January Transfer Window: Winners and losers

Juan Mata made his move to Manchester United

February first will forever be a day reserved for reflection in the footballing world, amid the hangover left in place of fervent transfer rumours and gossip, which had filled acres of column inches in the press throughout January.

While some clubs have been left sore through either scuppered deals or having seen their teams raided, others will scarcely believe their luck in having landed dream additions, so let’s take a look at which Premier League teams came up trumps, and which found January a month to forget.

Winners:

Crystal Palace

Without a doubt, of all PL teams Palace exhibited the most activity during deadline day in adding a raft of names to a squad that was already the largest in Europe. Former Eagles boss Ian Holloway was tremendously energetic in bringing players to Selhurst Park during the previous summer and Tony Pulis duly followed suit, ultimately able to land ex-Liverpool starlet Tom Ince, Celtic midfielder Joe Ledley, centre-half Scott Dann and goalkeeper Wayne Hennessy. Danny Puncheon’s loan move from Southampton was also made permanent.

Fulham

Arguably the most significant signing in what was quite an anti-climactic deadline day was Konstantinos Mitroglou. Now a Fulham player, the Grecian forward managed to score three goals in five appearances throughout the Champions League group stage with former club Olympiakos and had been previously linked with both Liverpool and Arsenal. A good deal of much needed mobility has also been supplied to the Craven Cottage outfit’s midfield through landing Lewis Holtby from Tottenham on loan.

Manchester United

Not only did the reigning champions pull off a deal for a fierce rival’s player of the year two times running, they also managed to avoid any last minute anxiety through getting their business done relatively early. United may have only purchased one player, but what a player he is and the hope at Old Trafford is that Juan Mata can galvanise and rescue what has been an uninspired season for Man United so far.

Chelsea

They may have lost an extremely gifted playmaker, and the Blues attempts to break down a resilient, albeit deeply stationed, West Ham side during the week were crying out the Spaniards creative talents, but Chelsea made a huge sum of money from the sale of a player they weren’t actually using all that much. Additionally, the £37 million made goes some way in balancing the books following the signings of Nemanja Matic, Mohammed Salah and Kurt Zouma.

West Ham

Having amassed the highest number of clean sheets in the English top-flight so far this season – all the more impressive considering Sam Allardyce has frequently been forced to cobble together a defensive line comprising players played out of position – one thing the Hammers have desperately needed is goals.

In view of this, the loan signing of Marco Boriello from Roma to supplement big Sam’s strike force seems a sensible one, while Antonio gives him options in midfield and Pablo Armero helps patch up a defensive line ravaged by injuries. However, the icing on the cake, perhaps, is that West Ham fan’s get to see the back of the rather suspect forward, Modibo Maiga, as well as Razvan Rat.