Top 5 January transfers that you may have missed
Another pulsating, eye-catching and crazy January transfer window has come and gone with spending reaching a record breaking £419m. The window has been dominated by the Alexis Sanchez saga at Arsenal, the Chilean eventually opting for a move to the red side of Manchester, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan going the other way in a straight swap deal.
Both Liverpool and Manchester City broke their transfer records on centre-backs bringing in Virgil van Dijk (£75m) and Aymeric Laporte (£57m) respectively. Tottenham were also in the market. Sadly there was no Harry Redknapp hanging out his car window but they did manage to bring in the talented Lucas Moura from PSG for a modest £25m.
It’s been an exceptionally busy window and in this article I’m going to highlight and assess five transfers that you may have missed amidst all the big-money spending and piano playing announcements.
#5 Jordan Hugill - Preston North End to West Ham United, undisclosed fee
West Ham had a frustrating window, many attempts to bring in players were rebuffed and considering their extensive injury list, they probably still feel slightly short-handed heading into the closing stages of the season.
Hugill was the latter of two signings for Hammers following the arrival of Joao Mario from Inter Milan on loan.
Hugill is highly rated in the Championship and by all means is a decent striker. The question remains, can he shine at the top level? Before his deadline day move he returned a modest 8 goals from 27 league games for Preston this campaign.
Those stats certainly won’t get the Hammers fans mouth-watering, however, at only 25 years-old he can certainly still improve. Preston priced several Championship rivals out of a move for their star striker by slapping a £8m price-tag on his head.
West Ham are believed to have paid between £8-10m, which in this market is cheap change but still a big enough outlay that they’ll expect Hugill to hit the ground running, and they need him to. West Ham have been struggling for goals all season.