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January bargains
Amid an ever-difficult January transfer window, you’ll probably hear managers, pundits and fans bemoan the lack of value in the mid-season market.
Yet while it can be difficult to get deals over the line halfway through a campaign, there are certainly bargains to be had. In this slideshow, we count down the best value-for-money January signings we ever did see...
Dele Alli to Tottenham, £5m (2015)
Alli has been a revelation since making his Premier League bow in August 2015, but he actually became a Tottenham player back in the winter window when MK Dons accepted a £5m offer from the north Londoners.
After being loaned back to his boyhood club for the remainder of the 2014/15 campaign, the midfielder became an essential part of a title-challenging side at White Hart Lane and has now racked up over 168 appearances for the club, scoring 52 goals.
Wilfried Zaha to Crystal Palace, £6m (2015)
Zaha made just two Premier League appearances for Manchester United before being shipped out on loan to Cardiff in the second half of his debut campaign, so a stay of execution at Old Trafford was always going to be unlikely.
Crystal Palace stepped in to bring their academy product back to south London on loan in August 2014, before agreeing a £6m deal to re-sign the tricky winger permanently the following January. He's now worth much more than that, but Palace won't want to sell a man who's won the club's Player of the Year award for three seasons on the bounce.
Asmir Begovic to Stoke, £3.25m (2010)
Begovic made only 17 senior appearances in his five years on the books at Portsmouth, who were forced to sell the talented young shot-stopper as administration and relegation loomed in 2010.
Stoke won the race for the Bosnia international’s signature, parting with just £3.25m to prise him away from Fratton Park. Begovic became one of the division’s outstanding goalkeepers in the Potteries, prompting Chelsea to spend £8m to add him to their squad in summer 2015.
Ashley Young to Aston Villa, £8m (2007)
Martin O’Neill may have been pushing it in December 2008 by claiming Young was in the same bracket as Lionel Messi, but Aston Villa had certainly got themselves a good deal when they secured his signature for an initial £8m almost two years previously.
The former Watford winger spent four years at Villa Park before moving to Manchester United for £16m in 2011, landing the West Midlanders a tidy profit. In the meantime, he scored 38 goals for the club and helped Villa to three consecutive top-six finishes under the guidance of Martin O’Neill.
Demarai Gray to Leicester, £3.75m (2016)
In January 2016, Leicester took advantage of a ludicrously low release clause in Gray's Birmingham contract which allowed them to snap up one of the Championship's – and indeed, the country's – brightest young players for just £3.75m.
The England Under-21 wide man initially had to remain patient for his chance at the King Power Stadium, but three years on he's now playing far more regularly under Claude Puel.
Branislav Ivanovic to Chelsea, £9.7m (2008)
Many Chelsea fans hadn’t heard of Ivanovic when he switched from Lokomotiv Moscow in January 2008, and it didn’t seem to bode well for the Serbian defender when he was ignored by Avram Grant for the remainder of the season. Ivanovic established himself in the first team the following term, though, proving a model of consistency either at right-back or centre-half.
Although he struggled in his last few months at Stamford Bridge before a switch back east to Zenit St Petersburg, he could look back with pride at the role he played in the Blues winning three Premier League titles, three FA Cups, the League Cup, Champions League and Europa League during his time in west London.
Emmanuel Adebayor to Arsenal, £3m (2006)
Controversy has clouded Adebayor’s career, but there’s no doubt that the Togolese striker was a fabulous footballer on his day. Things may have ultimately turned sour at Arsenal, but the ex-Monaco frontman was superb once he’d settled in north London following a £3m switch in Janury 2006.
Twenty-four goals in 36 Premier League matches in 2007/08 helped the Gunners to sustain a title challenge for the entire campaign – something they haven’t managed to replicate since – and his sale to Manchester City in 2009 pumped a cool £25m into the club’s coffers.
Gary Cahill to Chelsea, £7m (2012)
The £7m signing of Bolton centre-back Cahill in January 2012 was far from the most glamorous in Chelsea’s recent history, but it was one of Roman Abramovich’s better investments: by May 2015 he had helped the club win the clean sweep of Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup and League Cup.
Cahill was still an important figure when Chelsea won another title with Antonio Conte at the helm in 2016/17, but he could be on his way out of Stamford Bridge this month having played just 21 minutes in the top flight under Maurizio Sarri.
