Premier League’s Biggest January of 2022 Transfers

Another winter transfer window has come and gone and Premier League was as usual at the center of all the transfer talk around Europe. With the Top 4 race wide open for several clubs to compete for the Champions League qualifying places as well as a heated relegation battle that could very well last until the final week of the season, a lot of teams sought out to strengthen or weed out unruly characters from their squad in order to be at their best in the final stretch of the season.

With the Saudi-owned Newcastle in the relegation battle and teams like Everton who have wealthy owners in the danger zone as well, Premier League clubs went on a shopping spree, spending £295m in this year’s January window which is the 2nd highest ever and is significantly more than the other big 5 leagues in Europe. So now that we’re well into 2022 with February coming to an end pretty soon, let’s take a brief look at all these transfers to figure out who were the

Premier League biggest January of 2022 transfers

and how well are they doing:

Premier League Transfers of January 2022

Our main goal here is to look over the Premier League transfers of January 2022 and focus on the players that are currently in the Premier League rather than outgoing players who have left the league like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. So, let’s start:

Outgoings

Let’s kick off our list of Premier League biggest January of 2022 transfers with a brief mention of a few Premier League stars who departed the league to join La Liga. Those players would be Arsenal’s former captain Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Ferran Torres, Adama Traore and Anthony Martial. Perhaps

’s transfer was the weirdest among them since the striker had still 2.5 years on his hefty contract at Arsenal but as Arteta has repeatedly demonstrated, he takes no prisoners and Auba was the latest player to be kicked out by the Spaniard.

After failing to perform to the high standards Auba himself set following his contract extension, the Gabonese superstar was beginning to anger the fans and

. So when there were reports of his insubordination and lack of discipline many knew what would soon follow. The striker was strangely allowed to leave on a free with Arsenal still paying some of his wages until the summer and he then signed for Barcelona which would be a dream transfer for a player that was seemingly in decline. Although he proved doubters wrong when he scored a hat-trick for Barca last week.

Barcelona also bolstered their attack with two other Premier League stars, Adama Traore and Ferran Torres. In Traore’s case, the winger was coming back to his old club since he is a La Masia product but this reunion cost €20m. he seems to be settling well at Barca. Ferran Torres was the player that kicked off the transfer window by joining Barcelona in a €55m. the pressure seems more on him though since he has failed to perform at

so far.

Another outcast that was yearning for some game time to perhaps salvage his career was Manchester United’s Anthony Martial who joined the title-contenders Sevilla on a loan deal until the end of the season. There are no obligation for Sevilla to buy him and he may very well end up in Manchester United in the summer since he has not yet made an impact at

.

Julian Alvarez (River Plate to Manchester City)

Now that we are done with the players that left the Premier League, it is time to turn to a player who will be joining the league in the summer but actually signed a deal with

in January transfer window of 2022, and that player is the Argentinian Julian Alvarez. It is no secret that Manchester City have been looking for a world-class striker ever since Aguero left the club but after their efforts for signing Harry Kane in the summer were rebuffed, they are now looking to bring young talent.

The move for Alvarez may be just a back-up plan for them to sign a proved striker in the summer but the young Argentinian has shown immense talent and it wouldn’t be the first time that an Argentine striker joined a European side and immediately became a huge hit (Lautaro Martinez). Alvarez though seems to be a late bloomer compared to players his age (22), making his breakthrough only last season after he impressed for

in the Copa Libertadores.

In 2021 however, Alvarez was on fire, scoring 22 goals. He bagged a hat-trick not a few days ago, once again showing why Manchester City opted to sign him for €17m, although the Cityzens loaned him back to River Plate until the end of the season. Capable of playing as both a striker and a winger, Julian Alvarez will be an important asset for Manchester City going forward which is why he is one of Premier League biggest January of 2022 transfers.

Lucas Digne (Everton to Aston Villa)

For a second there,

seemed to be finally on the right track to challenge the Big 6 for European places. The arrival of the wealthy owner Farhad Moshiri and the appointment of the great Carlo Ancelotti were all good signs which were boosted by the transfer of players like Lucas Digne and James Rodriguez but it all fell apart after Carlo Ancelotti abruptly abandoned ship in the summer and joined Real Madrid.

Lucas Digne excelled under Ancelotti, recording 14 assists in the last two seasons and even getting called up to the French national team for the Euro 2020 but the story was different under Rafael Benitez since he didn’t trust the Frenchman all that much, which prompted him to seek a move away from the Goodison Park and towards Aston Villa who have been all about shrewd signings this season, especially in the Premier League transfer window of January 2022.

After much speculation and being linked to several clubs during the

January transfer window of 2022

, Lucas Digne decided to join the Aston Villa for a price of £25 million on a contract that runs until 2026. With the addition of him and Coutinho, who are both among the Premier League biggest January of 2022 transfers, as well as great signings that Villa already made in the summer all of which are managed by the great Steven Gerrard, Aston Villa has a genuine chance of catching up with the teams at the top half of the table and upset a few of the big clubs!

