20) Wilfried Bony (Swansea to Manchester City – £27.5m)
Manchester City have a solid record when it comes to January signings, but there are a few blemishes. Wilfried Bony was the Premier League’s top calendar year scorer before it was cool, his relatively meagre 20 goals for Swansea in 2014 persuading Manuel Pellegrini to part with £27.5m. Ten goals in 46 games suggests it didn’t go so well.
19) Julian Draxler (Wolfsburg to Paris Saint-Germain – £30m)
Aside from in the dreams of Arsenal fans, Julian Draxler has struggled to truly find a footballing home. He enjoyed four years in the first team at boyhood club Schalke, but an eagerness to prove himself elsewhere saw him depart in 2015. He landed first at Wolfsburg, where he spent just one full season, before upping sticks once again to move to PSG. Finally, he seems to have settled in Paris.
18) Lucas Paqueta (Flamengo to Milan – £30.2m)
After forging quite the reputation in South America, Lucas Paqueta became Milan’s latest Brazilian import earlier this month. It remains to be seen whether he is more Kaka than Luiz Adriano, but being substituted for Fabio Borini 85 minutes into his Coppa Italia debut victory was quite the honour.
17) Krysztof Piatek (Genoa to Milan – £30.9m)
Thirteen goals in his first nine games of the season was enough for Krysztof Piatek to spark something of a striker merry-go-round across Europe. His form caught the attention of Serie A rivals Milan, who cut Gonzalo Higuain’s loan short to accommodate him. Chelsea swooped for the Argentine, with Alvaro Morata heading to Spain. And it all started with Piatek, who is left with quite the burden on his shoulders.
16) Jackson Martinez (Atletico Madrid to Guangzhou Evergrande – £31m)
Those in charge of recruitment at Guangzhou Evergrande are clearly fans of Portuguese football, but refuse to watch La Liga. That is the only way of explaining the £31m fee the Chinese Super League club paid for Jackson Martinez, who had scored three goals in 22 games at Atletico Madrid. Six months after moving to China, Martinez was back in Portugal on loan at Portimonense, where he has four goals in 11 games.
15) Edin Dzeko (Wolfsburg to Manchester City – £31.5m)
Football is a fickle beast, and Edin Dzeko learned that lesson the hard way in 2015. The striker scored 72 goals in 189 games for Manchester City despite never being a regular starter, including a crucial 16 goals in the title-winning 2013/14 season. By January 2015 he was discarded for the aforementioned Bony.
14) Andy Carroll (Newcastle to Liverpool – £35m)
If only Kenny Dalglish had stopped at Luis Suarez. The wonderful image of the former Liverpool manager standing proudly with the Uruguayan and Andy Carroll, his two January 2011 signings, exists to remind us all that transfers are rather difficult to master. Suarez shone, but Carroll was a big elbowy fish out of water.
13) Cedric Bakambu (Villarreal to Beijing Guoan – £35.4m)
After becoming the first and only African to win La Liga’s Player of the Month award, Bakambu took the money and ran to China. The deal wasn’t completed until March 2018 but his contract with Villarreal was effectively torn up in January with the DR Congo star’s release clause eventually being paid in full. Tottenham, Valencia and Real Betis have since been linked with a move to bring Bakambu back to Europe, the striker having scored 23 goals in 28 games in his first season with Guoan.
12) Juan Mata (Chelsea to Manchester United – £37.1m)
David Moyes can count on one hand the things he got right in his ten months in charge at Manchester United. After listing his record-breaking tribute to Jesus Christ in the club’s 81-cross 2-2 draw with Fulham in February 2014, and pointing out that he kept Phil Neville in employment, the Scot would reserve space for the signings of Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata. Both have endured difficult spells at Old Trafford, but both exist as a reminder of the glorious past. The Spanish blogger remains a key part of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad.
