HALF-WAY though the winter window.
And like the UK economy, the transfer market appears to be stalling.
GettyThe January transfer window can be a difficult time for clubs to recruit[/caption]
AlamyBut some stars ended up being major hits for their clubs[/caption]
GettyStars like West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen end up being talismanic figures at the club[/caption]
GettyWhile others such as ex-Liverpool star Ozan Kabak have minimal impact[/caption]
Even by the standards of a normal quiet January, this month, so far, has been about the things that haven’t happened.
Marcus Rashford has still not left Manchester United. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mo Salah remain at Anfield. Arsenal appear to be mulling the striker signing Emirates fans have demanded for two years.
Indeed, more than a fortnight after the window opened, Prem clubs had signed paid money for just six players between them, with Aston Villa’s £19m recruitment of Dortmund’s Donyell Malen representing nearly a third of the total £68m outlay.
Of course, Manchester City could change everything if the proposed triple swoop for Frankfurt striker Omar Marmoush, Lens defender Abdukodir Khusanov and Palmeiras teenager Vitor Reis materialises.
But City, from a position of relative strength and able to get a few wrong, are an exception.
And while there have been some stunning deals in the winter window – imagine Liverpool without Virgil van Dijk over the past seven years – there are far more misses and maybes than hits.
Over the last five January windows, Prem sides have splashed out £785m.
There have been around 126 major signings. And of them, arguably only 26, just one in five, can be described as unqualified successes.
Indeed, one of the biggest successes of this season was also one of the most obvious January failures.
Chris Wood’s annus mirabilis has seen the Kiwi score 13 in 21 Prem appearances for Forest.
Yet had you asked the Newcastle fans who watched Wood arrive as a £25m part of the first Saudi-backed recruitment drive in 2022 and subsequently score just four in 35 Prem games, they would have happily driven him to Nottingham themselves.
The ones that have been good deals do stand out from the pack.
Bruno Fernandes is now captain of Manchester United, scoring another beauty in the FA Cup win over Arsenal on Sunday.
Luis Diaz is a key part of Liverpool’s attacking armoury, alongside Cody Gakpo.
Dejan Kulusevski has been one of the few bright sparks in a bleak mid-winter at Spurs.
Anthony Gordon, Bruno Guimaraes and Dan Burn are major reasons in Newcastle’s astonishing recent run, while Wolves’ Mateus Cunha has no end of suitors.
But for every Morgan Rogers and Martin Odegaard, there are four or five flops, men who came and went like footprints on a tidal beach.
Who, aside from real club nerds, can remember Gedson Fernandes, Morgan Sansom or Valentino Lazaro? Who wants to recall Marcel Sabitzer or Arnaut Danjuma?
In the PSR era, when the numbers have to add up, taking a gamble and getting it wrong is a mistake clubs cannot afford to make.
And if only one in five January deals are likely to pay off, perhaps that’s why clubs do not want to be burned.
TRANSFER NEWS LIVE: STAY UP TO DATE WITH ALL THE LATEST MOVES FROM THE JANUARY WINDOW
Creator – [#item_custom_dc:creator]
