January transfer window has already closed, and last month brought joy to some teams' fans, while for other clubs' supporters it ended without the opportunity to celebrate. Goal has chosen three biggest winners and three biggest disappointments of this transfer window.
Winner: China
The eye-catching amounts spent on players by Chinese Super League teams were the most interesting part of this dull January transfer window. The most well-known signings were Fredy Guarin, Gervinho, and Ramires. However, the most important aspect of these transfers was the sums that Chinese clubs paid for these players. Colombian national team member Guarin joined Shanghai Greenland Shenhua for 13 million euros, Hebei China Fortune paid Roma 18 million euros for Gervinho, and Jiangsu Suning spent a whopping 28 million euros for Ramires, who helped Chelsea win the Champions League in 2012.
Another important thing is that all three players are younger than 30. Chinese Super League clubs managed to attract three players from Europe while they are still in their prime. It might be hasty to say that we are witnessing a rapid and dramatic redistribution of power in global football, but Chinese clubs have shown that they have enough financial resources to compete for famous players in the transfer market.
Indeed, their impressive financial situation is reflected in the fact that in terms of money spent in January, the Super League is second only to the Premier League. Even more striking is the fact that the second-tier Chinese League One, mostly known for spending, ranks fourth in the league table, ahead of Bundesliga and La Liga!
Loser: Victor Valdes
Victor Valdes is a wealthy man, his life partner is a model, and during his career he won three Champions League titles. He doesn't need our sympathy or pity. However, it was somewhat strange and sad to see the World and European champion struggling on a muddy road to the Heverlee city stadium, for his debut at Standard Liege club. It was just a waste of his experience.
Valdes, of course, was happy to finally escape from the clutches of Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal. As he wrote on his Instagram account after helping the club win 2-0 against Oud-Heverlee Leuven: "I am very happy to be playing again after eight months of solitary training."
However, it is somewhat shocking that Valdes, who is only 34, is now playing in a mediocre Belgian team. He may return to a stronger league when his six-month loan agreement with Standard expires, but in any case, Valdes should regret leaving Barcelona in the summer of 2014.
Winner: Leicester City
The biggest fear of all Leicester City fans and those who love fairy-tale football stories was the scenario where Claudio Ranieri's team played too well and its composition would be dismantled during the winter transfer window by substantial offers. Fortunately, despite the huge interest in Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, and N'Golo Kante, the Foxes managed to keep all their key players.
There is some disappointment that the team failed to acquire an additional attacking player, as Eder, who had accepted the English club's offer, decided to move to Inter. But Ranieri should be happy enough as his team strengthened by acquiring Daniel Amartey and Demarai Gray, who came from Copenhagen and Birmingham City clubs respectively.
With all these factors in mind and the fact that Leicester City has kept all of its team leaders, the incredible story that the club is creating this season could still have a very happy ending.
Loser: Barcelona
Joan Laporta described Barcelona's attempt last year to acquire Paul Pogba from Juventus as an absurd failure that made the Catalans look bad. It's hard to imagine what the former club president would say about the January attempts to buy Celta forward Nolito.
Barca's interest in the Spanish national team player is understandable. However, their offer for the former Barcelona B player was completely absurd. For some reason, the Champions League winners thought that Celta, who are vying for European competition spots next year, would agree to let their best player go to Camp Nou on a season-long loan deal without receiving a penny. The Barcelona club even thought that Celta would change their minds when they included an option in the offer to return Nolito to his former club after the season if he didn't fit into Luis Enrique's team.
It was unexpected that Celta rejected all of Barcelona's offers, stating that the only way to buy the player would be by paying the 18 million euro release clause written in his contract. Considering that the club does not have that kind of money at the moment, this deal was doomed to fail from the very beginning.
Barcelona failed to add an attacking player that they really needed to complement Luis Enrique's team. Ironically, Barca seemed much better at acquiring players when they were banned from doing so!
Winner: Roma
Perhaps Roma could have seriously strengthened their squad, but by getting rid of unwanted players, they can now enjoy unconditional success in January. Gervinho had good spells at the Stadio Olimpico, but earning 10 million euros from such an unstable player cannot be seen as anything but a successful business move. And replacing him with Stephan El Shaarawy, who arrived on loan from Milan for 1.4 million euros with an option to join the club permanently for 13 million euros in the summer, already looks like a clever move. Especially when the Italian has already scored a fantastic goal in his debut.
The capital team also managed to get rid of three high-earning unsuccessful purchases. Bournemouth and Newcastle took Juan Iturbe and Seydou Doumbia on loan, and furthermore, Roma no longer has to pay Ashley Cole's wages, whom they had acquired for 18 months. The former England international agreed to terminate his contract and joined LA Galaxy club.
Loser: Fans eager for exciting signings
Everything about this transfer window can best be summed up by the most interesting thing that happened during it: the revelation of the worst-kept secret in football - Pep Guardiola will replace Manuel Pellegrini at Manchester City at the end of the season. In other cases, it was very hard to get excited about what happened on the last day of the transfer window, which was supposed to be a dramatic day of signings.
However, by mid-January, it became clear that it was difficult to expect big transfers between the strongest European clubs. Even Real and Atletico remained quiet, although at that time they could hope to not acquire any new players in the next two transfer windows.
Nevertheless, the summer promises much greater intrigue. Guardiola's move to England immediately sparked rumors that he will try to attract Lionel Messi and Paul Pogba. With City spending huge sums, other teams will also have to seek reinforcement out of fear of letting Guardiola's team escape in the race for the Premier League title. Hopefully, next summer will bring transfers that will meet the desires of the most sophisticated fans.
