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Football tends to take a backseat in January, as fans tend to get more absorbed in the vagaries of the transfer market. Case in point - Arsenal fans are currently glad, despite losing 1-3 to Swansea, due to the arrival of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on Deadline Day.
Clubs have to spend to rescue a bad situation in January, although there are some who are simply consolidating a strong position.
Without further ado, here are the biggest spenders of the January Transfer Window:
All figures from Transfermarkt
#10 Tottenham Hotspur
Mauricio Pochettino tends to not spend big in the January window, as the Argentinian believes in not upsetting his team ethic. However, when a player of the quality of Lucas Moura is available, for a cut-price deal no-less, Spurs were only all to glad to make the Brazilian their only major signing of the winter transfer window.
Daniel Levy was only too glad to part with €28.4 million for Lucas, which was the entirety of Tottenham's transfer spend in January. The Brazilian was the 8th most expensive signing of January, and Spurs fans will be expecting plenty from their latest star.
Cameron Carter-Vickers and Georges-Kevin N'Koudou left Spurs on loan, and while they may literally be big names, not many Tottenham fans will be disappointed at not having them until June.
#9 Athletic Bilbao
Athletic's presence in a biggest transfer spend list is a bit of a surprise, as the club's policy of only signing Basque-origin players has limited their spending historically. San Mames' biggest stars leaving is more often the norm, so it would be a welcome sight for Bilbao fans to see their club spend.
Inigo Martinez arrived from Real Sociedad as Bilbao paid his release clause of €32 million, with Barcelona and Manchester City's interest showing how good the centre-back is. However, Aymeric Laporte's departure will be significantly felt at the back, despite Inigo's quality.
Bilbao raised €65 million from Laporte's sale, and thus they have a significant profit of €33 million, which may be used in subsequent windows.
#8 Beijing Gouan
The presence of a Chinese Super League club is not surprising, given the trend over the last few seasons - although there have been restrictions on spending of late. The CSL transfer window remains open till February 28th, so they could rise higher up in this list.
Beijing have signed a whole host of Chinese players, albeit for nominal amounts that do not compare to their outlay on Cedric Bakambu from Villarreal. Thus, the €40 million they parted with is their total January spending, which is also their net spend.
Curiously enough, Beijing's spending in January is greater than the total of all 20 Serie A clubs in toal, which points to the changing scenario of football.
#7 Everton
Everton were one of the biggest spenders in the summer, but with plenty of signings flopping, Ronald Koeman was shown the door. Sam Allardyce has never been known for spending big, but the Englishman is known for his skill at rejuvenating players who have not had the best of times recently.
Theo Walcott fits the bill, and at €22.5 million, he is already well on his way to repaying Everton. Cenk Tosun and Elaquim Mangala's arrival on loan has taken the Toffees' expenditure in January to €44.5 million, which, coupled with the summer outlay, represents quite a significant investment.
Ross Barkley's departure raised €16.9 million, while the sale of Aaron Lennon was a nominal fee. Sandro, Kevin Mirallas, Ademola Lookman and Muhamed Besic left on loan, thus ensuring Everton's net spend in January was €27.6 million.
#6 Chelsea
Antonio Conte has been complaining all season about Chelsea's lack of spending and when Emerson Palmieri is the most expensive signing of the January window, you'd have to agree with the Italian. Chelsea opted for quantity over quality, bringing in Emerson from Roma, Olivier Giroud from Arsenal and Ross Barkley from Everton for a total of €53.9 million in January.
However, as is customary, plenty of players left Chelsea on loan, with Nathan, Todd Kane, Kenedy, Baba Rahman, Michy Batshuayi and Charly Musonda all leaving London. In total, Chelsea raised €4 million from the loaness, and when added to Diego Costa's €66 million fee, Chelsea raised €70 million.
Thus, the Blues made a profit of €16.1 million in January, which is sure to irk Chelsea fans and perhaps, Antonio Conte as well.
#5 Arsenal
It's not often you see Arsenal high up in any spending lists, but Arsene Wenger has broken the club's transfer record in two consecutive windows for Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Gabonese striker arrived from Borussia Dortmund for an eye-watering €63.75 million, although the Henrikh Mkhitaryan-Alexis Sanchez swap did not dent Arsenal's finances.
Konstantinos Mavropanos's signing brought Arsenal's total spending in January to 65.85 million.
It wouldn't be Arsenal without them raising money from player sales, and with the departures of Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud, Mathieu Debuchy and Francis Coquelin, the Gunners raised €53.5 million. Net-spend is pretty much a meme when it comes to Arsenal, although €12.35 is a decent amount.
#4 Atletico Madrid
With the transfer ban lifted, Atletico Madrid wasted no time in confirming moves for Diego Costa and Vitolo. The Rojiblancos parted with €66 million to bring Costa from Chelsea, although Vitolo and Andre Moreira were free arrivals, thus bringing Atletico's total outlay in the Janaury window to €66 million.
The fee for Costa raised a few eyebrows, but with Antoine Griezmann likely to depart in the summer for a much larger fee, perhaps Atletico can balance the boolks. Augusto Fernandez, left for the Chinese Super League on a permanent transfer, while Luciano Vietto and Andre Moreira left on loan, with Atletico raising €4.5 million.
Thus, the net spend for the La Liga title challengers was €61.5 million.
#3 Manchester City
Until January 29th, Manchester City had been curiously quiet in the transfer market. However, Pep Guardiola has overseen spending close to half a billion pounds in just 18 months - so it was no surprise when the Sky Blues paid Aymeric Laporte's release clause of €65 million.
In addition, Jack Harrison, Phillippe Sandler, Erik Palmer-Brown and Marlos Moreno arrived at City for €6.5 million (soon leaving on loan right after), bringing their total expenditure to €71.5 million in January.
Elaquim Mangala left for Everton on loan, thus City raised no money from player sales, keeping their net spend for the January window at €71.5 million as well.
#2 Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp's long-awaited pursuit of Virgil van Dijk finally came to an end in January, although the departure of Philippe Coutinho may have facilitated the move, with the Reds parting with a staggering €78.8 million for the Dutchman, making him the most expensive defender in all of football history.
The €78.8 million outlay was enough to make Liverpool the 2nd biggest spender of the January transfer market, although with the departures of Philippe Coutinho, Lazar Markovic, Daniel Sturridge, Marko Grujic and Jon Flanagan, the Reds raised €120 million, thus bringing their net expenditure for the winter window to a profit of €41.2 million.
#1 Barcelona
With the money from Neymar's €222 million transfer still burning a hole in their pocket, it was obvious that Barcelona would be one of the biggest spenders in the winter transfer window. Having missed out on Philippe Coutinho in the summer, the Blaugrana finally managed to complete the deal, parting with a staggering €120 million for his services.
In addition, Yerry Mina arrived from Palmeiras for a €11.8 million fee, while Sergi Samper returned from his loan to Las Palmas. In total, Barcelona spent €131.8 million in the January Transfer Window.
Javier Mascherano, Gerard Deulofeu, Arda Turan and Rafinha left the club on a mixture of permanent deals ,and loan moves, with Barcelona raising €6.5 million from their sales, thus making it a net spend of €125.3 million.
