The Deadline Day action promises twists and turns similar to Manchester City’s title win over Manchester United back in the 2011-12 season. As the dying hours of the transfer window roll in, clubs in Europe are scrambling to push through some last minute deals. However, it is popularly believed that the January window is the quieter one of the two and with the FIFA World Cup coming up; most teams would be waiting to use the Holy Grail event of football to scout for rising talents.
This would have meant that it would not have been the worst prediction to call a calm window in England this January. Howbeit, as fate would have it, the transfer gods of football gave the media plenty to report about this month. One of the possible reasons behind this could be the panic spreading in England owing to the dawn of Pep Guardiola’s machine at Manchester City. It has made the best managers in the game second guess the strength in depth in their squads.
Here are the three clubs who will be happy with their transfers this month.
Liverpool
The Saints’ star defender Van Dijk was set to leave the club, having handed in a transfer request. Liverpool and Chelsea were two of the many clubs interested in securing the Dutch defender’s service.
Liverpool’s move was a little too aggressive for Southampton’s liking and they went on to take legal action against the Merseyside club, thereby formally putting an end to Liverpool’s attempt to sign the defender.
However, things were set correct this summer, when Liverpool got their man by pipping Manchester City to his signing. Moreover, the signing of Coutinho, although it weakens the team, has added a healthy amount to their transfer budget and not exactly weakened the team. Something, Klopp can build on this coming summer.
Chelsea
Football fans were given a Deadline day treat when a cascading effect was set in order amongst Chelsea, Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund. It was widely known that Chelsea were in the hunt for a traditional number nine while Arsenal were always going to replace Sanchez with a marquee signing. The Gunners targeted Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but the German outfit was unwilling to let go without signing a replacement first. This brought Chelsea into the deal who had a striker to spare in Michy Batshuayi.
The West London club read the situation carefully before indulging their interest in Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud. Giroud’s chances at Arsenal got cut short this season after the arrival of compatriot Alexandre Lacazette in the summer. This created a perfect situation for Chelsea who were ready to send Batshuayi to Dortmund if Arsenal sold them Giroud and thereby paving the way for the Gunners to land Aubameyang. Although Arsenal would not have wanted to lose Giroud, especially to a rival club, they had little choice but to lose a trustworthy pawn in the Frenchman to get their much-sought knight in Aubameyang. Add to this their signing of Ross Barkley for a negligible fee, and Chelsea have done well this time.
Manchester United
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are playing the best possible football in Europe at the moment. They are dispatching sides with absolute ease and the fluidity in attack looks unstoppable. The Citizens have scored over 70 goals in this season. Ask any United fan, and the one thing that is worse than not winning the Premier League is losing to their noisy neighbours. So it was a sweet moment for them when they hijacked the move for Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez from Manchester City.
The mercenary from Arsenal chose to join the Red Devils army and is reported to be earning around £350,000-a-week, making it a sweet window for United.