Clint Dempsey to Fulham, £2m (2007)
Widely considered one of the United States’ greatest ever footballers, Dempsey became the most expensive player sold by an MLS club when he moved to the Premier League in January 2007. A fee of just £2m meant he was a bargain in Fulham’s eyes, though, with the forward going on to score 60 goals in his 232 appearances for the club.
His most famous strike completed a thrilling comeback against Juventus in the Europa League, that audacious chip which sent Roy Hodgson’s side – who had fallen 4-1 behind on aggregate earlier in the second leg at Craven Cottage – through to the quarter-finals.
Christophe Dugarry to Birmingham, loan (2003)
“I’m happy with everything I have seen here. I spoke with Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira, Laurent Blanc and Fabien Barthez and they told me to sign as quickly as possible,” Dugarry said shortly after agreeing to join the Blues from Bordeaux in January 2003.
Birmingham boss Steve Bruce labelled the initial loan signing as the biggest in the club’s history, and he was rewarded with five goals in 16 outings as Dugarry helped the Midlanders pull clear of the relegation zone. The 1998 World Cup winner was later persuaded to sign on a permanent basis, but he only managed one more goal for the club before hanging up his boots in 2005.
Brede Hangeland to Fulham, £2.5m (2008)
There was a time when Hangeland was considered one of the best centre-halves in England and regularly linked with moves to the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United.
The deal that first brought him to the Premier League was one of Fulham’s best bargains: captured for just £2.5m from Copenhagen in 2008, the towering Norwegian made 271 appearances over a six-year spell and played a big part in Roy Hodgson’s side’s remarkable run to the 2010 Europa League final, where they lost to Atletico Madrid.
Luis Suarez to Liverpool, £22.7m (2011)
Sure, £22.7m is a sizeable fee, but who could argue that Suarez wasn’t worth every penny? The acquisition of Andy Carroll for £35m a few hours later somewhat overshadowed the former’s transfer from Ajax at the time, but it soon became apparent that Suarez was a star striker in the making.
The Uruguayan plundered 82 goals in 133 appearances for the Reds, 31 of which came in 2013/14 when he almost carried Liverpool to a first league title in 24 years.
Riyad Mahrez to Leicester, £400,000 (2014)
Leicester’s improbable title win of 2015/16 wasn't down to one man, but Mahrez was often key to tipping the balance in their favour. Having struggled in the Foxes’ first Premier League season after promotion, the Algerian was sensational from the very first game of his team's historic campaign, finishing it with 17 goals, 11 assists and a Premier League winner’s medal.
Mahrez first rocked up at the King Power Stadium in January 2014, captured from Ligue 2’s Le Havre for just £400,000. That means Leicester made a staggering profit of at least £59m on a player who joined Manchester City last summer.
Christopher Samba to Blackburn, £400,000 (2007)
Samba’s move to QPR in January 2013 didn’t work out, but the £400,000 deal which took him to Blackburn in his younger years was a steal. The no-nonsense centre-back first arrived at Ewood Park in 2007 and soon established himself as a mainstay at the heart of Mark Hughes’ backline.
Samba played at least 30 times in the Premier League in each of his four full seasons at the club, before hooking up with Samuel Eto’o and Roberto Carlos at Anzhi Makhachkala in 2012 (who then signed him again in summer 2013, for the same £12m QPR had paid for his services a few months earlier).
Mikel Arteta to Everton, loan (2005)
Many loan signings are intended as temporary stop-gaps to alleviate an injury crisis or boost a squad low on confidence, but Arteta’s move to Everton from Real Sociedad in January 2005 always felt like one made with the long-term in mind.
The Spanish schemer, who instantly became integral as the Toffees finished in the top four, put pen to paper on a five-year contract at Goodison Park in the summer; he was then named Player of the Year in his first full season on Merseyside, and remained consistently excellent right up until his exit for Arsenal six years later.
Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic to Manchester United, £12.5m (2006)
Two mainstays of Sir Alex Ferguson’s 2006-13 Manchester United vintage were January signings, Evra joining from Monaco for £5.5m and Vidic from Spartak Moscow for £7m.
After tough starts, both turned out to be fantastic value for money: the duo made a combined 679 United appearances, winning five Premier Leagues, three League Cups and the Champions League before their respective exits to Juventus and Inter in 2014.
