Wrap up of the January Transfer window: Biggest Winners and Losers

The January transfer window has for long been a controversial topic that has drawn the ire of managers like Arsene Wenger, heckling for its complete removal or modification at the least. As debates and discussions rage on over the justification of this window, for soccer fans, however, this is a period of excitement, with speculation linking a host of players to the top clubs.

The 2014 January transfer window was no different with a number of players making the switch to different clubs with plenty of talking points. We briefly examine the winners and losers of this transfer window.

WINNERS:

1) Manchester United: Under pressure, after a dismal summer transfer window and a below par league performance, the Red Devils were expected to add quality in their ranks and filter out the under-performers in the winter transfer window. The first signs of change were seen when Anderson was loaned out to Fiorentina at the start of the window heralding a flurry of activity in and around the club. As reinforcements were expected mainly in the midfield area, a host of top midfielders were tipped to join the Red Devils, with talks of Claudio Marchisio and Toni Kroos floating in the air. Little did they know that help was to arrive from an unlikely source. Juan who? The initial reaction of most fans when told that Juan Mata was to make the switch from Chelsea. A week later, the 39 million euro deal was confirmed and Juan Mata was officially announced as an United player, completing unquestionably the best purchase of the winter transfer window.

2) PSG: With Cavani and Ibrahimovic needing more ammunition from midfield areas, speculation was rife that PSG were in for a midfielder or attacker in the winter transfer window. These rumours were confirmed when an enquiry was made for Newcastle Utd midfielder, Yohann Cabaye. Although a long time transfer target for the Gunner, PSG were confident of getting their man as Newcastle was reluctant to strengthen their London rivals. After a week of deliberations and a delegation from Paris negotiating terms at St James Park, Cabaye’s transfer was announced, making PSG a big time benefactor from this winter’s transfer window.

3) Chelsea : Despite selling one of their best assets in the form of Juan Mata, the Blues had a lot to be happy about during the course of the winter transfer window. Nemanja Matic, an ex-blue, was brought back into the fold from Benfica, for an estimated fee of 22 million euros. The sale of Mata has to be viewed as a tactical decision from Mourinho, with perceived benefits to be seen later on and already being seen financially, in the Financial Fair play regulations. The purchase of the talented winger Mohammad Salah for a fee of 11.6 million euro, was indeed a steal, so was the transfer of Kurt Zouma from Saint Etienne for a fee of 12.8 million euros.

LOSERS:

1) Arsenal : Contrary to comments made by the Gunners manager, rumours, which were later confirmed, were afloat of a swoop for coveted 20 year-old Schalke 04 starlet Julian Draxler. A North London delegation also made the trip to Germany to personally oversee details regarding the transfer. Similar to United’s pursuit of Fabregas in the summer, a significant part of the window was spent by the Gunners in negotiations to engineer a transfer. However, as Arsenal apparently were reluctant to meet Schalke’s $38 million valuation of the player, talks were suspended with further doubt being cast on Arsenal’s image of not spending sufficiently to recruit talent from abroad. Later on Arsenal had to settle for the injury prone midfielder Kim Kallstrom on loan from Spartak Moscow as the only signing in an unproductive winter transfer window for the Gunners.

2) Manchester City : The Blues of Manchester had a surprisingly quiet transfer window, with only a couple of Porto players being linked with a switch to the Eastlands. Fernando and Eliaquim Mangala were the only players linked to the Manchester giants in the winter window.

3) Liverpool : The Reds were linked to Basel attacker Mohammad Salah for the initial period of the transfer window. However as Chelsea signed the Egyptian from right under their noses, the pressure was on Liverpool to deliver a good enough signing to please the Anfield faithful. Talks of the highly rated Dnipro youngster Yevhen Konoplyanka signing for the club made the buzz with the deal almost going through until the last minute, when the Dnipro club president refused to sanction the transfer.

4) Newcastle United: Yohann Cabaye’s transfer to PSG was undoubtedly one of the biggest talking points in this winter transfer window. With Newcastle struggling to keep the services of the Frenchman from the last summer transfer window, a move was always on the cards and the pursuing club to make the offer was also not a surprise. However one would have expected Newcastle United to have held out for a fee at least in the region of 25-30 million euro’s to justify the sale of one of their most prized assets. In the end, the fee of around 20 million euro’s agreed between the two clubs, was a damp squib, to say the least. For, Luuk De Jong signed from Twente, filling the shoes of Cabaye is indeed going to be a tough task.

These were some of the highlights of an extremely eventful winter transfer window. Looking forward to an even better upcoming summer transfer window!