Seven biggest signings of January transfer window

The January transfer window of 2022 ended on Monday where the clubs spent millions and millions of Dollars on these transfers.

Some of the decisions that these clubs made seemed wise, while some of those raised eyebrows.

Here are seven of the biggest signings that the clubs have completed during the winter transfer window.

Bruno Guimarães (Newcastle) 

LYON, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 12: Bruno Guimaraes of Olympique Lyon in action during the Ligue 1 Uber Eats match between Lyon and Strasbourg at Groupama Stadium on September 12, 2021 in Lyon, France. (Photo by Marcio Machado/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

Newcastle managed to rope in Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes from Olympique Lyon on a four-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee reported to be around €40 million. Meanwhile, there has been no release clause in the contract.

Guimaraes, 24, is head coach Eddie Howe’s third signing of the transfer window, following the arrivals of England international Kieran Trippier and New Zealand international Chris Wood.

“Bruno is a hugely exciting talent and has been one of our primary targets, so I’m delighted to secure him,” Howe said about the youngster’s signing.

Reports suggested the fee for the defensive midfielder is £40 million (£33 million), with a further £8 million in add-ons.

Newcastle, who were on a spending spree after they were taken over by their new Saudi owners, sealed the deal though Arsenal were also interested in the talented footballer, while Manchester United and Paris-Saint Germain also watched him closely.

Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus)

Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovic completed his transfer to Juventus from Serie A rivals Fiorentina on a four-year deal worth up to £90 million.

The 22-year-old has been the revelation of the first half of the season in Italy and was the league’s joint-top scorer with Ciro Immobile.

Juventus announced the signing of Vlahovic in a deal worth £70 million, in addition to £11.6 million costs and bonuses up to a maximum of £10 million.

The contract runs until 30 June 2026.

The record 36-time Italian champions’ attack was weakened by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United and a season-ending injury to Federico Chiesa.

“Twenty goals in 24 appearances, between Serie A and Coppa Italia, in the first part of the 2021/2022 season. Those numbers rise to 41 in 64 appearances if totalled with those from the 2020/2021 season,” Juventus wrote on their website. “Any player boasting stats like these can be summed up in two words: lethal finisher – or, if you prefer, Dusan Vlahovic, now officially at Juventus – what better way to celebrate your 22nd birthday?”

The ‘lethal finisher’, who has often been compared to AC Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic has taken up Ronaldo’s number seven jersey.

Vlahovic at 16 became the youngest ever player to play for his local club, Partizan Belgrade, joining Fiorentina in the summer of 2018 and flourishing in the Italian system.

Ferran Torres (Barcelona)

Spanish giants Barcelona roped in Ferran Torres from Manchester City on a five-year deal until 2027 and the club set his buyout clause at €1billion.

The Catalan-based club will pay an initial €55m along with a further €10m in add-ons to their latest induction. Some €7m of those supplements are said to be more or less guaranteed.

The 21-year-old is regarded by the club as one of Spain’s most promising future prospects.

Torres had joined City for an initial fee of £20.8m plus bonuses on a five-year deal in August 2020. However, he only played only four games in the Premier League this season, where he scored two goals and netted the ball once in the Champions League

Torres departed the Etihad Stadium with 16 goals in 43 appearances. He also helped Pep Guardiola’s unit to the Premier League and Carabao Cup last season.

He was sidelined since October with a foot injury that he sustained while performing his national duty.

Prior to his move to Manchester City, Torres was eyed by Barca, Real Madrid and some of Europe’s top clubs courtesy of his performance at Valencia.

A graduate of Valencia’s academy, he made his first-team debut in 2017 and went on to score nine times in 97 matches and helped them to the Copa del Rey in the 2018-19 season

Luis Diaz (Liverpool)

Colombian international winger Luis Diaz signed for Premier League side Liverpool from Portuguese side FC Porto, which probably placed further doubt on the future of their Egyptian star Mohamed Salah.