9=) Lucas Moura (Sao Paulo to Paris Saint-Germain – £38m)
Neymar’s arrival at PSG squeezed Lucas Moura to the periphery of the PSG squad with the winger failing to make the matchday squad more often than not prior to Spurs coughing up £24million last January. After an excellent start to this season, he was most recently seen missing a penalty against Chelsea. Poor thing.
9=) Alex Teixeira (Shakhtar Donetsk to Jiangsu Suning – £38m)
The most expensive signing ever not involving any club from Europe’s top five leagues, Alex Teixeira’s move to Jiangsu Suning in 2016 was headline news in the Premier League. Jurgen Klopp was widely criticised for failing to sign the Brazilian almost two years ago, but the Reds seem to have put their disappointment behind them. The ‘like, want, need’ culture was exposed.
9=) Paulinho (Barcelona to Guangzhou Evergrande – £38m)
Barcelona were laughed at when they signed Paulinho from Guangzhou Evergrande for £36m in August 2017, but the tables turned so considerably after a fine season in Spain that the decision to loan him back a year later was equally confusing. Guangzhou completed the permanent signing of the 30-year-old earlier this month, and will hope he can help prise the Chinese Super League title back from Shanghai SIPG.
8) Fernando Torres (Liverpool to Chelsea – £50m)
It still feels bizarre that Fernando Torres played eight more Premier League games for Chelsea than he did for Liverpool. The goal haul despite that – 20 at Chelsea and 65 at Liverpool – points to a career trajectory that suffered a sharp fall upon his move to Stamford Bridge in January 2011. And yet his four years with the Blues yielded a Champions League and Europa League trophy each.
7) Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund to Arsenal – £56m)
Despite missing more Big Chances than anyone, only the most foolish would suggest that Aubameyang has been anything other than a huge success at Arsenal. Despite being shuffled around the Gunners’ forward line, Aubameyang has scored 27 goals since moving to the Emirates late last January. Only ten players netted more often in Europe’s top ten leagues in 2018.
6) Diego Costa (Chelsea to Atletico Madrid – £57m)
Antonio Conte made it clear he wanted rid of Costa but he and Maurizio Sarri have both suffered from Chelsea’s failure to replace the Spain striker. The £57m the Blues received seemed a handsome sum for a player who had been exiled for the first half of last season but Chelsea spluffed that and more on Alvaro Morata. Let’s hope Gonzalo Higuain fares a little better.
5) Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao to Manchester City – £57.2m)
The centre-back was in and out of Pep Guardiola’s XI after City coughed up a then club-record fee to get the 23-year-old out of his Athletic Bilbao contract but no outfield player has played more minutes for the champions this term. He still can’t get a game for France though.
4) Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund to Chelsea – £57.5m)
The USA winger signed for Chelsea in the first major deal of 2019 before promptly re-signing for Dortmund on loan for the rest of the season. Pulisic will move to Stamford Bridge in the summer, presumably high-fiving Eden Hazard as he passes the other way through the door. Pulisic will hope to be more Aubameyang than Kagawa.
3) Oscar (Chelsea to Shanghai SIPG – £60m)
Receiving £57m for an unwanted Costa was a quite ludicrous magic trick from Chelsea, but even they would be hard pushed to outdo the £60m they raked in for Oscar, practically a reserve, in 2017. Jamie Carragher described it as “embarrassing” for the Brazilian, but he has 15 goals and 34 assists in 51 Super League matches, in addition to more money than God.
2) Virgil van Dijk (Southampton to Liverpool – £75m)
The joint-seventh biggest signing in football history was the most expensive January deal ever when it went through on the first day of 2018 and the size of the fee took everyone by surprise. Because no one, even Jurgen Klopp, realised just how bloody good he is.
1) Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool to Barcelona – £142m)
Liverpool were merely delaying the inevitable when they resisted Barca’s three offers in summer 2017. The Spanish side had to wait half a season and chuck another £20million at the Reds but finally they got their man and Coutinho got his move. But just 12 months later, his apparent unhappiness has been the red herring that has kept this transfer window alive.
Matt Stead and Ian Watson