January Transfer Window Record Broken as Premier League Dominates Europe’s Spending

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The Premier League January transfer window finally closed on Tuesday, 31st of January at 23:00 GMT.

Meanwhile, there are some potential signed deals in the wee moment to the end of the transfer that further extended the record amount already paid out.

Premier League transfer

Initially, about £550m has been spent on transfers in January, shattering the 2018 record of £430m.

Afterward, more than £275m was later spent on transfer deadline day alone before the window closed for English clubs.

January 31st deadline day’s transfer spending saw an increase of 83% on the previous January record of £150m.

In addition, an all-time high season outlay across both the summer and winter transfer windows was ensured after a record of £1.9bn was set in September, with the final total doubling the previous transfer record of £1.4bn in 2017.

The £430m amount spent by Premier League clubs in the 2018 winter season had also been broken prior to Tuesday’s deadline day.

According to financial services firm Deloitte, the eventual total outlay in 2023 saw an increase of 90% and almost triple the previous January window (£295m).

More so, Premier League’s financial dominance in Europe heightened to the highest percentage ever recorded, as the spending by English giant clubs accounted for 79% of the total spending across Europe’s ‘big five’ football tournaments, where January spending was reduced by 35% from 2022 to €255m (£225m).

Signings on January Transfer Deadline Day

Chelsea emerged as the highest outlay club as the Blues look to spend their way back into top-four contention in the Premier League campaign.

Premier League transfer
New Chelsea owner Todd Boehly

New owner Todd Boehly has spent upwards of £200m on signing new players.

These players include Benoit Badiashile (£35m), Andrey Santos (£18m), Joao Felix (loan with £9.7m fee), Noni Madueke (£30.7m), and Mykhailo Mudryk (£62m rising to £89m), with most of them on lengthy contracts.

And on the deadline day, Chelsea’s 121m euro (£107m) deal for Benfica’s Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez – raised the total expenditure by top-flight clubs in January to a record-breaking £815m.

Certainly, Chelsea spent about £288m in January than the combined total of all clubs in the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, and Ligue 1.

While Tottenham also bagged the signing of full-back Pedro Porro from Sporting Lisbon on loan.

Pedro will play as a loan player until the end of the season, with an obligation to buy for 45m euros (£40m), while defenders Matt Doherty (permanent) and Djed Spence (loan) were allowed to exit the club.

Elsewhere, Premier League toppers Arsenal reinforced with the £12m acquisition of Italy midfielder Jorginho from Chelsea.

And fourth-placed Manchester United finalized the loan signing of Austrian midfielder Marcel Sabitzer from Bayern Munich.

Southampton also benefited from the just concluded transfer window with a late abrupt agreement, completing a club record £22m deal for Ghana winger Kamaldeen Sulemana as well as announcing the signing of Nigeria striker Paul Onuachu.

Bournemouth purchased Ukraine center-back Illia Zabarnyi for a fee worth £24m as well as Ivory Coast midfielder Hamed Traore on an initial loan before a £20m summer move.

Leicester City completed the signing of defender Harry Souttar from Stoke City in a deal that could increase to £20m with add-ons, while Crystal Palace announced the successful transfer of France youth international Naouirou Ahamada from Stuttgart for 11m euros (£9.7m).

A shocking high-profile Premier League departure saw Manchester City full-back Joao Cancelo move to Bayern Munich on a loan deal for the rest of the season, with a 70m euro (£61.5m) buy option to join permanently in the summer.

Nottingham Forest was also busy on the transfer deadline day as they completed deals for Atletico Madrid and Brazilian defender Felipe and Newcastle midfielder Jonjo Shelvey for undisclosed fees, while Paris St-Germain goalkeeper Keylor Navas arrived on loan.

The January deals that were unsuccessful


While some deals paved through even on the last transfer day, some conceivable deals eventually flunked.

Premier League transfer
Brighton rejected Arsenal’s bid for Moises Caicedo

Arsenal had a £60m offer rejected by Brighton in their pursuit of midfielder Moises Caicedo, despite the midfielder affirming his desire to exit the club in an open letter he posted on his Instagram page.

Also, Morocco forward Hakim Ziyech’s proposed deadline-day move from Stamford Bridge to PSG appeared to crumble as the player was delayed in Paris because the documentation to complete the transfer was not submitted in time.

England midfielder Conor Gallagher decided to stay back at Chelsea despite interest from Premier League strugglers Everton.

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