Dejan Kulusevski (Juventus to Tottenham Hotspur)

With the whole disaster of appointing Nuno Spirito Santo as their manager and him spectacularly failing at Spurs, the North London side decided to go for a manager they were eying even in the summer, Antonio Conte. Now the Italian mastermind is not exactly known for his subtle management tactics as he always brings a lot of changes to a club, and many would argue that Spurs were in desperate need of those changes.

Which us where a player like Dejan Kulusevski comes in. the Swedish international was once heralded to be one of the future stars of

but with the transfer of Vlahovic to Juventus and the financial strain that put on the club, the Old Lady had to offload some of its players. Namely Kulusevski and Bentancur to Tottenham who has Juventus’ former sporting director, Fabio Paratici, running the transfers now.

Capable of playing several different roles in midfield as well as in attack, Kulusevski is sometimes called a mezzala in Italy or a half-winger. Basically, an attacking midfielder that likes to play behind the strikers with regular runs into the opposition’s box. Which seems to be the perfect player to replace Dele Alli with.

Despite being technically on loan from Juventus, Kulusevski came with a hefty price as his loan fee is around €10 million as well as an obligation to buy him permanently for €35 million. The 21 year old however seems to be settling in well as he scored and assisted in the recent Tottenham win over the league leaders Manchester City which definitely makes his transfer one of the highlights of the

Premier League transfer window of January 2022

. 

Donny van de Beek (Manchester United to Everton)

Donny van de Beek’s transfer from Ajax to Manchester United has perhaps been one of the strangest transfer deals that happened in recent memory. Part of a great generation of Ajax players that won domestic trophies as well as reach a Europa League final and a Champions League semi-final, Donny van de Beek was touted to become one of the best players of this generation but his transfer £35 million transfer to Old Trafford failed miserably.

Despite showing promise and glimpses of his old self whenever he was given a chance, van de Beek was never trusted by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and by the time Rangnick came in his confidence was too shot to perform. After 27 appearances in the Premier League over a season and a half, van de Beek only made 4 starts which is shocking. But this all made the decision for him to move to Everton in order to gain some playing time, make sense.

 Described as a perfect central midfielder, Donny van de Beek can play both the Number 6 and Number 8 roles in a team. He is technically gifted enough to take on defenders and hold on to the ball until he could create a chance. He is also great at making late runs into the box which makes him a goal threat as well. If developed correctly van de Beek has the potential to become a complete midfielder but that remains to be seen.

He has a great chance to do so though, as he now works under Frank Lampard who is considered to be one of the

and who is also responsible for the development of Chelsea’s incredibly talented young players like Mason Mount. In what was one of the Premier League biggest January of 2022 transfers, van de Beek joined Everton in a loaned deal that sees him play for the Toffees until the end of the season, let’s see if Donny van de Beek could get back some of his lost mojo there!

Chris Wood (Burnley to Newcastle United)

This Premier League transfer window of January 2022 had its fair share of strange deals but one of the strangest has to be the transfer of Chris Wood from Burnley to Newcastle. The deal made some sense from Newcastle’s point of view, since Chris Wood is a Premier League veteran and has been known to score a dozen goals a season in the past several years, although his goals have dried up lately, but from Burnley’s point of view the transfer makes less sense.

Sean Dyche’s side are once again in a relegation battle and seem to be in need of Wood’s valuable goals to once again help them survive and yet they agreed to sell him to a rival. Although Wood’s £25 million release clause, which was triggered by

, as well as the transfer of the incredible Wout Weghorst from Wolfsburg to

, who was one of the best Bundesliga players of last season, makes this and easier pill to swallow for Burnley.

But so far none of those transfers have worked for either Burnley or Newcastle since neither Wood or Weghorst have scored for their teams. At 30, this may be Wood’s last chance to prove himself at England’s top tier and despite being one of Premier League biggest January of 2022 transfers, the deal might turn out to be not entirely in his favor since there is much more pressure on him to perform at Newcastle. But there are still quite a lot of matches to go until the end of the season and he might get his chance to shine once again!

Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur to Everton)

When he first burst onto the scene Dele Alli was expected to become one of the best players of his generation. The English midfielder was so talented that someone like Sir Alex Ferguson talked about how much he wanted to be able to coach him. His partnership with Kane, Son and Eriksen took Tottenham to new heights and despite not winning any trophies, they did manage to reach a Champions League final. But throughout all that, there were talk of how disruptive his attitude is and how he is not a good trainer.

And both those things caught up to him when there was a change of leadership in Tottenham. While Mourinho didn’t put him outside his plans, his playing time became less and less as time went on and under Nuno Espirito Santo, Dele Alli became completely neglected and when he did show up, he only showed glimpses of his former self. Which prompted him and Tottenham to look for a new club for Alli in the Premier League transfer window of January 2022.

