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Transfers

In-Depth Review of January Premier League Transfers

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When it was recorded that clubs in England spent a whooping £863m in last summer, it was assumed that every team had probably addressed their needs. However, at the first half of the season, the deficiencies in several teams began to surface. It’s said that injuries to key personnel tend to bring up the ‘best’ or ‘worst’ in some teams and it’s sad to say that it was the latter for most teams.

Arsenal had to shuffle several partners for Per Mertesacker when Laurent Koscielny got injured, Manchester United had a sickening amount of injuries to the stage when Michael Carrick was asked to put a shift in defense, Manchester City’s attacking injuries saw a young lad like Pozo make his debut and Chelsea had some issues in goal from time to time with Thibaut Courtois’ injury paving the way for Petr Cech.

£130m was spent in this transfer window and Gooner Daily has decided to give an in-depth review on each team’s spending.

Arsenal

With the departure of Thomas Vermaelen in the summer coupled with the niggling lay-off for Laurent Koscielny and Matt Debuchy, the Gunners had their struggles at the back but the manager signed an unearthed gem in Gabriel Paulista and the fans are eager to see what he has to offer. The Gunners also craved for a new DM with Mikel Arteta’s fitness issues and Mathieu Flamini in poor form. Wenger recalled Francis Coquelin from loan (a stroke of genius) and signed Polish wonderkid, Kryztian Bielik.

On the other end, three attackers that had limited opportunities, Lukas Podolski, Joel Campbell and Yaya Sanogo went on loan to Internazionale, Villarreal and Crystal Palace respectively. Young goalie, Matt Macey, was loaned to Accrington Stanley while Benik Afobe was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers after an impressive spell with Milton Keynes Dons.

Aston Villa

The Villans have been in the news for the wrong reasons as they currently hold the record for the least amount of goals scored in all the divisions in England. Paul Lambert seeks to address that with the acquisition of Valencia winger, Carles Gil, as well as a loan move for Manchester City’s reject, Scott Sinclair.

The Villans sold Daniel Johnson to Preston North End and Jordan Graham to Wolves and secured loan switches for Darren Bent (Derby County), Gary Gardner (Nottingham Forest) and Chris Herd (Wigan)

Burnley

The Clarets must be pretty much satisfied with their squad because there wasn’t much business done in both ends. Michael Keane came in from Manchester United and Alex Cisak was sent on loan to Leyton Orient.

Chelsea

Jose Mourinho and his transfer team were really busy this transfer window with no fewer than 14 players leaving the club to various destinations.

Fiorentina’s Juan Cuadrado was the only player that joined the club while there were loan departures for Marko Marin (Anderlecht) and Mohamed Salah (Fiorentina) while youngsters like Lewis Baker (Sheffield Wednesday), Todd Kane (Nottingham Forest), John Swift (Swindon Town), Alex Kiwomya (Barnsley), Nathan Chalobah (Reading), Tomas Kalas (M’boro) and Stipe Perica (Udinese) also left on loan. Fernando Torres (AC Milan), Mark Schwarzer (Leicester), Ryan Bertrand (Southampton) and Andre Schurrle (Wolfsburg) were sold.

Crystal Palace

Alan Pardew has been a revelation for the Eagles since his return but after a fairytale start, he was brought back down to Earth by Everton. It was expected that he was going to sign a couple of players and he was no time in bringing in Yaya Sanogo (Arsenal) on loan, Jordon Mutch (QPR), Pape Souare (Lille), Andreas Breimyr (Bryne) and Lee Chung-Yong (Bolton). Shola Amoebi was bought for free and Wilfried Zaha signed on a permanent basis.

On the other end, Andrew Johnson was released while some youngsters like Zeki Fryers (Rotherham), Jake Gray (Cheltenham), Lewis Price (Crawley) and Barry Bannan (Bolton) were sent out on loan.

Everton

Everton’s only piece of business this January was bringing Aaron Lennon on loan from Tottenham.

Youngsters like Chris Long (Brentford) and Mason Springthorpe (Fleetwood Town) were farmed out on loan while Hallam Hope (Bury) and Samuel Eto’o (Sampdoria) were sold.

Hull City

Struggling Hull signed Dame N’Doye from Locomotiv Moscow and loaned out Thomas Ince to Derby.

