5 big money January transfers that failed to impress

The January transfer window has its critics with some experts arguing whether teams should only be allowed to buy/sell players in the off season and utilize the same squad for the entirety of the campaign.On the other hand, there are those who see merit in the January window as it allows managers to account for injuries in their squads that they have no control over.But like it or not, the first month of the year does give fans something apart from just games to follow and look forward to. While, the total transfer activity and outlay is considerably less than the July-August window, January has thrown up its fair share of blockbuster moves over the years.Here we discuss 5 of these moves that didn’t work out as expected for player and club:

#1 Fernando Torres

Fernando Torres was lethal during his time at Liverpool and was rightly recognised as one of the world’s best strikers during his four and a half year spell on Merseyside. That same killer instinct in front of goal prompted Chelsea to sign the Spaniard for a British record £50 million on 31st January 2011, a move the Londoners would come to regret soon after.

What followed was three years of misery for Torres who scored just 20 goals in 110 appearances for Chelsea compared to 65 that he had netted for Liverpool in just over a century of games. 

With El Nino failing to find his lost form at Stamford Bridge, he became the gold standard for failed transfers and teams started exercising extra caution before splurging big money on established stars in January.

The Blues finally offloaded Torres to AC Milan on a two-year loan deal in the summer of 2014 after signing Diego Costa. But life in Italy hasn’t been any kinder to the Spanish World Cup winner so far.