Transfer Window XI: Best players to move in January

Kostas Mitroglou

The January transfer window is always an interesting time of year, and this year was all about the struggling sides in the Premier League, as the lower half of the table got busy to strengthen their survival bids.

Fulham and Crystal Palace were the busier sides, with both having particularly hectic deadline days, while West Ham were also heavily involved in the transfer action.

Of the top sides in the division, Chelsea were the winners of the month as they made three big signings, while Arsenal failed to sign the striker they needed, but did sign Kim Kallstrom.

Liverpool didn’t quite get their star signing over the line in time, but Manchester United did, making the biggest move of the window by signing Juan Mata from Chelsea.

We at Squawka have put together an XI of players signed in the month of January, with only the best making the cut.

Goalkeeper – Wayne Hennessey (Wolves to Crystal Palace)

We won’t lie, it was difficult to find a goalkeeper, with a string of back-up ‘keepers being the only stoppers that moved around in the Premier League.

Hennessey is probably the pick of the bunch, with the Welsh international leaving Wolves after ten years at Molineux to provide competition to Julian Speroni.

Hennessey spent the first half of the season at Yeovil Town in the Championship and kept just one clean sheet, making 1.68 saves per goal he conceded.

Right Back – Marcos Alonso (Fiorentina to Sunderland)

No right-backs actually seemed to move around, so we’ve had to be a bit creative and switch Marcus Alonso from left to right to fill the gap.

Alonso was Gus Poyet’s first signing of the window as he joined on loan until the end of the season for his second stint in England, after a spell with Bolton previously.

Alonso is three games into his Sunderland career, but has already created four chances and made 12 interceptions.

Centre Back – Kurt Zouma (St Etienne to Chelsea)

Chelsea pulled off a real coup by getting the signature of Kurt Zouma from St Etienne, with the young defender being scouted by most of the top sides in Europe.

Zouma is touted as a future France captain by Didier Deschamps, and comes with a huge reputation as one of the stars of the future, making our team despite the fact he will be loaned back to St Etienne for the remainder of the season.

Zouma won 69% of his tackles in Ligue Un this season, while he also was successful in 75% of his aerial duels.

Kurt Zouma stats

Centre Back – Scott Dann (Blackburn to Crystal Palace)

Tony Pulis has done wonders for Crystal Palace’s defence since taking over from Ian Holloway, and made moves to strengthen it further by bringing Scott Dann to Selhurst Park.

Pulis was keen on signing Dann when he was at Stoke and finally got his man after a long-term courtship of the Blackburn defensive rock.

Dann won 73 aerial duels for Blackburn this season, while he won 51% of his tackles as well.

Left Back – Pablo Armero (Napoli to West Ham)

West Ham were in desperate need of defensive reinforcements after their clean sheet run came to a juddering halt with a raft of injuries.

Armero’s arrival allowed them to release the unsettled Razvan Rat as well and it looks as though the Hammers have upgraded in the full-back position.

Armero created 12 chances in his limited spell in the Napoli team, while he won 54% of his tackles.

Pablo Armero