Ranking £138.4m worth of January signings by how excited we are for their debuts | OneFootball

Everton, Brentford and Fulham all crack the top five in a debut excitement level ranking of January signings. Manchester City might be burned.

The winners and losers of the January transfer window have been decided and everyone is in agreement that the joke is obviously ultimately on Spurs.

But with the window shut, attention can now turn to those mid-season signings yet to debut for their new clubs, and indeed how excited we should be to see them do so. And really the only way to do that is with an arbitrary ranking.

19) Fraser Forster (Bournemouth)

It was “the trajectory and the ambition” of Bournemouth which attracted Forster, but very much the experience and availability of the 37-year-old free agent that brought him onto the club’s radar.

An injury to Djordje Petrovic’s back-up Will Dennis caused enough of a panic for Bournemouth to pick up the phone; the Cherries will ultimately hope Forster’s six-month deal passes without any incident beyond his goalkeepers’ union duties.

18) Christos Mandas (Bournemouth)

Forster shuffled awkwardly on the Bournemouth bench for five games, desperately hoping his number never actually came up. Then Mandas arrived on loan from Lazio as the pecking order took on a more defined shape with Forster dropping out of the matchday squad completely.

17) Keiber Lamadrid (West Ham)

Nuno Espirito Santo barely stopped short of declaring Lamadrid specifically a club-led signing rather than a target he pushed for himself, like Pablo, Taty Castellanos or Adama Traore.

“The club does normally seek players for the future,” the manager said before emphasising his own singular focus on recruiting for “now”. And Lamadrid, who must desperately hope nominative determinism exists, is a 22-year-old arriving on loan having left Venezuela for the first time in his career, so “is not really ready to play”.

16) Jocelin Ta Bi (Sunderland)

Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman said of Ta Bi that they “will integrate him patiently”, with an element of that calm approach forced by the ankle injury the forward joined with.

But he is also 20 and has played one full season of professional football, that coming in the Israeli second tier. So taking one’s time seems fair.

15) Luca Netz (Nottingham Forest)

There is a belief in many quarters that Nottingham Forest pulled off quite the coup in landing 22-year-old Germany youth international Netz and his 124 Bundesliga appearances for as little as £2m.

An expiring Borussia Monchengladbach can explain some of that away, with Neco Williams potentially handing his deputy an unexpectedly early debut opportunity to prove himself.

14) Adam Armstrong (Wolves)

Wolves might be the most fundamentally relegated team in Premier League history. And honestly fair play.

13) Brian Madjo (Aston Villa)

With zero disrespect intended towards the son of journeyman and Stafford Rangers legend Guy, it does not feel as though 17-year-old Madjo will be shattering that Villa first-team glass ceiling soon.

12) Evann Guessand (Crystal Palace)

Unai Emery has kindly revealed precisely what his approach with Guessand would be if Aston Villa had only agreed to sign the forward permanently when he met an appearance threshold.

But of course, while Harvey Elliott toils under the weight of contract stipulations, Villa laid a full £26m on Guessand in the summer. It went well enough that Crystal Palace will hope to celebrate his first career Premier League goal contribution soon after 13 blank games.

11) Souza (Tottenham)

Probably already injured without even realising.

10) Alysson (Aston Villa)

Knowing Villa and Emery, it will be £10m absurdly well spent on a player they ultimately have to sacrifice to appease the PSR gods. Alysson only leaves his teenage years in May so that process need not be rushed.

9) Stefan Ortega (Nottingham Forest)

The 11th shot-stopper Nottingham Forest have signed since being promoted to the Premier League in 2022 might be their first keeper.

It will be interesting to see Ortega as a No. 1 again, although 56 appearances in three-and-a-half seasons for Manchester City is hardly Scott Carson levels of deconditioning.

And besides, Ortega will have to wrestle the gloves from Angus Gunn’s cold, dead hands first.

8) Angel Gomes (Wolves)

It is not quite the triumphant Premier League return Gomes was being linked with during his time in the England limelight. The rumours of interest from Manchester United, Newcastle and Liverpool feel particularly long ago.

Wolves have a buy option built into their loan of yet another Gomes, who should at least significantly elevate their midfield quality. He does not feel like a Championship-adjacent player.

7) Nilson Angulo (Sunderland)

“He will probably need time to connect with his team-mates and the league, but you never know, sometimes it is really quick, sometimes it takes time,” said Regis Le Bris of £15m forward Angulo, who has taken the squad spot of rank Black Cats disappointment Simon Adingra.

Sunderland have presumably ignored the red flag that is an Ecuadorean player Brighton have not bothered to sign.

6) Axel Disasi (West Ham)

The key to Nuno and West Ham finally keeping a clean sheet? Almost definitely not but making sure can’t hurt. Unless he is put in a pair with Max Kilman.

5) Tyrique George (Everton)

With Jack Grealish sadly sidelined for the remainder of the season through injury, a spot for a Big Six loan with the potential to capture and break the hearts of Everton fans suddenly opened up.

The 20-year-old has as many Premier League career goals as he does starts (one each) and should at the very least automatically jump ahead of Tyler Dibling in the queue for minutes under David Moyes.

4) Kaye Furo (Brentford)

An £8.7m fee on a teenager with eight first-team appearances is very much speculation to accumulate. But that is where Brentford thrive, turning small initial investments into ludicrous profits years down the line.

They even signed him from the same Club Brugge that developed Igor Thiago before Brentford swooped. There are few better places for Furo to realise whatever attacking potential he has.

3) Lorenzo Lucca (Nottingham Forest)

He is four inches taller than Chris Wood. Sean Dyche must be stopped.

2) Jorgen Strand Larsen (Crystal Palace)

If the £5m of add-ons in a deal worth an initial £43m are triggered, Strand Larsen would be the third most expensive transfer ever between two Premier League clubs outside the Big Six.

Andre Onana has gone well enough for Aston Villa after they plucked him from Everton. Anthony Elanga has not since Newcastle spunked £55m on him.

It could go either way. Palace will certainly be hoping they get the Strand Larsen who scored 14 goals in his debut Wolves season, rather than the one who has not even been starting for one of the worst Premier League sides ever.

1) Oscar Bobb (Fulham)

There is naturally a belief that Manchester City might have another Cole Palmer situation on their hands, although a 20 per cent sell-on clause and matching rights if Fulham sell Bobb in the future offer the Etihad club far more protection in this case.

Leaving was not in the plans for Bobb when he broke through as the latest ridiculously gifted academy product, but that leg fracture suffered in the summer of 2024 almost entirely derailed his development.

Fulham have landed themselves a potential star, a player Pep Guardiola has “a lot of incredible, good opinions about”. But one he also basically implied was not properly injured earlier this season.