As the January transfer window will come to an end in a few days many teams will want to get signatures of their most wanted players. Most teams use this transfer window to strengthen their squad as the following half of the season becomes crucial. Teams do have targets to reach by the end of the season and given the opportunity by the transfer window they try to get the needed players. In recent times one rule has come into play where a team can purchase a player in the January transfer window which can join them at the start of next season but still can continue to play the rest of the season for the current team. So let’s look at some of the top January Transfers which took place in recent years.
Philippe Coutinho
Coutinho’s transfer to Barcelona is known as one of the costliest transfers for a midfield player. Barca paid a huge fee of £105 million to Liverpool in January 2018. He was linked to the club for a long time and it is said that Barca tried to sign him at the start of the season but could not go through. Finally, in January the deal was done and he played the rest of the season with Barca. He scored 8 goals and provided 5 assists in the league which helped Barca to win the league comfortably.
Though he could not continue with such form in the coming years which resulted in less game participation. Due to this he was then loaned to Munich where ironically he won the UCL and also scored twice while playing against Barca. He then came back to Barca and was not able to perform worth his value. Now again in the January window, he has joined Aston Villa in England on loan for the rest of the season with an option to buy.
Bruno Fernandes
Bruno was playing in the Portuguese league with Sporting Lisbon and was performing really well. It then attracted attention from many top teams in Europe. But it was the Red Devils who were able to get the signature of this midfield maestro. In January 2020 United paid a fee of £46.6 million to get him to the team. Bruno has been a good addition to the Red Devils and also helped the team reach the top position.
He has scored 33 goals in the Premier League till now and has played an important role in the midfield. He has also made 24 assists. He helped United to reach the Europa League finals in the last season though could not end up on the winning side.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Auba was playing as a forward in the German league with Dortmund. His goal-scoring ability attracted Arsene Wenger’s attention which made him desperate to get Auba to London. It was the deadline day of the 2018 January transfer window when Arsenal were able to crack the deal with Dortmund. Arsenal paid a fee of £56 million which was a record fee paid by them then. He then went on to score 10 goals for the remainder of the season in the premier league.
He showed why he was the record-breaking signing in the next season when he won the Golden Boot for being the top scorer with 22 goals. In the following season, he maintained his goal-scoring form and scored 22 goals again. In the recent two seasons, he has dropped his form and is not able to score goals as fluently as he did earlier.