Arsenal, Villa and Liverpool all obvious – picking every Premier League club’s greatest January signing | OneFootball

Some clubs have obvious candidates for their greatest January transfer window signing ever, like Arsenal and Liverpool. Others need a little more thought.

The question for Manchester United is basically whether a giant shark in the ocean is more impressive than an absurdly big fish in a hilariously amateurish pond. Oh, and do check out every club’s worst ever January signing too.

Arsenal: Martin Odegaard

An initial loanee from Real Madrid in 2021, the current captain dethroned Theo Walcott as the Gunners’ king of January soon after the move was made permanent.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ran Walcott close as one of the few top-class winter signings Arsenal have ever made, but Odegaard’s influence on the most exciting side the Emirates has seen for too long makes him a worthy choice.

The Norwegian was handed the armband in 2022 following Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette’s departures and Odegaard has flourished with the added responsibility.

Aston Villa: Morgan Rogers

It feels likely that Rogers has triggered the necessary clauses to double the value of his initial £8m signing from Middlesbrough in January 2024. Which is a shame because a reported £80m price tag would make that a delightful sort of mark-up.

Villa might nevertheless update those demands soon to better reflect the importance of a player with 10 goal involvements this season, as well as extensive Champions League and international experience.

Bournemouth: Adam Smith

It was once Steve Cook but much like the Bournemouth record for Premier League appearances, Smith has opened up a commanding lead through sheer longevity.

More than a decade has passed since Smith made the permanent move to Dean Court, having spent a season on loan with the Cherries in League One a few years before. And the captain is still going relatively strong, starting eight games this season to stretch his lead as Bournemouth’s record Premier League appearance maker to 61.

In terms of all-time league matches overall he is second and more than 100 behind Steve Fletcher, but only a fool would bet against Smith still being Bournemouth captain in 2034.

Brentford: Sergi Canos

A former club-record signing but perhaps most importantly, Brentford’s outright all-time highest Premier League goalscorer for about 51 minutes.

Brighton: Moises Caicedo

This title once belonged to Alexis Mac Allister, who followed a very similar path to prominence at Brighton and even won a World Cup as a Seagull.

But while his big move earned Brighton £35m or so from an outlay of £6.9m, Caicedo fetched a likely British record £115m just two-and-a-half years after joining for £4.5m.

Burnley: James Tarkowski

Sean Dyche brought in Charlie Austin, Ashley Barnes, Kieran Trippier, Michael Keane, Ashley Westwood and Robbie Brady in January transfer windows. But his most impressive purchase must surely be that of then-23-year-old Tarkowski, who transformed from Football League stalwart into fully-fledged England international at Turf Moor.

Not many predicted he would be featuring for a World Cup semi-finalist while he was plodding around at Oldham and Brentford.

Chelsea: Branislav Ivanovic

In an alternate universe, the January arrivals of Kevin de Bruyne (2012) and Mohamed Salah (2014) might have heralded a dawn of complete Chelsea dominance.

The Blues even once spent almost £300m in one winter window but Enzo Fernandez and Malo Gusto cannot quite compete with a club legend just yet.

While Chelsea have historically struggled to add another attacking dimension to their squad mid-season, they have fared much better with defensive reinforcements. Gary Cahill was a fantastic addition in 2012, perhaps bettered only by that of Ivanovic four years before. The Serb spent nine years at Stamford Bridge, winning ten trophies in the process.

Crystal Palace: Wilfried Zaha

Having helped Crystal Palace earn a Championship promotion in his final season before leaving for Manchester United in 2013, Zaha ultimately returned permanently from a thoroughly unhappy time within 18 months.

He opened up a healthy lead as Palace’s all-time record Premier League scorer with 68 goals across nine seasons. But it will forever be weird that his first ever Premier League start was for Cardiff.

Everton: Seamus Coleman

If it came down to sell-on value then few could compete with John Stones – signed for £3m and sold for £47.5m within three-and-a-half years.

But in terms of sheer value for money, Coleman pips his former team-mate. The Ireland international joined from Sligo Rovers for £60,000 as an unknown gamble and soon became one of the Premier League’s best right-backs. He is still going reasonably strong under his 427th Goodison Park manager at the ripe old age of 37.

Fulham: Brede Hangeland

The Cottagers have done well out of the January market.

Brian McBride and Clint Dempsey arrived in the mid-season window, as did Aleksandar Mitrovic, who pushed Hangeland hard for his crown. But the centre-back left a huge mark on Craven Cottage. He was one of Roy Hodgson’s first signings at Fulham in 2008 from FC Copenhagen and the defender became a stalwart through one of the greatest periods in the club’s history, with all of his seven seasons at Fulham spent in the Premier League.

He made 270 appearances before he was released by Felix Magath, who Hangeland later claimed had instructed him to ease a thigh injury by placing a block of cheese on his leg. “I always try to see the good in people,” Hangeland said. “But Magath was an awful human being.”

Fulham players likely ignored his tactical instructions, much like they did with Mark Hughes.

Leeds: Pablo Hernandez

While already a fixture at Elland Road on loan, it was in January 2017 that Hernandez decided to join for good and change lives in West Yorkshire.

