Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth retained their jewels and Tottenham – eventually – did what was necessary. The Marcus Rashford renaissance train departs.
The big old nerd losers will be along shortly.
Marcus Rashford
It might be an idea, when the time comes for Ruben Amorim and Manchester United to part, for players to avoid scoring the first goal of his successor’s reign. It did not augur well for Jadon Sancho and Erik ten Hag, nor Rashford and the manager who has overseen his exit after two decades with his boyhood club.
“This is my first time playing for any other team so you don’t know what to expect but it’s been more excitement, not scared of going into a new environment,” Rashford said when the “new challenge” he sought in mid-December finally presented itself by early February.
But really wherever the destination, that challenge would have been the same: to “rediscover and improve as a player”. This is not his last chance at 27 but it is probably his best and most important.
There is a fundamental sadness about his Old Trafford departure. Beyond the sporting ramifications is a human whose life has orbited around one constant since he was a child. The suggestion is that those bonds are irreparably broken and even from the outside looking in it is clear that something has radically changed in that relationship.
From that regret comes an opportunity to rebuild and reinvent, placed back onto a Champions League stage his ability demands but many have long since decided his attitude and application do not.
Any hope that Rashford might find inspiration in proving those critics wrong is countered by these miserable last two seasons in which he has hit ostensible lows both personally and professionally. Many would derive a perverse pleasure if the misery persists despite a change of scenery and that is on them.
But for the first time in too long, Rashford is somewhere he feels wanted. The difference that makes could be quite something.
The children of Birmingham
You will be fed, friends.
Nottingham Forest
INS: Wayne Hennessey (free, unattached), Tyler Bindon (undisclosed, Reading)
OUTS: Aaron Donnelly (free, Dundee), Andrew Omobamidele (loan, Strasbourg), Josh Bowler (loan, Luton Town), James Ward-Prowse (loan terminated, West Ham), Lewis O’Brien (loan, Swansea City), Tyler Bindon (loan, Reading)
The temptation is always to build and aim higher but the risk lies in forgetting to fortify the foundations. While Nuno Espirito Santo would have wanted another centre-forward, perhaps a winger and maybe a defender, the primary objective was always to keep the composite parts of this wonderful machine in place.
“This is the squad we have and these are the players that can solve all our problems,” he said. “It’s a very tricky market in terms of improvement so let’s focus and keep our players here.”
Those new contracts for Murillo and Chris Wood might not get the blood pumping in quite the same way as a club-record signing, obscure South American transfer or anything in between, but it is the sensible reaction to a sudden and unforeseen rise. Had Forest thrown their new-found weight around in the market it could have bolstered their Champions League push but just as likely threatened that delicate squad balance.
The cliche that standing still is moving backwards does not apply here. Forest were right to be boring in looking beyond this season instead of getting caught up in the moment. For a club whose transfer strength since promotion has been neither prudence nor moderation, keeping their powder dry was a welcome show of restraint.
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Wolves
INS: Emmanuel Agbadou (£16.76m, Reims) – deal sheets for Marshall Munetsi and Nasser Djiga
OUTS: Chem Campbell (loan, Reading), Luke Cundle (£1m, Millwall)
It did feel as though Vitor Pereira was setting himself up for a fall having rather overestimated the extravagance levels of his new employers. The last two Wolves managers walked out or were pushed having made no attempt to mask their public and private exasperation at a perceived lack of support in the transfer market and it was entirely possible to envisage the latest incumbent heading the same way.
But Pereira’s confidence was not misplaced. Theirs has been a relatively modest spend on three players, none of whom rank in Wolves’ top ten most expensive signings ever yet each are clear upgrades on who they are replacing.
Agbadou has already heralded an overall improvement in the defence, Munetsi takes the place of Mario Lemina and Djiga arrives with similar rave reviews as Wolves have finally sought to rectify the raging dumpster fire that is their defence, while keeping Matheus Cunha for a few more months.
Tottenham
INS: Yang Min-hyeok (£3.3m, Gangwon), Antonin Kinsky (£12.5m, Slavia Prague), Kevin Danso (loan, Lens), Mathys Tel (loan, Bayern Munich)
OUTS: Matthew Craig (loan, Mansfield), Alfie Dorrington (loan, Aberdeen), Min-hyeok Yang (loan, QPR), Will Lankshear (loan, West Brom)
Offer that at the start of the month and the outlook would be more positive. But as ever when Daniel Levy insists on being a messy bitch, Spurs pushed it, their borked squad and Ange Postecoglou himself to the absolute limit.
