The six biggest deals in the January transfer window

Oli Fisher

The winter transfer window has once again come to a close, with the record outlay of £225million in January 2011 already broken.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Olivier Giroud were two of the major deals confirmed on deadline day as the strikers signed for Arsenal and Chelsea respectively.

 

We a look at six of the best deals done in January…

 

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal, £57.5m)

The Gunners pushed through the transfer of the Gabon forward at just after 11:15am, which was a welcome tonic for supporters after the 3-1 loss at Swansea on Tuesday night.

The arrival of Aubameyang eventually saw Chelsea forward Michy Batshuayi head to Dortmund on loan as a replacement – and in turn Olivier Giroud left Arsenal for Chelsea.

Aubameyang scored 98 goals in 144 Bundesliga games for Dortmund, and has his sights set on making his mark for Arsenal – just like a certain Thierry Henry.

“He’s an example for us strikers because he was fast and scored a lot of goals,” Aubameyang said. No pressure there then…

 

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Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City, £57million)

Aymeric Laporte: Loyal to Bilbao

City may already have a commanding lead at the top of the Premier League table, but that has not stopped Pep Guardiola further strengthening the squad.

While the expected deal to bring in Alexis Sanchez never materialised, City shelled out a club-record fee to sign 23-year-old centre-back Laporte from Athletic Bilbao.

The clock is ticking as to whether City will break the bank again to land wantaway Leicester playmaker Riyad Mahrez.

 

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Alexis Sanchez (Manchester United, player swap deal)

Sanchez did, of course, end up in Manchester – just not the half everyone had thought.

It was something of a coup for Jose Mourinho to snatch the Chile forward from under the noses of the noisy neighbours, albeit an expensive one in terms of the player’s reported wages which are said to be in the region of some £500,000 per week.

United’s innovative announcement of the mega-deal certainly hit the right note with supporters, who will expect Sanchez to now deliver an instant return.

 

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Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Arsenal, player swap deal)

Mkhitaryan described his move in the opposite direction to join up with the Gunners as a “dream come true” – although probably not widely anticipated before the Sanchez swap deal snowballed.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger had, though, long been a fan of the Armenian, who was on his wanted list before instead opting to join United from Borussia Dortmund just last summer.

Gunners fans will be hoping Mkhitaryan’s reunion with former team-mate Aubameyang suits their new colours.

 

Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, £75million)

Image: LFC.com

The biggest domestic deal of the January transfer window so far was announced shortly after Christmas.

Dutch centre-back Van Dijk became the most expensive defender in the world when he finally got his own wish granted as Southampton eventually sanctioned a switch to Liverpool.

Van Dijk promptly earned himself instant cult status with the winning goal on his debut against Everton in their FA Cup tie.

 

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Daniel Sturridge (West Brom, Loan)

The Baggies may just have pulled off the coup of the January window in acquiring the services of Sturridge on loan from Liverpool.

With his team embroiled in a relegation battle, head coach Alan Pardew hopes the England forward – hungry for goals in a World Cup year – will prove a big hit.

 

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