Biggest winners and losers from January transfer window

The clubs from Europe's top leagues wrapped up their business for the 2025-26 season as the January transfer window closed Monday. We're picking out the biggest winners and losers from the winter signing period.

👉 Deadline day analysis

Winners: Manchester City

The latest incarnation of Pep Guardiola's Manchester City still feels like a work in progress. Their ongoing defensive frailties and failure to see out wins over Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur within the past month attest to that. Right now, they don't feel like genuine Premier League title challengers.

Still, City can build toward their next era with victories in the transfer market - and they certainly did that in January. Marc Guehi's introduction to the backline has brought brawn, confidence, and elite decision-making that was sorely missed during crucial junctures of the campaign. He could've joined for nothing when his Crystal Palace contract expired in the summer, but City were proactive to acquire an elite defender for just £20 million, beating out numerous European rivals in the process. It's excellent business.

Antoine Semenyo also turned up at just the right time. His four goals in five appearances have helped offset Erling Haaland's unexpected struggles and Jeremy Doku's injury problems. Semenyo's versatility and single-mindedness have instantly enhanced City's attack.

Losers: Crystal Palace

There's been an exodus of Crystal Palace's 2025 FA Cup winners. Eberechi Eze, who scored the only goal against Manchester City in the FA Cup final, joined Arsenal last summer, and long-serving defender Joel Ward also left following the expiration of his contract. In mid-January, manager Oliver Glasner revealed he would call it quits at Selhurst Park in the summer, and days later Guehi relinquished the captaincy to move to Manchester City.

Jean-Philippe Mateta stuck around after his deadline-day transfer to AC Milan fell through, but whether that's a good thing or not remains to be seen. He's scored just once in his past 12 outings, with Palace winning only the first two matches of Mateta's miserable run, and a troublesome knee issue was apparently flagged in his failed medical with Milan.

Perhaps concern over Mateta's fitness and form encouraged Palace to rubber-stamp the signing of Jorgen Strand Larsen. But how much impact can a striker with one goal in 22 Premier League appearances this season be expected to have on a team completely drained of confidence? There's incentive for Strand Larsen to prove himself at Palace, especially with Norway's World Cup campaign on the horizon, but he's only scored against West Ham United, Burnley, and Shrewsbury Town this season. He's broken. And yet, Palace paid almost £50 million to acquire him.

Brennan Johnson signed for Crystal Palace earlier in January. The Welsh international carefully built his reputation at Nottingham Forest before his 2023 transfer to Tottenham, but, at £35 million, his signing marks another expensive gamble for the Eagles.

Winners: Chelsea

The relationship between Chelsea and Strasbourg under the BlueCo investment group works just fine for the Premier League club. Rather than take risks in west London, Chelsea use the smaller Ligue 1 side as a testing ground for young talent and simply take their pick of the best Strasbourg players in each transfer window.

The one-sided arrangement appeared to reach its nadir for Strasbourg when Emmanuel Emegha was unveiled as a Chelsea player in September 2025, despite the move not going through until the following summer. Chelsea announcing yet another transfer seemingly took priority over everything else, including Strasbourg's preparations for a match two days later and their fans' increasing frustration with their club being geared toward fostering Chelsea's success.

The unfair alliance got even worse this winter. Chelsea pinched Liam Rosenior from Strasbourg to replace Enzo Maresca as head coach. Then, in the final hours of the transfer window, Chelsea turned to Strasbourg yet again after missing out on other defensive targets. Highly-rated defender Mamadou Sarr was recalled from his loan deal in France after captaining Strasbourg against Paris Saint-Germain the previous day, and Aaron Anselmino - who started just four league matches while he spent the first half of the season with Borussia Dortmund - was apologetically sent the other way.

The way BlueCo treats Strasbourg is deeply unsavoury, but Chelsea aren't complaining.

Losers: Napoli

Napoli's Serie A title defense is on life support - and their transfer dealings over the past two windows must take some of the blame.

The injuries to Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Frank Anguissa, and David Neres - among others - are unfortunate and have contributed to the nine-point gap behind league leaders Inter Milan. Captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo was also ruled out after suffering a knee sprain over the weekend.

But there's been so little quality in reserve.

