The winter transfer window is said to be a bad time to make signings, but it has seen some of the biggest and most expensive in football history.
Here are the most expensive January transfers ever in the Premier League:
5. Aymeric Laporte: Athletic Bilbao to Manchester City – £57.2m
The 24-year-old struggled to break into the Manchester City starting XI upon arrival last year, but has been a mainstay in Pep Guardiola’s side this season, starting every Premier League game bar one.
4. Christian Pulisic: Borussia Dortmund to Chelsea, £57.5m
No strangers to a big money deal in January, Chelsea’s latest permanent transfer will arrive at Stamford Bridge in the summer.
At 20-years-old the Blues are signing the American in the hope that he will become their star player for years to come.
3. Oscar: Chelsea to Shanghai SIPG, £60m
Quite possibly the greatest piece of business ever done by a football club, selling one of their rotation players for an astronomical fee. Making the move to China in 2017, Oscar was only 25-years-old at the time of the move, eschewing his prime years at a high level of the game for a boatload of money.
2. Virgil van Dijk: Southampton to Liverpool, £75m
There was some scepticism over the fee Liverpool paid to Southampton for the services of their Dutch centre-back, but just a year later it’s been proved money well spent.
The Reds have reached one Champions League final with Van Dijk in their ranks, and lead the way in the Premier League so far.
1. Philippe Coutinho: Liverpool to Barcelona, £142m
The third most expensive player of all time, the Brazilian moved to the Camp Nou after months and months of haggling between the two clubs. Just a year later and Coutinho has been linked with a return to Anfield, such have been his struggles in Spain. That seems unlikely, with Manchester United and Chelsea reportedly interested in his signature.
