Six Prem clubs among top 10 biggest spenders in January…

Ian Watson
Newcastle and Barcelona are among the biggest spenders in Europe

Newcastle spent more than anyone else in Europe, beating two Champions League big-hitters into second and third. But is it enough?

Here are the 10 biggest spenders in January from Europe’s top five leagues, with all figures taken from Transfermarkt

 

10) Wolfsburg – £19.51m
Arrivals: Jonas Wind (Copenhagen, £10.8m), Kevin Paredes (DC United, £6.01m), Max Kruse (Union Berlin, £2.7m)

The Bundesliga club sold striker Wout Weghorst and signed a couple of forwards in Wind and Kruse for not much more than they received from Burnley,

 

9) Watford – £22.23m
Arrivals: Samir (Udinese, £4.50m), Maduka Okoye (Sparta Rotterdam, £4.50m), Edo Kayembe (Eupen, £4.23m), Hassane Kamara (Nice, £3.6m), Samuel Kalu (Bordeaux, £2.70m), Yaser Asprilla (Envigado, £2.7m)

Centre-back, goalkeeper, midfielder, left-back, winger, midfielder – in that order. Six new players and a new manager made for a busy January for the Premier League’s 19th-placed side.

 


January transfer window 2022 – Winners | Losers


 

8) Fiorentina – £25.2m
Arrivals: Jonathan Ikone (Lille, £12.6m), Arthur Cabral (Basel, £12.6m), Krzysztof Piatek (Hertha Berlin, loan)

Fiorentina cleared the biggest profit of any club in January with the sale of Dusan Vlahovic and they reinvested around a third of their windfall in a couple of centre-forwards and a winger.

 

7) Tottenham – £26.1m
Arrivals: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus, £17.1m), Dejan Kulusevski (Juventus, £9m loan fee)

Daniel Levy may have to cough up another £6million in add-ons for Bentancur, while Spurs will be obligated to pay around £30million for Kulusevski at the end of his 18-month loan if certain targets around appearances and Champions League qualification are met.

 

Aston Villa star Coutinho

 

6) Aston Villa – £27m
Arrivals: Lucas Digne (£27m, Everton), Philippe Coutinho (loan, Barcelona), Robin Olsen (loan, Roma), Calum Chambers (free, Arsenal)

Villa’s deal for Coutinho is a try-before-you-buy transaction, with the Villans liable for £33million if they want to sign the Brazilian in the summer. Villa could be further up this list had they not been beaten to Bentancur by Spurs.

 

5) Everton – £33.75m
Arrivals: Vitaliy Mykolenko (Dynamo Kyiv, £21.15m), Nathan Patterson (Rangers, £12.6m), Dele Alli (Tottenham, free), Donny van de Beek (Man Utd, loan), Anwar El Ghazi (Aston Villa, loan)

Dele Alli might be free right now, but he could end up costing the Toffees £40million. They’ll owe Spurs £10million after 20 appearances – a landmark he can’t reach until next season – with the other £30million due upon 80 appearances. Should he reach that number, we have to assume the former England midfielder will have rediscovered something like his best form, in which case £40million will be a smart investment.

 

4) Liverpool – £40.5m
Arrivals: Luis Diaz (Porto, £40.5million)

The Reds would have spent around another £5million more if they could have come to an agreement with Fulham over how to structure a deal for Fabio Carvalho. Instead, they’ll have to wait until the summer and just have to make do for now with p*ssing all over Daniel Levy’s chips by signing Liaz through the ‘backdoor’.

 

3) Barcelona – £49.5m
Arrivals: Ferran Torres (Man City, £49.5m), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal, free), Adama Traore (Wolves, loan)

For a club that is on the bones of its arse, Barca haven’t done too bad here. Though they will have to pay Wolves £29million to take Traore beyond the end of the season. And Aubameyang won’t play for ‘almost nothing’ for long.

 

2) Juventus – £87.93m
Arrivals: Dusan Vlahovic (Fiorentina, £73.44m), Denis Zakaria (Borussia Mönchengladbach, £7.74m), Federico Gatti (Frosinone, £6.75m)

Juve clawed back just less than a third of their outlay with January sales and they could be due a much bigger payment from Spurs for the duo dispatched to north London. But Zakaria could be a steal, and getting any of Aaron Ramsey’s wages off the books represents a triumph too.

 

1) Newcastle – £91.89m
Arrivals: Bruno Guimaraes (Lyon, £37.89m), Chris Wood (£27m), Kieran Trippier (Atlético Madrid, £13.5m), Dan Burn (Brighton, £13.5m), Matt Targett (Aston Villa, loan)

Newcastle would have liked to have spent more, and other clubs certainly hoped they would. Will it be enough to keep them in the Premier League? Probably, but their January business hasn’t offered the certainty many Magpies hoped the Saudi cash might.