Leicester

In their bid to remain in the Premier League, Leicester signed Mark Schwarzer (Chelsea), Andrej Kramaric (HNK Rijeka) and loaned Robert Huth (Stoke).

The club secured loan moves for Jack Barmby (Rotherham), Tom Hopper (Scunthorpe), Callum Elder (Mansfield) and Adam Dawson (Bristol).

Liverpool

Liverpool spent a boatload of money in the summer so I had my doubts on them spending in January – and I was correct!

The club sold Oussama Assaidi (Al Ahli) and Suso (AC Milan) and secured loan moves for Sheyi Ojo (Wigan), Connor Randall (Shreswbury) as well as moves for Kevin Stewart, Lloyd Jones and Jack Dunn (Cheltenham)

Manchester City

The Arab moneybags were at it again, signing Wilfried Bony from Swansea despite the fact that he was in Africa playing for Cote d’Ivoire in the AFCON. The club was able to send out Sinan Bytyqi (Cambuur), Matija Nastasic (Schalke 04), Devante Cole (MK Dons), Jordy Hiwula (Walsall) and Scott Sinclair (Aston Villa) on loan.

Manchester United

No one spent more money than Manchester United last summer so I wouldn’t have been surprised if LVG spent again. However, the club made two free signings, Victor Valdes and Sadiq El Fitouri. The club also loaned Andy Kellett (Bolton).

The club sold Michael Keane (Burnley), Marnick Vermiji (Sheffield Wednesday), Sam Johnstone (Preston) and stalwart, Darren Fletcher, to West Brom. Ben Pearson (Barnsley), Will Keane (Sheffield Wednesday), Jesse Lingard (Derby) and Saidy Janko (Bolton) went out on loan.

Newcastle

Interim boss, John Carver, didn’t bring any player in but he sold Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa (Roma) and Davide Santon (Internazionale). The club also released Hatem Ben Arfa and shipped out Gael Bigirimana, Kevin Mbadu, Shane Ferguson, Remie Streete and Harks Vuckic to Glasgow Rangers.

Queens Park Rangers

QPR is renowned for making wholesale changes but Twitchy ‘ol ‘Arry snapped Ryan Manning (Galway Utd) and Mauro Zarate (West Ham) on loan. Jordon Mutch went in the other direction to Crystal Palace.

Southampton

The Saints secured loan moves for Eljero Elia (Bremen) and Filip Djuricic (Benfica). The club also sealed a permanent deal for Chelsea’s Ryan Bertrand. Jack Cork moved to Swansea while Artur Boruc (Bournemouth) and Jos Hooiveld (Millwall) had their loan moves extended.

Stoke

Mark Hughes made a permanent move for Phillip Wollscheid (Leverkusen) after he impressed in recent weeks. Robert Huth (Leicester) and George Waring (Barnsley) went on loan, while the club sold Ryan Shotton (Derby) and Maurice Edu (Philadelphia Union).

Sunderland

The Black Cats brought Jermain Defoe (Toronto) back to the Premier League. Jozy Altidore went back home (Toronto) along with Scott Harrison (Hartlepool) and Charias Mavrias (Panathinaikos, loan). Cabral was released.

Swansea

The Swans signed Matt Grimes (Exeter), Kyle Naughton (Spurs) and Jack Cork (Southampton) as well as sealing a loan deal for Benfica’s Nelson Oliveira.

Wilfried Bony was the big-money sale of the transfer window to Manchester City while Rory Donnelly (Tranmere) and Ryan Hedges (Leyton Orient) left on loan.

Tottenham

Spurs signed Dele Alli from MK Dons and sold Kyle Naughton to Swansea. Benoit Assou-Ekotto was released while Milos Veljkovic (Charlton), Grant Hall (Blackpool), Dominic Ball (Cambridge), Nathan Oduwa (Luton), Jordan Archer (Millwall) and Aaron Lennon (Everton) went out on loan.

West Brom

Tony Pulis signed Wigan’s Callum McManaman and Man Utd’s Darren Fletcher. Luke Daniels joined Scunthorpe and Bradley Garmston joined Gillingham on loan.

West Ham

The Hammers signed Doneil Henry from Apollon Limassol and sent Mauro Zarate (QPR), Paul McCallum (Portsmouth) and Sean Maguire (Accrington Stanley) on loan. Ricardo Vaz Te, Blair Turgott and Matthias Fanimo were released.

That sums up the transfer business conducted in January.

Sayonara

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