5 strange things that happened in the January Transfer Window

This year's winter transfer window closed on Wednesday, January 31. Clubs were granted a month to sign new players and sell their unwanted assets as they all prepare for the second half of the 2017/18 campaign.

Premier League clubs spent a whopping £430m on acquisitions, while La Liga sides spent a record £250m on new additions. In the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich were - once again - strengthened at the expense of their rivals. Borussia Dortmund signed Michy Batshuayi on loan to replace Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in attack, while RB Leipzig rebuffed Liverpool's attempts to seal an early deal to acquire Naby Keita before his summer move.

There were not any significant transfers in Serie A. In fact, it's the transfers which failed to materialise that made headlines.

Simon Verdi stayed put at Bologna, despite rumoured interest from Napoli. AS Roma managed to keep hold of Edin Dzeko, in spite of tireless speculation linking him with Chelsea - while Inter Milan failed in their attempts to sign PSG midfielder Javier Pastore on loan.

The same was the story for Ligue 1 too. Despite the rumours, AS Monaco managed to maintain all of their star players - having seen the bulk of their title-winning squad stripped bare last summer. Bordeaux meanwhile rejected offers from both North London clubs in their attempts to sign star youngster Malcom.

Here are the strangest happenings of an eventful transfer window:

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#1: Alexis Sanchez - Henrikh Mkhitaryan swap

Alexis Sanchez left Arsenal for Manchester United

A straight player swap is now a rare occurrence, but we witnessed one in this transfer window. Arsenal agreed to swap Alexis Sanchez for Manchester United's creative midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

It seemed inevitable that Alexis was going to leave the Gunners in January. With just six months remaining on his existing contract in north London, he had shown no intention to sign an extension.

Meanwhile, Mkhitaryan has struggled for consistency and failed to shine in a system which does not allow him much freedom - meaning he was angling for a move away.

When the transfer window re-opened, both sides negotiated a deal, as United's reported cash bid was not deemed fair enough to justify an upfront sale.

Answering the question as to who got the better deal is impossible to know at present, as both players are excellent in their own separate ways and will need time to settle into new surroundings. Alexis netted on his Premier League debut, while Mkhitaryan created three assists - the first Arsenal player since Santi Cazorla in 2013 - on his home debut last weekend.

#2 Rumors of Arsenal, Chelsea, and Tottenham working together

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joined Arsenal on deadline day

Football is a strange place. It must be the only place where you treat your neighbours as your arch rival. Nothing infuriates fans more than seeing a player from their club move across the city to join a rival.

The stage was set for one such deal on the deadline day.

Arsenal agreed to a fee with Borussia Dortmund for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. However, there was one problem - Dortmund wanted to sign a replacement before the Gabonese international joined the Gunners. Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi was the player they had in mind.

Chelsea were happy to let him go as long as they signed a backup striker. Fernando Llorente of Tottenham Hotspur was Conte's preferred choice.

Reports soon emerged about a possibility of the three rivals working together. Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino poured cold water on any such rumours.

In the end, Chelsea signed Oliver Giroud from Arsenal. Aubameyang, as expected joined Arsenal and Dortmund replaced him with Batshuayi.

#3 Manchester City paying themselves to sign a player

Jack Harrison joins Manchester City from their sister club New York City

Manchester City signed England U21 winger Jack Harrison on deadline day. The player joined from New York City, their sister club in the MLS. Harrison went on to sign a three-and-a-half-year deal before joining Middlesbrough on loan for rest of the season.

What makes this transfer special?

Manchester City may have just paid themselves to sign the player.

It's similar to the deal that brought Aaron Mooy to Manchester City. He joined from Melbourne City, another sister club of Manchester City. He was immediately loaned out to Huddersfield whom he helped to gain promotion to the Premier League. Huddersfield paid Manchester City £8m to make the move permanent last summer.

#4 Real Madrid's lack of transfer activity

Real Madrid was one of the few big clubs that didn't sign a player in the last transfer window.

Real Madrid are in deep trouble. They are 19 points behind the leaders in La Liga and are out of the Copa del Rey. The UEFA Champions League is the only competition in which they are in contention.

It was only natural for fans to expect Zidane to spend big in this transfer window.

However, that was not the case.

Even though Zidane's targets were unavailable, fans feel that he could have done something to salvage this season.

Real Madrid were the only team in La Liga that didn't sign any player in the transfer window. Meanwhile, their rivals Barcelona spent £146 million on Philip Coutinho despite being in pole position to win the league.

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#5 The Ibrahim Amadou Transfer

Roy Hodgson was keen to sign Ibrahim Amadou from Lille

The stage was set for Lille captain, Ibrahim Amadou, to join Crystal Palace on deadline day. Palace even had a verbal agreement with Lille to sign the player on loan with an option to buy him in the summer. Amadou himself, spent the entire day in London waiting for confirmation from Lille.

Lille were ready to sell the player once they recalled Portuguese midfielder Xeka from his loan at Dijon. However, they found out that it was impossible and that Xeka would stay in Spain.

Amadou reportedly made several phone calls to Lille pleading to let him go, but all of them went to deaf ears.