With the 2022 FIFA World Cup being held in a Middle-Eastern State as well as during the mid-season period, everyone was expecting the January transfer window in 2023 would turn out to be one of the most bizarre ever since teams are now preparing to attend to their busy second-half schedule of the season with renewed squad depth and replacements. The Premier League winter transfer window was closed on 31st January 2023 (Tuesday) and crazy moves, especially by five-time Premier League champion Chelsea, will definitely shake things up for the remaining timeline of the current league campaign. It is time for us to take a look at some of the best signings Premier League clubs had made to alter their squad condition in one of the wildest January transfer windows ever. We will start it off with the Blues’ new €121m midfielder from Argentina, Enzo Fernández.
Enzo Fernández (€121M, From S. L. Benfica to Chelsea)
The 22-year-old midfielder from San Martín, Argentina rose to become one of the hottest names in the football world when he led Argentina to its third World Cup triumph at Qatar last month, bagging the Young Player Award as well. The player, who signed an eight-and-a-half-year long deal at Stamford Bridge, made Chelsea’s total spending in the January transfer window to reach a whooping sum of more than €300m, having also signed seven other players last month. The FIFA World Cup winning player smashed the Premier League’s record for the most expensive signing ever, eclipsing Jack Grealish’s €117.5m from Aston Villa to Manchester City two years ago, and the 22-year-old player also became the most expensive midfielder ever in the history of football.
Mykhailo Mudryk (€100M, From Shakhtar Donetsk to Chelsea)
Enzo Fernández was not the only €100m-purchase Todd Beohly’s team made during this transfer window as Chelsea had signed Ukrainian winger Mykhailo Mudryk mid-January too; The player from Krasnohrad, Ukraine made his senior debut back in 2018 as a 17-year-old and had cost the Blues €100m with add-ons. When the transfer was made public, fans from the North London were particularly unhappy as they thought the Ukrainian winger was bound to sign for Chelsea’s London rival, Arsenal instead. The player himself was also seen teasing Arsenal fans by posting a story regarding his transfer news to the Gunners via a story on Instagram.
Jorginho (€13M, From Chelsea to Arsenal)
With so many signings made and rebuilding on the way, Chelsea had to let go some of its players, and Jorginho was a noteworthy outgoing transfer from Graham Potter’s squad. The midfielder, whose skills are admired by Mikel Arteta, was signed for Arsenal on deadline day. The Italian was one of the biggest steals in the January transfer window of 2023 as his experience will definitely provide the veteran leadership the Gunners lack of in their young dressing room and boost the team’s chances of winning its first Premier League crown since the 2003/2004 Season.
🚨 Jorginho meets Mikel Arteta for the first time. 🤝
(Source: @Arsenal) pic.twitter.com/jmaIuPc6jE
— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) February 1, 2023
Cody Gakpo (€42M, From PSV Eindhoven to Liverpool)
Let us not forget about this move despite the wild transfer window, shall we? The Dutch winger made a huge impact in Netherlands’ journey in the Qatar World Cup and Liverpool quickly made up their mind to steal the player from its rival Manchester United. The 23-year-old player may not be a great influence in Liverpool just yet as the team’s nightmare season continued, but considering his talents and age, Gakpo is likely to play a big part to lead the Reds back to winning ways in the short and long future.
Marcel Sabitzer (On Loan from Bayern Munich to Manchester United)
Manchester United welcomed back all of its senior forwards to the squad in their recent clash against Nottingham Forest F. C. in the semifinal of the Carabao Cup. Nonetheless, an injury inflicted by Reading’s Andy Carroll caused United’s starting midfielder Christian Eriksen to face a lengthy spell on the sidelines, with a returning date of late April or early May. This prompted the Red Devils’ manager, 53-year-old Erik ten Hag to find a temporary replacement for his midfield, and the likes of Isco, Saúl Ñíguez, Houssem Aouar, etc. were all offered to the Dutchman, before he eventually settled for a loan move to lure Austrian Marcel Sabitzer to the squad. The multidimensional 28-year-old will play a vital part in United’s upcoming busy timetable in both the Premier League and three other club competitions, including the Europa League, Carabao and FA Cups.
Notable Mentions
It is impossible to list every single transfer in the Premier League this January, but we have quite a number of transfers that are worth mentioning, namely João Félix’s loan move from Atlético Madrid to Chelsea, Anthony Gordon from Everton to Newcastle United, Keylor Navas from Paris Saint-Germain to Nottingham Forest, Pedro Porro’s loan move from Sporting CP to Tottenham Hotspur and Pablo Sarabia from Paris Saint-Germain to Wolverhampton Wanderers. On the other hand, there were also many highly-anticipated potential moves that failed to happen in the last transfer window in the Premier League and Europe’s other top leagues.
Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United reached the Carabao Cup final. Click here for the semifinal match highlights.
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