Premier League January Transfer Window: Debuts made & teams ranked

There is a saying in football that January is a notoriously difficult time to get deals done but with Premier League clubs splashing a whopping £815m it might just be the biggest myth in the sport. With loads to assess and new players to settle, we have allowed the dust to settle and now we feel well equipped grade the January transfer window of each Premier League team.

January Transfer Window Gradings

Arsenal

Arsenal are flying in the league right now and only made minor adjustments to their squad in January. A number of fringe players left the club – either on loan or permanent deals – whilst only three players came in through the door. Polish centre back Jakub Kiwior arrived from Spezia. More noteworthy signings came in midfield though with Leandro Trossard joining from Brighton and Jorginho arriving from London rivals Chelsea. The latter of those additions could prove massive given Jorginho's experience of ‘getting over the line' for silverware. Missing out on Mykhailo Mudryk though suggests the Gunners wanted to strengthen at least one other area.

Grade: B

Aston Villa

The big news during Aston Villa's January transfer window was the exit of Danny Ings. Ings, who had provided 22 goal contributions from 52 games during his career at Villa Park, left the club for West Ham. In itself, they've lost a goalscorer but the lack of proven additions makes his exit even more questionable. Jhon Durán, a striker, arrived from across the pond whilst Alex Moreno joined from Real Betis. It's hardly a window for the history books, is it?

Grade: E

Bournemouth

Bournemouth are in a real fight to keep their heads above water in the Premier League this season and made several moves to give them the best chance of doing so. Nobody of note exited the club but several new faces joined. Dango Ouattara is one they fought off competition from their relegation rivals for whilst the likes of Antoine Semenyo, Hamed Traore and Matias Vina have all shown their qualities at  decent levels of football as well. Will it be enough to keep the Cherries up? Time will tell – but it certainly won't be their downfall.

Grade: C

Brentford

Brentford are enjoying a good season with plenty of plaudits coming their way. Their squad is built without superstar names and that's remained their strategy in January with very little headline grabbing additions or exits for the Bees. The one exception to that is the loan signing of David Beckham's son, Romeo, although he is just part of their development squad. Vincent Angelini and Kevin Schade are their biggest name new signings in the first team environment.

Grade: D

Brighton

Like Brentford, Brighton are a team that generally operates by picking up good players but without that star profile. January has been no different. Four new faces have arrived on the South Coast last month with none of them having come from Europe's big five leagues. As for outgoings, the main one of note is the aforementioned deal that took Trossard to Arsenal. Trossard is a big loss and it remains to be seen if the incomings can fill that void – although knowing Brighton, they probably will!

Grade: D

Chelsea

Right, here we go, we come to the big spenders of the January window with Chelsea. The Blues lost Jorginho to Arsenal but more than replaced him with a host of new faces. Mykhailo Mudryk was tempted to Stamford Bridge over the Emirates, Enzo Fernandez became a British transfer record whilst Joao Felix arrived on a pricey loan deal too. There were several others in the door too with Benoit Badiashile and Noni Madueke amongst those new faces as well. The talent in that squad is bonkers but gelling all of those players together is another thing! They get bumped down a grade for the levels of money involved and failing to add a ready made star centre forward.

Grade: B

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace had a fairly quiet window with a number of their players sent out on loan; none of those going out the door will weaken them from a Premier League perspective though. Albert Sambi Lokonga arrived at Selhurst Park on loan from fellow London Club Arsenal, which could be a good signing whilst another midfield player, Naouirou Ahamada, came in from Stuttgart. He's only 20-years-old but has a high ceiling. They give Palace real depth in the middle of the park.

Grade: C

Everton

The only noteworthy news to come out of Everton's January transfer window was the sale of Anthony Gordon. The Toffees' youth product had a rather ugly – albeit swift – exit as he swapped Merseyside for Newcastle in a £45m deal. The financial element of that deal is one that is perhaps looked at as a positive but, right here and now, Everton have a weaker squad than they did a month ago. That is not what you want in a relegation battle and new manager Sean Dyche has his work cut out after zero investment in his squad.

Grade: F

Fulham

Fulham are enjoying a good season and their January looks pretty shrewd too – if not particularly eye catching on first glance. They've moved on a couple of players in Josh Onomah and Nate Chalobah who were widely tipped for stardom but, ultimately, who have failed to really kick on. On the incoming side, Shane Duffy came in from Brighton to provide huge experience at the back. Cedric Soares and Sasa Lukic also arrived at Craven Cottage from Arsenal and Torino respectively. Neither are huge names but both cover key areas of concern in the Fulham depth chart.

Grade: B

Leeds

Leeds, it's all a bit bonkers at Leeds. On the surface of it, their transfer window actually looked pretty decent. They've secured young starlet Joe Gelhardt a really good loan move to Sunderland whilst all others to exit were fringe players at best. Then on the incomings the big capture was US international Weston McKennie on loan from Italian giants Juventus. In theory, he should be a huge plus in the middle of the park for them. The bonkers element comes with the fact they've immediately sacked Jesse Marsch – a man that was key to getting McKennie to Elland Road. It feels a bit hasty and brings their grade down a level.

