The 2026 January transfer window concluded on 2 February as the English Premier League had its quietest ever winter transfer deadline day with only seven deals completed. Manchester City was once again very proactive in the transfer market, spending 65 million pounds on Antoine Semenyo after an impressive start to the season. City did beat Manchester United and Liverpool to the signature of the 26-year-old star. The citizens also went ahead to strengthen their defense for their quest to continue pushing for the league by signing Marc Guehi after a failed deal with Liverpool in the summer, spending an initial fee of 20 million pounds.
The January window saw Crystal Palace being one of the biggest spenders in the league by breaking their transfer record by signing former Tottenham star Brendan Johnson for 40 million euros, followed by a late signing of Strand Larsen for 48 million euros on deadline day. West Ham made a few signings of their own. After losing their talisman, Lucas Paqueta, to a romantic return to Flamengo, they responded with the arrivals of Taty Castellanos from Lazio and Pablo Felipe for fees of 43 million pounds and 22 million pounds, respectively, creating a new-look attack.
The teenagers were also seen making moves to find regular game time, from Oscar Bobb’s move to Fulham for 27 million pounds to Tyrique George’s loan move to Everton until the end of the season. Arsenal’s academy star Ethan Naweri also completed a loan move to French side Marseille after a lack of game time for the Gunners. Liverpool also got themselves a young talent on deadline day, Jeremy Jacquet, for a deal worth 60 million pounds, but he will join the English champions in the summer after a pre-agreement with Rennes.
After losing to the signing of Jeremy Jacquet to Liverpool, Chelsea went forward to recall Mamadou Sarr from loan to help with their defensive issues, The young Senegalese talent who just had a nice tournament with Senegal winning the African Cup of nations while filling the shoes of their captain Kalidou Koulibaly aims to make a good impression at Chelsea where there is a crisis in their defence, The young talent had already worked with the current Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior previously in Strasbourg.
Drama unfolded in Saudi Arabia as Karim Benzema completed a move to league leaders Al Hilal after his contract was terminated by his former club, Al-Ittihad. This was arguably the biggest story in the transfer window, as the Frenchman moved to the rival club, strengthening their position to win the league. Ademola Lookman was another standout in the transfer market; after intense interest from Fenerbahce to get his signature, the Nigerian star chose Diego Simeone’s side, Atletico Madrid, after they agreed on a fee of up to 40 million euros plus add-ons.
Not all transfers went through, as the almost done deal of Jean Philippe Mateta to AC Milan collapsed in the final hours after a medical examination in Paris revealed issues regarding his knee injury. Mateta is now set to head back to Selhurst Park to compete for his starting position against the new signing, Strand Larsen.