Garry Monk initially signed a player he had only briefly worked with at Swansea, but it was under Marcelo Bielsa that the true brilliance of Hernandez – completely out of place in England’s second tier – became apparent.

A three-time consecutive Player of the Year for the Whites, Hernandez played as big a role as anyone in dragging Leeds back to the Premier League. The bit-part season he spent in the top flight offered flashes of his quality too.

Liverpool: Virgil van Dijk

It was once Luis Suarez, scorer, biter and racism-er extraordinaire. But Van Dijk helped transform Liverpool entirely into title winners and European champions.

The Reds have made bountiful use of the winter window – Philippe Coutinho, Daniel Sturridge, Maxi Rodriguez, Javier Mascherano, Daniel Agger, Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Steven Caulker – but Van Dijk remains the best investment of the lot.

Manchester City: Edin Dzeko

“If the champion is City, then I would say a Man City player and if I have to choose, I choose Dzeko,” said Jose Mourinho when asked for his choice of Player of the Year in May 2014.

“The kind of player he is, he’s not just a goal-scorer. He assists, he plays, he behaves, he’s fair, doesn’t dive, doesn’t try to put opponents in the stands with an accumulation of cards,” the Portuguese added, doing one of his weird winks in the general direction of eventual winner Suarez.

Dzeko arguably never earned the adulation he deserved at the Etihad, with a respectable 50 goals in 130 Premier League games, of which only 74 were starts. Only Sergio Aguero scored more goals (40) across the club’s first two title-winning seasons than the Bosnian (30).

Manchester United: Bruno Fernandes

Fernandes quickly established himself as not only the most transformative arrival of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, but one of the very few actually good ones.

After making his debut in February, in a Covid-hit year, the recruit from Sporting was the absolute king of lockdownball and remains a petulant, frustrating but ultimately crucial cog in an often failing machine with 103 goals and 93 assists in 308 games.

Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra were rubbish so don’t start.

Newcastle: Bruno Guimaraes

January was generally a dark month, as most of them were, under Mike Ashley. Then the Saudis turned up and showed what can be achieved mid-season if you’re willing to fork out more than a tenner with a couple of Sports Direct tea vessels chucked in.

Chris Wood was the only bad buy among the five Eddie Howe made in winter 2022 – and his subsequent form at Nottingham Forest suggests it was just a case of incompatibility – but Guimaraes, signed from Lyon for a then-club-record £38m, was the best of the lot.

Howe has numerous times described the Brazilian as “a bargain” and Guimaraes remains a player of expensive intrigue to the elite Newcastle cannot displace.

Nottingham Forest: Chris Wood

Perhaps it’s recency bias and there might be an element of rule-bending in including a January loanee who scored just one goal before making his move permanent and netting a bucketload more.

But Forest picked up their record Premier League scorer from the Newcastle scrapheap, dusted him down and bought in at a knockdown price. Without that January 2023 loan they might never have had the chance.

Sunderland: Jermain Defoe

An exceptional piece of business, as Sunderland not only swapped the entirely unfit-for-purpose Jozy Altidore with proven commodity Jermain Defoe, but received some cash from Toronto FC as part of the deal too.

While Altidore scored three times in 52 appearances as a Black Cat – one in 42 in the Premier League – Defoe bagged 37 goals in 100 games as basically the only person left in the building trying to keep Sunderland up.

Despite scoring 15 goals in consecutive Premier League seasons it was not enough to stop Sunderland finishing 17th and then 20th, with Defoe leaving on a free upon relegation with his head held high.

Tottenham: Dele

Dejan Kulusevski was starting to push Dele here before being sent to the shadow realm but barely a single eyelid was batted when Tottenham rounded off a quiet January 2015 transfer window by making a lower-league teenager their only signing a matter of minutes before the deadline.

The midfielder arrived from MK Dons with a huge reputation but was hardly expected to make his mark on the first team any time soon; he made his England debut later that year, became a two-time PFA Young Player of the Year and was twice named in the PFA Team of the Year.

Then it went woefully, devastatingly pear-shaped in what is still one of the most crushing football stories in recent years.

West Ham: Jarrod Bowen

“I think he could be a big success,” said manager David Moyes of West Ham’s shiny new plaything, who has turned out to be an absolute gem.

Bowen ranks second for all-time Premier League goals (61) and joint first in terms of assists (39) as a Hammer, trailing Michail Antonio and matching Mark Noble respectively. And that is without mentioning his Europa Conference clincher in stoppage time against Fiorentina.

“I hope I stay forever,” Bowen said recently, as backed up by a contract extension until 2030. He should not feel bad for changing his mind and joining Spurs for £60m when West Ham go down.

Wolves: Sylvan Ebanks-Blake

Since the Premier League – and therefore football itself – was established in 1992, only three players have been the top goalscorer in England’s second tier more than once. Of that trio, only two have won the Golden Boot in consecutive seasons.

John Aldridge worked wonders for Tranmere in the early 1990s, and Ebanks-Blake took on the mantle with ease over a decade later.

He netted 23 times in 2007/08 despite joining Wolves from Plymouth halfway through the season, then fired his new side to the Premier League with 25 goals in 2008/09. He really is one of .