Grade: D

Leicester

Leicester have loaned out a couple of ‘have been' genuine first teamers in January in the shape of Marc Albrighton and Ayoze Perez but, beyond that, there were not exits of note. The new arrivals, however, are intriguing. Harry Souttar has looked too good for Championship football for a while and, despite an on goal early on in his Foxes career, will undoubtedly be a great addition. The other one we want to draw attention to is Tete. He arrived with 11 goal contributions to his name from 19 games in France and has already netted for his new club after scoring on his debut.

Grade: B

Liverpool

At the start of January, Liverpool looked like the team that had it together. Cody Gakpo jetted in from PSV and there were whisperings of more to happen with Jude Bellingham a name frequently mentioned, although January never particularly felt realistic for that to materialise. Fast forward to now though and no further additions were made, Gakpo is misfiring and Liverpool are performing horribly. Long term, Gakpo will come good. Did January deliver what Liverpool wanted though? Absolutely not.

Grade: E

Man City

With Man City playing catch up in the title race it was expected that a statement signing might be made during January. That never happened. Liam Delap changed his loan club to Preston, where he's likely to play more minutes. That's a plus. What is definitely a big fat negative though is the exit of Joao Cancelo to Bayern Munich. We couldn't explain it then and can't now. It looks like Pep Guardiola and the player have fallen out and City are weaker as a result of it.

Grade: F

Man United

There were a lot of eyes on Old Trafford in January after Cristiano Ronaldo exited for Saudi Arabia via Piers Morgan's interview room. Nothing massive happened though with no statement signings made. That doesn't make it a bad window though. Too many times United have signed names for big fees and been burned as a result. This time the window saw a host of youngsters go out on loan and two notable additions. Few will argue that Marcel Sabitzer isn't a good addition to the squad whilst Wout Weghorst, despite his failure at Burnley, is a solid striker that has proven his worth in Germany.

Grade: C

Newcastle

People are waiting for Newcastle to ‘do a Chelsea' but it isn't happening like that. Sure, they splashed a sizeable sum on Anthony Gordon from Everton but he has a lot of upside too. Upside is the phrase you could use to describe two other additions too in Amadou Diallo and Harrison Ashby, who joined from West Ham. Eddie Howe is building gradually and for the future and looks like he might have learned lessons from some poor signings when boss at Bournemouth. Magpies fans should be quietly excited.

Grade: C

Nottingham Forest

Blimey, we could fill a whole website with talk of Nottingham Forest signings. Thankfully, we're just here to grade their window and not fully report on it. Despite a manic summer window, Forest were still very busy in January with seven players arriving – most notably Keylor Navas from PSG. Chris Wood, Andre Ayew and Felipe, who all had interest from other Premier League strugglers, though are perhaps the best additions for that very reason – Forest stopped rivals from landing their men.

Grade: C

Southampton

Including the loan recall of Jan Bednarek, half a dozen ‘new' faces rocked up at St Mary's over January with no notable exits. On the face of it, that's a good window for a team struggling. Despite that, it now seems that after being backed to sign several players, the Saints board are ready to pull the trigger on Nathan Jones. The fact Bednarek is perhaps the most nailed on to be a success of all those to arrive at St Mary's last month isn't a good sign. We fear for Southampton.

Grade: E

Tottenham

Tottenham left it late to make their moves in this recent transfer window but they key thing is that they landed their number one target – Pedro Porro. He'll be a notable improvement at wing back for Antonio Conte's men whilst Spurs also fought off competition to sign Arnaut Danjuma on loan. He scored on his debut too, which is always a nice place to start! Loan exits for Djed Spence, Harvey White and Bryan Gil could serve them well in future too.

Grade: B

West Ham

West Ham made some good moves in January with the addition of Danny Ings a particular deal that looked to be just what the Hammers needed. A significant injury to the former Liverpool man though combined with some curious outgoings arguably leave West Ham having had one of the worst windows. Craig Dawson has gone, which is a dent in the level of experience around the camp, whilst young potential in Harrison Ashby has also left the London Stadium. Both have gone to Premier League teams.

Grade: E

Wolves

Last but not least we come to Wolves and they've had a good window. West Ham's loss has been Wolves' gain where Craig Dawson is concerned. His debut saw him play 90 minutes against Liverpool; he scored and kept a clean sheet. Not bad. Matheus Cunha, Mario Lemina and Pablo Sarabia were three others new faces to start in that 3-0 win over Jurgen Klopp's men having joined from Atletico Madrid, Nice and PSG respectively. With no big names exiting, it leaves Wolves looking well positioned for the second half of the campaign.

Grade: B

There you have it, our guide to the January transfer window.

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