Noa Lang, Lorenzo Lucca, and Luca Marianucci were all signed over the summer before being offloaded in January after making minimal impact in Campania. And the incoming winter deals for Alisson Santos (Sporting CP) and Giovane (Hellas Verona) - basically gambles on raw, young talent - aren't going to be much use to Antonio Conte right now.

Napoli crashed out of the opening phase of the Champions League. They're at serious risk of elimination from the Coppa Italia quarterfinals against in-form Como next week. A season that promised so much could turn into nothing more than a desperate cling to a top-four finish in Serie A.

Winner: Christian Norgaard (maybe)

Christian Norgaard has played 33 minutes of Premier League football since he joined Arsenal from Brentford last summer. Mikel Arteta recently suggested England's top flight should allow for bigger squads so there's room for Norgaard on his bench, which isn't the greatest endorsement for the former Brentford captain.

But Mikel Merino's foot operation could finally open the door for Norgaard. Arteta stated the club was "actively looking" to find a replacement for Merino during his absence but nothing materialized, leaving Martin Zubimendi as the only regular starter who plays at the base of midfield. Declan Rice can also fill the Merino void, but most of his success at Arsenal has been in a more marauding role.

"He is a leader, and a player with high tactical intelligence and versatility who will have a very positive impact to the squad," Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berti said when Norgaard was unveiled last July.

Well, it might just be time for the Dane to shine.

Loser: The loan market

So many teams rely on their on-loan players for the full season, but parent clubs seem more willing than ever to break agreements for short-term fixes or to help them conduct business elsewhere. Trust in the system must be eroding.

Chelsea recalling Anselmino and using him as a pawn to swipe Sarr from Strasbourg is just one of many examples. Watford have slipped six places down the Championship table and been eliminated from the FA Cup since Manchester City ended Max Alleyne's loan to cover an injury crisis. Alleyne has already lost his spot in Guardiola's starting lineup following Guehi's arrival, and he'll disappear completely from view when Ruben Dias, John Stones, and Josko Gvardiol are fit again.

West Bromwich Albion are at risk of being relegated from the Championship, but weakening them further didn't matter to Manchester United. They took Toby Collyer back from the Baggies before sending him to Hull City, who are in much better shape in third place of England's second tier.

Sunderland almost lost Lutsharel Geertruida when Liverpool had the audacity to ask RB Leipzig to cancel his loan so he could join them instead. Liverpool only opted out of the deal because it was too complicated to broker with so little time left in the transfer window, according to The Athletic's David Ornstein.

There's already evidence that smaller clubs are moving on from the insecurity of the loan market. Lincoln City, one of the better-run clubs in the EFL, helped improve the likes of Morgan Rogers and then-Forest youngster Brennan Johnson on loan deals in recent years, but they're now surpassing expectations with a strong bid for promotion to the Championship. The difference? They predominantly lean on players on long-term contracts rather than run the risk of borrowing from bigger clubs.

Other winners and losers

Winners: Schalke fans are starting to believe there are brighter times ahead for their club. Miron Muslic's side is in first place in the Bundesliga 2 and should improve after a strong winter recruitment drive. Edin Dzeko, Adil Aouchiche, and Dejan Ljubicic joined the promotion push.

Losers: Leading figures at Barcelona were furious after losing one of their top prospects to Paris Saint-Germain for just €8 million. Dro Fernandez, 18, was being carefully integrated into the first team and already had a big fan in head coach Hansi Flick, but PSG triggered his release clause - while paying a little extra to maintain a good relationship with Barca - to bring him to the French capital. This transfer could sting Barcelona for years.

Winners: Fans of throwbacks and reclamation projects should have a soft spot for Sheffield United in the Championship. Kalvin Phillips moved to Bramall Lane on loan from Manchester City on deadline day, joining a sizeable group of fallen stars and Premier League veterans playing under Chris Wilder, including Danny Ings, Patrick Bamford, Tom Davies, Ben Mee, Jairo Riedewald, and Japhet Tanganga.

Losers: Al-Nassr. The Saudi Pro League club's relationship with its prized asset, Cristiano Ronaldo, has apparently soured due to his anger over the club's lack of transfer activity. Portuguese reports cited by The Associated Press claimed Ronaldo missed Monday's match against Al-Riyadh because he was on strike. This isn't a good look for a country that's aggressively pursuing a place at soccer's top table.