The 25-year-old Diaz signed a contract till 2027 for a reported fee of £37.5 million, with a further £12.5 million in potential bonuses.

“I’m very happy to sign for Liverpool,” he was quoted saying by the club’s official Twitter account.

There is no resolution in sight to protracted talks over a contract extension for Salah, who is presently away at the Africa Cup of Nations.

“Liverpool Football Club have completed the signing of Luis Diaz from FC Porto, subject to the successful granting of a work permit and international clearance,” Liverpool had said in a statement on their website.

He joined Liverpool after two-and-a-half seasons with FC Porto, where he made 125 appearances and scored as many as 41 goals.

Diaz was rumoured to be Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp’s primary target for the summer transfer window, but growing interest in the player, most notably from Tottenham Hotspur, forced the Reds to make the move early.

Liverpool manager Klopp had expressed his delight at the signing of Diaz.

“I could not be happier that we’ve been able to get this deal done and bring Luis to Liverpool,” said Klopp.

“I have always been a believer in only signing players in January if you would want to sign them in the summer, and that’s very much the case with Luis.

“He is an outstanding player and someone we’ve been tracking for a very long time.

“This team deserved to add quality and when we played against Luis earlier this season (they were in the same Champions League group), we saw what a danger he is, how fast he is and how his mentality was to help his team.”

Salah and Liverpool teammates Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino will all be out of contract in the summer of 2023, by which point they would all be aged 31.

Diaz would add fresh blood to the Liverpool forward line and comes with a burgeoning reputation after scoring 16 goals in 28 games for Porto this season.

He was also the top scorer alongside Lionel Messi at last year’s Copa America with four goals.

Vitaliy Mykolenko (Everton) 

Vitaliy Mykolenko joined Everton from Dynamo Kiev for a fee of around £17million and is a likely replacement for Lucas Digne.

The 22-year-old has signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with the English club and will wear the number 19 shirt at Goodison Park.

Mykolenko has represented his country Ukraine 21 times and was an integral part of the team that reached the quarter-finals of the Euro 2020.

He featured regularly in Dynamo’s past two UEFA Champions League campaigns and had also steered them to the league title in 2020-21, while he also has two Ukrainian Cups under his belt.

“Moving to Everton is a big and important step in my life,“ said Mykolenko, who can also play as a centre-half as well as left-back.  “I have always dreamed of playing in the Premier League. English football is where the game was born and I think that it will suit my game very well. I am 22 but I don’t feel like a youngster. I have experience of playing at the European level and hope I will continue to improve as a player.”

He continued by saying: “I am excited about the opportunity of playing in front of our supporters at Everton. I have seen the last few games at Goodison Park and they were unbelievable.”

Lucas Digne (Aston Villa) 

Aston Villa signed Everton’s left-back Lucas Digne against a reported amount of £25million.

The deal took several days to come to a conclusion as Villa had to beat Chelsea, Newcastle and West Ham, who were all interested in the Frenchman.

The 28-year-old had three-and-a-half years remaining on his Everton contract but told the club that he wanted to part ways after arguably having a much-publicised rift with manager Rafael Benitez.

Steven Gerrard brought his second signing as the manager following the arrival of his former Liverpool teammate Philippe Coutinho.

Sky Sports News were told that Everton wanted £30m for Digne, one of Benitez’s star players who joined from Barcelona in 2018.

Rodrigo Bentancur (Tottenham Hotspurs)

Tottenham Hotspurs signed defensive midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur from Juventus on a permanent basis for a reported transfer fee of €19m with €6m in performance-based rewards.

The Uruguayan completed his paperwork and his medical in his own country, where he was with his national team to play Venezuela in a World Cup qualifier fixture.

Bentancur is likely going to be deployed as the deepest lying playmaker in Conte’s midfield, mopping up from behind and allowing his midfield partners to make more progressive runs in front of him.

Bentancur could sneakily be one of the better signings that the club have made in the past few years.