Winners and losers of January transfer window

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 4 Feb 2025 09:39 GMT
• 5 min read

The January 2025 transfer window is now shut.

The winter market saw a whole host of expensive transfers around Europe and beyond, with Xavi Simons to Leipzig for €80m, Jhon Duran to Al-Nassr for €77.5m and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to PSG for €75m just three of the big buck transfers.

But who were the winners and losers of the January window?

READ MORE: Premier League January transfers 2025: All the Done Deals

Let's start off with the winners of the market.

WINNERS: Liverpool

Liverpool did not spend a penny in the January transfer window - and it does not look to have affected them at all.

They are six points clear at the top of the Premier League with a game in hand, they topped the Champions League and are on course for a quadruple.

READ MORE: Saudi Pro League January transfers 2025: All the Done Deals

Meanwhile, most of their rivals overspent in a desperate bid to improve their fortunes.

Liverpool kept their powder dry and that money can be used in the summer to strengthen a team who could lose some key players.

WINNER: Marcus Rashford

Marcus Rashford was very much at risk of spending the rest of the season in the stands at Old Trafford after being frozen out of the Man Utd squad for publicly announcing his desire to seek a new challenge.

Very few teams had the financial capacity to buy him or pay his wages, which means that Rashford is very fortunate to have found such a great club in Aston Villa take him on.

Villa have signed Rashford on loan until the end of the season and also have a purchase option in the region of €48 million.

Rashford gets the opportunity to kickstart his career at a club in the Champions League, coached by a great coach and with big plans. It's an opportunity he can't squander.

WINNER: Kai Havertz

Arsenal had made it a priority to sign a natural number nine during the January transfer window, especially after the ACL injury suffered by Gabriel Jesus.

The Gunners have struggled to maintain a title challenge this season due to a lack of goals and bite in attack.

Kai Havertz has once again been used as a false nine, a role he has done as well as could be expected in - without scoring enough goals.

The expected signing of a striker would have pushed Havertz out of the attack and forced to fight for his place lower down the pitch.

But January came and went without a striker signing, meaning Havertz will remain first choice for the rest of the season.

And now let's move onto the losers...

LOSERS: Man City

Man City splashed out over €200m in the January transfer window on a host of expensive signings.

They paid €75m for Eintracht Frankfurt's Omar Marmoush, €60m for Porto's Nico Gonzalez, €40m for Abdukodir Khusanov, €37m for Vitor Reis and €6m for Juma Bah. They also shipped out club legend Kyle Walker on loan to Milan with an option to buy.

Hastily spending so much money on relatively unproven players is not how City usual do business and demonstrates the desperate situation they find themselves in as they fight for a top four spot.

The 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Arsenal on Sunday shows that these signings are unlikely to improve their fortunes much for this season, at least.

LOSERS: Man Utd

New Man Utd manager Ruben Amorim has had a disastrous start to his career at Old Trafford.

He is performing far worse than his much-maligned predecessor Erik ten Hag and United are languishing down in 13th place in the Premier League.

It has been clear for some time that United need to strengthen their team badly if they are to move up the table but their business in January was two young talents in the form of Patrick Dorgu and Ayden Heaven.

Dorgu and Heaven may very well prove to be good signings but United now face finishing the season as a mid-table team at best.

LOSER: Cristiano Giuntoli: Juventus sporting director

Cristiano Giuntoli was already unpopular with Juventus fans heading into the January transfer window.

His summer market failed spectacularly. He spent €145m on Douglas Luiz, Teun Koopmeiners and Nico Gonzalez, all of whom have flopped so far. He also failed to sign a backup striker, meaning the hapless Dusan Vlahovic was Juve's only number 9 for the first half of the campaign.

And then in January, he made a complete mess of improving a squad who are struggling to even make the top four.

He had over three months to find a replacement for Bremer after the star defender tore his ACL in October, but failed with target after target before panic buying Newcastle reserve Lloyd Kelly for an inflated €22m. Six months ago he sold Dean Huijsen to Bournemouth (the club Kelly was at before leaving on a free transfer in the summer for Newcastle) - citing financial reasons - and the defender is now worth over €80m.

Juventus are in financial trouble, partly due to Giuntoli's failed dealings, leading him to try and sell Andrea Cambiaso to Man City. This transfer could now happen in the summer.

Giuntoli was supposed to build a new, great Juventus. He has been an umitigated disaster up until now.