Dele Alli is sometimes referred to as being a Raumdeuter, a term often attributed to

’s Thomas Muller. He is similar to

in the sense that he often finds the empty space left behind attackers or on the wings and exploits it, creating a chance for himself or his teammates which could come very handy for Frank Lampard’s Everton since they seem to be lacking in.

If Dele Alli returns to his best, the ₤40 million Everton paid for him to make him one of the

Premier League biggest January of 2022 transfers

could be an afterthought, but that is a big if. As of writing this article the 25-year-old hasn’t yet started a game for Everton but if anyone can get him back to his best, it would be Frank Lampard.

Bruno Guimaraes (Lyon to Newcastle United)

The last Newcastle United to appear on our list of the biggest

Premier League transfers of January 2022

is the Brazilian Bruno Guimaraes whose transfer from Lyon to Newcastle seem like a steal based on his incredible performances in Ligue 1. Linked with the likes of Arsenal and Juventus, Guimaraes was dead set on moving away in the January transfer window of 2022 and he finally got his wish after an incredible transfer coup by Newcastle, that saw him come to St. James’ Park instead of going to the bigger clubs that were after him.

Having made his professional debut in a small Sao Paulo club, Audax, Guimaraes went on to excel at Athletico Paranaense when he joined them in 2017. He then caught the eye of

who agreed to bring him to Ligue 1 for the price of €20 million and a hefty 20% sell-on clause for Athletico Paranaense. As we mentioned his outstanding performances in Ligue 1 was enough to make him one of the most wanted midfielders in Europe.

Described as the perfect number 6, Guimaraes excels at getting the ball in defensive areas and transitioning the team into attack with his excellent vision and great passing ability. At Lyon, his pinpoint accurate through balls would often see him create chances for his teammates in dangerous areas. Bruno also has a great defensive work rate as well and is quite aggressive when it comes to defending.

This all makes him the perfect player for Newcastle, or any other club really, to sign. He has already been adapting well at Newcastle and their new signing seem to have gotten them out of the rut they were in. the fact that they paid £40m to sign him may have sounded earth-shattering for Newcastle fans a year ago but with their new owners in charge, the fee seems trivial. Nonetheless, it along Guimaraes’ sheer quality as a player, definitely makes this one of Premier League biggest January of 2022 transfers. 

Luis Diaz (Porto to Liverpool)

Liverpool was not a busy club this Premier League transfer window of January 2022 as is their habit. Jurgen Klopp seems to have constructed the perfect team containing of 17 or 18 quality players who could all be selected to start a game. So their transfer strategy veers toward bringing in quality rather quantity and squad players and the transfer of Luis Diaz from Porto to Liverpool exactly aligns with that strategy.

The Colombian winger who started his career in the second tier of Colombian football and then after moving to Europe gained prominence in Porto, have been brilliant this season and has dominated the Primeira Liga. So, it was only natural that so many clubs were after him in January. As the contract situation for Salah, Mane and Firmino is venturing more into uncertainty, it is a smart move for Liverpool to move for players like Diaz who are still quite young and can become starters at the club if any of those three decides to leave.

Diaz managed to score 14 goals and record 4 assists in the first half of the season for Porto, improving his own record from the last two seasons and showing he is in fact a winger that has a lot of goals in him. In fact, he has already scored for Liverpool in 2 appearances he has made for the club but he has a long way to go to justify his £37.5 million price tag that could go as high as £50 million with add-ons. Whether he succeeds at Liverpool or not, there is no doubt that this deal was one of Premier League biggest January of 2022 transfers.

Philip Coutinho (Barcelona to Aston Villa)

It is insane the rollercoaster that Philip Coutinho has been on ever since he left Liverpool to join Barcelona in 2018 for a reported fee of

. The Brazilian dreamt of winning the Champions League with Barcelona but after his departure it was his old team, Liverpool, who won it in 2019 and then after a lackluster season and being loaned out to Bayern Munich, he finally won the Champions League but with Bayern Munich and by decimating Barcelona 8-2 in the knockout stages.

The fact that he scored 2 and assisted another in that 8-2 thrashing never went down well with the Barcelona faithful and the hierarchy of the club so upon his return he was essentially cast away and isolated. After months and months of speculation, this past January finally allowed Coutinho to leave Barca and perhaps for good this time, reuniting with his old teammate, Steven Gerrard who is now Aston Villa’s head coach.

Earlier we talked about Villa’s shrewd signings this season, and in hindsight, there couldn’t be a smarter signing than getting Philip Coutinho on loan. Villa agreed to partially pay Coutinho’s wages as well as having an option to buy him in the summer for £33m, with the key word being ‘option’ here. And so far, there doesn’t seem to be any reason for Villa not to take that option, since the Brazilian has already scored two and assisted two more in the 4 games, he has started for Villa this season, making him perhaps the best and one of

Premier League biggest January of 2022 transfers

.

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