arsenal once again as they were involved in a swap deal with Manchester United which saw Alexis Sanchez move to Old with Henrikh Mkhitaryan moving the opposite way. Sanchez was heavily linked with a move away from the Emirates, with Manchester City looking like the likely destination for him, United, however, had other ideas and sealed a late deal for Sanchez and announced him as a United player on the 22nd January. Unfortunately for United, Sanchez was unable to recreate his Arsenal form at Manchester United as he was only able to score 5 goals and provide 9 assists in 35 appearances for the club. Sanchez’s poor form led to Manchester United losing patience with him and sending him to Inter on loan for the 19/20 season.

In the eyes of many, the best recent January transfer made by a Premier League club also took place during 2018 when Virgil Van Dijk joined Liverpool from Southampton for a reported fee of £75m. The arrival of Van Dijk has revitalised Liverpool’s defense as they were frequently suffering from defensive and goalkeeping errors, with their improved defense being key in their road to the 2018 Champions League final. The following season, Liverpool went 1 step further and won their 6th European Cup, with Liverpool’s strong defense of: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, Joel Matip and of course Van Dijk, and and despite they suffer a monumental collapse, Liverpool will add the Premier League trophy to their recent honours.

The second defender on this list is Manchester City’s Aymeric Laporte who joined city from Athletic Bilbao during January of 2018. Since arriving in Manchester, Laporte has established himself as Manchester City’s best defender and a fantastic replacement for Vincent Kompany who left City at the end of the 18/19 season. Laporte perfectly fits Pep Guardiola’s style of play at Manchester City as his confidence and composure on the ball allows him to bring the ball out from the defense, with his physicality and strong aerial presence also being useful for City at the back and being key in City’s fantastic form over the past couple of seasons. The importance of Laporte to Manchester City’s defense has been made crystal clear this season as City have struggled at the back due to the absence of Laporte who suffered an injury earlier in the season, with City resorting to playing the likes of Fernandinho at centre-back with either John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi and Eric Garcia playing alongside him on various occasions.

We’re returning to North London for our next transfer, this time, however, we’re focusing on Tottenham and the transfer of Lucas Moura from PSG for a fee of around £25M on the 31st of January 2018. Despite having little impact during his first season at Tottenham, making only 6 appearances for the club, it was the following season that saw Moura come to life at Tottenham, especially in their Champions League campaign, as his late equaliser in Tottenham’s final group stage game against Barcelona to send them through to the round of 16. By far Moura’s best performance in a Tottenham shirt came during their Champions League semi-final second leg against Ajax at the Johan Cruyff Arena, as his second half hat-trick sealed a miraculous comeback by Tottenham and sent them to the Champions League final on away goals. Moura’s impressive form isn’t exclusive to the Champions League as the Brazilian has been impressive in the Premier League as well, scoring 14 goals in 60 appearances for Tottenham, including a brace in a 3-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford and scoring the first hat-trick at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a 4-0 win over Huddersfield.