The Premier League experienced its quietest winter transfer deadline day, with just seven signings completed on Monday.
Not one arrival was confirmed until 19:04 GMT, four minutes after the English window closed, when Crystal Palace announced the signing of striker Jorgen Strand Larsen from Wolves in a deal worth up to £48m. Clubs are allowed up to two hours after the deadline to complete paperwork if a deal sheet has been lodged before 19:00, which explains the late confirmations.
Five further moves were confirmed after the deadline. Sunderland signed Ecuador winger Nilson Angulo from Anderlecht for £17.5m. Wolves brought in midfielder Angel Gomes on loan from Marseille and then replaced Strand Larsen by signing Adam Armstrong from Southampton for £7m. Those late deals helped push Premier League winter spending to roughly £390-397m. Liverpool agreed a deal to sign defender Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes, but that transfer — and the £60m payment — is scheduled to take place in the summer.
What else happened on deadline day?
Two of the day’s main talking points involved Crystal Palace: the arrival of Strand Larsen and the collapse of Jean-Philippe Mateta’s proposed move to AC Milan because of medical issues. Otherwise, there was little drama: none of the traditional top-six clubs conducted deadline-day business.
A notable Premier League exit saw former England midfielder Kalvin Phillips move from Manchester City to Championship side Sheffield United on loan for the remainder of the season — four years after City signed him from Leeds for about £45m. Other late confirmations included Nottingham Forest signing Borussia Monchengladbach defender Luca Netz, Chelsea winger Tyrique George moving on loan to Everton for the season, and both Tottenham and Arsenal announcing academy signings.
Why was deadline day so quiet?
The summer window saw a record £3.1bn spent by Premier League clubs, dwarfing winter activity. The winter outlay — near £397m — is not drastically lower than some previous Januaries, but January is traditionally harder for recruitment and even more challenging on the final day.
Factors for the particularly subdued deadline day include the big spend in the previous summer and the looming introduction of a new Financial Fair Play regime. From 2026-27, Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) will replace the Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), requiring Premier League clubs to limit overall squad costs to 85% of revenue. FootballTransfers.com’s Paul Macdonald said clubs were anxious to ensure compliance and avoid being constrained under the new rules, which likely made them cautious.
Who were the biggest winter spenders?
Manchester City were the biggest movers, signing forward Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth for £64m on 9 January and defender Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace for £20m on 16 January, additions intended to strengthen their title challenge against Arsenal.
Crystal Palace’s deadline acquisition of Strand Larsen took their winter spending to around £83m, including the earlier £35m signing of Brennan Johnson from Tottenham. Aston Villa — third in the table — were the only other top-six side to pay fees in January, bringing back striker Tammy Abraham from Besiktas for £18.25m and signing winger Alysson from Gremio for about £10.5m.
At the bottom end, West Ham spent to try to avoid relegation, reportedly paying about £21.8m for Brazilian striker Pablo Felipe from Gil Vicente and around £25m for Taty Castellanos from Lazio. Tottenham paid roughly £35m to sign Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid, while Bournemouth reinvested funds from the Semenyo sale to sign teenage striker Rayan from Vasco da Gama for £24.7m and Hungary midfielder Alex Toth from Ferencvaros for about £10.4m.
Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool were all largely inactive in the winter window.
How Premier League spending compared to the rest of Europe
Despite a quiet deadline day, Premier League clubs still spent more in the winter window than clubs in other major European leagues. Serie A was the next biggest spender at about £205m; Sassuolo were particularly active, paying around £22m combined for Marseille’s Ismael Kone and Darryl Bakola. La Liga business was subdued too — the Spanish window closed at 22:59 GMT — with Atletico Madrid’s £30m signing of Ademola Lookman accounting for more than the rest of the division combined (about £20.3m).
