Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Andy Carroll, David Luiz & Co – The top 20 Premier League deadline day winter deals

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Three Chelsea signings in top 5 

©TM/IMAGO

The January transfer window has long had the reputation of being synonymous with panic buys. Many claim that clubs get the smart business done in the longer summer window. However, that hasn’t stopped plenty of cash being splashed by Premier League clubs in the winter windows gone by. In the 2023 January alone, clubs from the Premier League forked out a whopping €842.5 million on new signings. Last January window was much quieter for a number of reasons. Premier League profit and sustainability restrictions have been limiting the spending power of some English clubs. However, Premier League sides began to splash out again this winter spending a total of €476m, with last season’s champions Manchester City not holding back and spending over €200m themselves alone.

After all, the record Premier League transfer of all-time was a signing completed on the January deadline day. On January 31, 2023, Chelsea paid a league-record €121m for midfielder Enzo Fernández from Benfica. And the Argentine isn’t the only one who has been involved in a mega money transfer on the winter deadline day. Here we look at exclusive data on the top 20 winter transfer window deadline day deals of all time. There’s plenty of flops and the occasional bit of late masterstroke business.

As aforementioned, leading the way is Chelsea’s mega money deal to bring Argentine midfielder Fernández to the Premier League in 2023. The Blues paid Benfica €121m after Fernández had impressed in Argentina’s World Cup triumph in Qatar. So far in a Chelsea shirt, the 23 year old has shown real glimpses of quality without blowing anyone away to justify being the Premier League’s most expensive player of all time. Just 10 goals and 13 assists in 88 games from midfield for Fernández to date.

The second biggest winter deadline day signing to a Premier League club goes to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s €63.75m move from Borussia Dortmund to Arsenal back in 2018. Arsène Wenger’s last ever signing went on to score 92 goals in 163 games for the Gunners and become club captain, before some attitude issues and a falling out with manager Mikel Arteta led to a bitter ending in North London for the Gabonese striker. The third biggest signing is now Monday’s €60m acquisition of midfielder Nico González; Man City brought the Spanish midfielder in from Porto this deadline day. In fourth was the infamous deadline day transfer of Fernando Torres from Liverpool to Chelsea for €58.5m in January 2011. After scoring 81 goals in 142 matches for the Reds, Torres failed to show his prolific former self at Stamford Bridge, unable to justify, what was at the time, a league record transfer fee.

Fifth place goes to the man brought in to replace Torres at Liverpool, as the Reds paid €41m for Newcastle striker Andy Carroll, who never really took off at Anfield, and was sold to West Ham two years later. Sixth is Juan Cuadrado’s €31m move from Fiorentina to Chelsea in 2015 – another move that didn’t quite pay dividends for Chelsea, as the Colombian was back in Italy two years later with Juventus. Seventh is Tottenham’s €28.4m move for PSG’s Lucas Moura in 2018, which most Spurs fans will tell you was worth it alone for the Brazilian’s Champions League semi-final hat-trick against Ajax.

The eighth biggest winter deadline day deal is Moisés Caicedo’s €28.2 move from Ecuadorian club IDV to Brighton in 2021. However, €23.2m of that total came from the sell-on fee included, which was activated in the €116m Chelsea transfer in 2023. Ninth is possibly the greatest winter deadline day signing to a Premier League club, in Luis Suárez’s €26m move from Ajax to Liverpool in 2011. The Uruguayan went on to become one of the club’s greatest ever strikers and a legend at Anfield, before eventually departing to Barcelona for €81.7m in 2014. Completing the top ten is David Luiz’s €25m deal from Benfica to Chelsea.