Arsenal still need a defender and Manchester United haven’t spent a penny – is this the most boring January transfer window ever?
Are we in the middle of the most boring January transfer window ever?
Almost three weeks have passed since the window opened on 3 January and it seems as if not much has happened.
Arsenal were supposed to need a new defensive midfielder but have since discovered a hidden genius of Francis Coquelin, Manchester United had hinted at further spending to fix a lopsided squad but have since been quiet and Harry Redknapp hasn’t even rolled down his car window yet.
Manchester City have stayed true to form and signed Wilfried Bony for £31.8m, yet that had been expected long before the window opened. With just 11 days remaining in the window, 14 Premier League clubs are yet to have spent anything at all on transfer fees.
Yet although your thirst for wallet-busting transfers and scandalous switches may yet to be satiated, this season’s slow January transfer window activity is nothing out of the ordinary at all.
At this stage in the season, 19 days gone, Premier League clubs have actually been pretty active compared to previous campaigns.
A total of 13 players have been signed by clubs in England’s top tier either on loan, on a free or for a fee. That may not seem like much, but 2013 (when 17 players had been signed at this stage) marked the only occasion in the previous five seasons when clubs have been more active.
Perhaps some may feel this season’s January window is on the dull side because we took what was a record breaking summer window for granted. Over £920m was spent by Premier League clubs during the summer window, obliterating the previous record of £667m.
Having spent so lavishly ahead of the season, it is understandable – if a little boring – that clubs may want to keep a check on the coffers this winter.
Again, however, only once before have clubs spent more at this stage in January, and that came in the blockbuster window of 2011 when over £235m was splashed out on new recruits including £51.5m on Fernando Torres – still a January record.
As the graph above indicates, a huge chunk of this year’s spend so far came from the £31.8m Manchester City spent on Ivorian striker Wilfried Bony on 13 January. The 2011 spend was instead split over two big signings; the £27m spent by City (them again) on Edin Dzeko and the £18.9m spent by Aston Villa on Darren Bent.
For a full breakdown of how much each Premier League club has spent so far this window, explore the interactive below.
in the football calendar, and the source of frenzied excitement for fans.
Explore our interactive to find out who’s spending big during the window and who’s using the month to make some money.
- Krystian Bielik (Legia Warszawa)
£2,740,000
- Benik Afobe (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
£0 - Yaya Sanogo (Crystal Palace)
Loan - Matt Macey (Accrington Stanley)
Loan - Lukas Podolski (Inter Milan)
Loan (fee: £528,000)
- Carles Gil (Valencia CF)
£3,700,000
- Gary Gardner (Nottingham Forest)
Loan - Jordan Graham (Wolves)
£0
- Michael Keane (Manchester United)
£2,250,000
- n/a
- n/a
- Tomás Kalas (Middlesbrough FC)
Loan - Todd Kane (Nottingham Forest)
Loan - Lewis Baker (Sheffield Wednesday)
Loan - Fernando Torres (AC Milan)
£2,640,000 - Mark Schwarzer (Leicester City)
£0 - Alex Kiwomya (Barnsley )
Loan
- Yaya Sanogo (Arsenal FC)
Loan
- Andy Johnson (Released)
£0 - Alex Wynter (Colchester United)
£0 - Jake Gray (Cheltenham Town)
Loan
- n/a
- John Lundstram (Leyton Orient)
Loan - Ben McLaughlin (Telford United)
Loan - Hallam Hope (Bury)
£0
- n/a
- n/a
- Andrej Kramaric (HNK Rijeka)
£7,920,000 - Mark Schwarzer (Chelsea)
£0
- Adam Dawson (Bristol Rovers)
Loan - Adam Smith (Mansfield Town)
Loan - Jack Barmby (Rotherham United)
Loan - Tom Hopper (Scunthorpe United)
Loan - Callum Elder (Mansfield Town)
Loan
- n/a
- Oussama Assaidi (Al-Ahli Club)
£0 - Jack Dunn (Cheltenham Town)
Loan - Kevin Stewart (Cheltenham Town)
Loan - Lloyd Jones (Cheltenham Town)
Loan
- Wilfried Bony (Swansea City)
£31,810,000
- Matija Nastasic (FC Schalke 04)
Loan
- Victor Valdés (Unattached)
£0
- Michael Keane (Burnley)
£2,250,000 - Sam Johnstone (Preston North End)
Loan - Ben Pearson (Barnsley)
Loan
- n/a
- Hatem Ben Arfa (OGC Nizza)
£0 - Adam Campbell (FC Gateshead)
Loan - Callum Roberts (FC Gateshead)
Loan
- Mauro Zárate (West Ham United)
Loan
- Josh Laurent (Brentford FC)
£0
- Eljero Elia (Werder Bremen)
Loan
- n/a
- Philipp Wollscheid (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
Loan
- Maurice Edu (Philadelphia Union)
£0 - Tomi Adeloye (Macclesfield Town)
Loan - George Waring (Barnsley)
Loan
- Jermain Defoe (Toronto FC)
£0
- Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC)
£0 - David Ferguson (Blackpool FC)
£0 - Connor Oliver (Blackpool FC)
£0 - Scott Harrison (Hartlepool United)
Loan
- n/a
- Wilfried Bony (Manchester City)
£31,810,000 - Alan Tate (Crewe Alexandra)
Loan
- n/a
- Grant Hall (Blackpool FC)
Loan
- n/a
- n/a
- Doneil Henry (Apollon Limassol)
£1,670,000
- Mauro Zárate (QPR)
Loan - Nathan Mavila (Wealdstone FC)
Loan - Paul McCallum (Portsmouth FC)
Loan - Ricardo Vaz Tê (Akhisar Belediye Genclik ve Spor)
Loan
All data courtesy of transfermarkt.co.uk