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To say the transfer deadline was quiet would be an understatement, and is illustrated by the fact that the late attention was focused on whether Bournemouth’s Joshua King would opt for Everton or Fulham and whether Southampton would seal a loan to Liverpool’s Takumi Minamino.
They certainly won’t be considered two of the more exciting “after hours” signings, but they were as intriguing as it was for the hardcore fans of the window, with caution rather than drama dominating the final trading day.
Premier League clubs only completed three permanent deals and instead loans were preferred, with six temporary changes made.
The total transfer fees paid by players in the winter window were the lowest since the £ 30 million spent in 2010. According to financial services firm Deloitte, £ 70 million was spent this time, well below the £ 230 million paid last year.
Reigning champions Liverpool gave us most of the interest, bringing in two center-backs in a couple of hours to ease their defensive woes.
Even then, however, one cost a couple million and the other was on loan.
Some of Deloitte’s other key findings from the window include:
- There were only 24 Premier League transfers during the window, compared to the average of 46 in the January windows of the previous three years.
- The ‘big six’ Premier League clubs – Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester Utd, Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea – made just three permanent transfers and three loan commission transfers, representing 35% of total spending.
- The bottom four clubs in the table only spent £ 6 million on seven new players. Clubs in the same position last season completed a total of eight transfers worth £ 40 million.
- Transfer volume in January 2021 in the other four ‘big five’ European leagues was just over half its previous three-year average for January.
What were the transfers on the deadline day?
Liverpool turned to the Championship and the Bundesliga to reinforce its defense affected by injuries like Ben Davies made a surprise move Preston in a £ 2 million deal, while Turkey’s Ozan Kabak came on loan from Schalke.
Brighton’s capture of highly rated Ecuadorian midfielder Moisés Caicedo and Everton’s signing of King were the only other permanent moves. Caicedo joined the seagulls from Independiente del Valle for £ 4 million, while King’s exchange from Bournemouth was for a nominal fee.
The other deals were all loans. In addition to Liverpool adding Kabak and the Saints completing a late deal for Minamino, Newcastle brought Arsenal midfielder Joe Willock for the remainder of the season, while his Gunners teammate Ainsley Maitland-Niles moved to West Brom, who also brought in midfielder Okay Yokuslu in a loan agreement of the Spanish Celta Vigo.
Fulham beefed up their attacking options with the loan signature from former Sunderland forward Josh Maja of Bordeaux.
The two most important deals completed in the entire window were Purchase of Manchester United by Amad Diallo, with the Red Devils paying Atalanta a starting £ 19 million for the winger, with an additional £ 18.2 million in add-ons, and West Ham’s £ 20m signing up by Said Benrahma of Brentford.
Both deals were agreed last summer.
Aston Villa signs midfielder Morgan Sanson from Marseille for 14 million pounds sterling it was the only other major deal made in January.
Why was it so quiet?
The obvious reason is the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on club finances.
Deloitte estimates Only the 20 highest-earning football clubs in the world will have lost two billion euros (£ 1.77 billion) as a result of Covid-19.
Dan Jones, Sports Business Group Partner at Deloitte, said: “Premier League clubs were understandably cautious in the January transfer window given the continued financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite this, the very busy summer window of Premier League clubs, at a time when the rest of European football was more restricted, saw total net spending for the 2020/21 season reach a new record high. of £ 950 million.
“It remains to be seen whether the relatively low activity from January will continue into 2021. We certainly do not expect to see another new record this summer.”
Jones added: “During the January 2021 window, Premier League clubs spending on non-English club players fell to just £ 45 million. In the two previous January transfer windows, clubs spending of the Premier League in this category of expenses averaged 165 million pounds.
“While the new post-Brexit rules on acquiring foreign players may have contributed to this, the financial impact of the pandemic was by far a more important factor.”
Former Liverpool player Don Hutchison told BBC Radio 5 live: “It may happen again in the summer, but I think the pandemic in this window is the reason no one saw a couple of £ players come in. 100 million “.
An additional challenge is the fact that transfer agreements are now subject to new immigration criteria as a result of Brexit.
The UK left the European Union on New Years Eve last year and managers were frustrated in finding some players because they no longer qualify for a work permit due to the change in rules.
Sam Allardyce, Head of West Brom said earlier this month that he lost three players due to the new regulations, and that they have made his life “a little more difficult”.
Discreet window across Europe
Similar trends can be seen in the other “big five” European leagues, as the financial impact of the pandemic is felt across the continent.
Transfer volume in January 2021 in the other four European ‘big five’ leagues was just over half their previous three-year average in January, while transfer spending in the January window has plummeted. from a total of 660 million euros to 195 million euros throughout the country. Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A.
Juventus midfielder Sami Khedira made a permanent move Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga, while a couple of players left the Premier League for Turkey. Everton forward Cenk Tosun joins Besiktas on loan Y Galatasaray signed Newcastle winger DeAndre Yedlin on a free transfer.
Elsewhere, Olivier Ntcham celtic left on loan from French Marseille until the end of the season
Famous dads boys on the move
It may have been a quiet transfer window, but there were still a few movements that got attention.
Championship Watford seemed to have turned back time Signing Bergkamp and Pochettino, but it was not the Arsenal legend or the former Argentine defender who moved to the Hornets. It was his children.
Midfielder Mitchel Bergkamp, 22, joined the club on a six-month contract, while winger Maurizio Pochettino, 19, signed a free transfer after leaving Tottenham.
Nineteen-year-old winger D’Margio Wright-Phillips – son of Shaun Wright-Phillips and grandson of Ian Wright – it was reported that he was on his way to loan from Manchester City to Stoke, while the Potters let Paul’s son Tom Ince join championship rivals Luton on loan.
Is that for the signings this season?
Not necessarily, because clubs can sign free agents after the deadline, at any stage of the season, in fact, but they must have left their previous club before the transfer window closed.
Clubs in the EFL or Premier League cannot make transfers after the deadline, except in extreme circumstances, such as a club’s senior goalkeepers being unavailable.
Deadline day was boring … so how about a quiz!
It was perhaps no surprise that the January 2021 transfer window was fairly quiet – the world had enough on its plate to worry too much about the possibility of West Ham adding an extra body in midfield.
But there were enough intriguing moves in the Premier League and beyond that we could put together a quiz.
So can you name these January 10 moves?
Can you name these January transfers?
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