They needed a keeper who plays in the manager’s style, a fast centre-half (with Premier League experience an added bonus) and a forward of any sort of repute as an absolute bare minimum, with any and all other gaps potentially filled by the rafts of players returning from injury soon.
It does prompt a few uncomfortable questions about a transfer setup which had to be rescued from itself by the manager personally intervening to revive a move which seemed dead a handful of times, as before Postecoglou stepped in to convince Tel it was an impressively dreadful month of business, but they got there in the end.
Crystal Palace
INS: Romain Esse (£12m, Millwall), Ben Chilwell (loan, Chelsea)
OUTS: Asher Agbinone (loan, Gillingham), Jemiah Umolu (loan, Port Vale), Chris Francis (loan, Dagenham & Redbridge), Luke Plange (loan, Motherwell)
“For every young player, we’re all looking for opportunities, and I think this is the best place to really take my game to the next level and push on in my career,” said Romain Esse upon joining a club “going in a great direction”.
“I think the next step in my development is very crucial,” he added. “I thought this would be the best place and I just can’t wait to start playing.”
It is admirable proof of a powerful reputation Palace have earned. The hope is that Esse can follow Michael Olise, Marc Guehi, Will Hughes, Eberechi Eze or Adam Wharton but Luke Plange, Nathan Ferguson and Malcolm Ebiowei show that simply taking the route from Football League to Selhurst Park is in itself no guarantee of success.
That such a defined path even exists is testament to Palace’s foresight and desire to build it into their transfer identity. It will certainly come in handy if a potential suitor ever dares meet the fairly basic criteria for a Guehi sale of a) matching the asking price and b) leaving Palace with more than a couple of days to acquire a replacement.
Chilwell is also a decent if entirely uninspiring loan.
Bournemouth
INS: Matai Akinmboni (£810,000, DC United), Kai Crampton (free, Chelsea), Julio Soler (£6.6m, Lanus), Zain Silcott-Duberry (free, Chelsea), Eli Junior Kroupi (£9.9m, Lorient)
OUTS: Philip Billing (loan, Napoli), Max Aarons (loan, Valencia), Mark Travers (loan, Middlesbrough), Eli Junior Kroupi (loan, Lorient)
Andoni Iraola was expressly clear in his preference to loan a striker capable of filling the void left by Evanilson and Enes Unal’s injuries. That player might by Junior Kroupi one day but the 18-year-old will be given time to settle so the pivot to just squeezing hat-tricks out of Justin Kluivert and Dango Ouattara instead was shrewd.
It can also never hurt to raid Chelsea’s academy for any spare potential gems they have completely forgotten about, while bringing in Julio Soler to allow time and room to settle before interest in Milos Kerkez peaks is a surefire sign of a club punching well above its weight in the present without being distracted from the future.
Brentford
INS: Michael Kayode (loan, Fiorentina)
OUTS: Ashley Hay (loan, Cheltenham), Val Adedokun (loan, Cheltenham), Jayden Meghoma (loan, Preston), Tristan Crama (undisclosed, Millwall), Ellery Balcombe (loan, Motherwell), Tony Yogane (loan, Exeter), Mads Roerslev (loan, Wolfsburg), Matthew Cox (loan, Crawley Town)
Thomas Frank will be grateful for the few extra months to plan how best to spend the Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo windfalls but exclusively in the short term the Kayode loan represents an upgrade on Roerslev and a chance to move Kristoffer Ajer back into the centre if necessary.
It also feels absolutely right that Brentford have a proper Long Throw Merchant in their ranks again. The world is healing, even if the vast majority of their squad still struggles to.
Ipswich
INS: Ben Godfrey (loan, Atalanta), Jaden Philogene (£20m, Aston Villa), Julio Enciso (loan, Brighton), Alex Palmer (£2.5m, West Brom)
OUTS: Henry Gray (loan, Braintree), Harry Barbrook (loan, Chelmsford), George Edmundson (£600,000, Middlesbrough), Ali Al-Hamadi (loan, Stoke), Harry Clarke (loan, Sheffield United)
Perhaps mindful of the way Norwich were pilloried for not spending enough upon promotion in 2019, Ipswich cannot be similarly accused of letting the moment pass them by. They can, however, be charged with also having Godfrey on their books.
Only ten clubs in the world have spent more money on transfer fees this season and just four Premier League sides went bigger in January.
Philogene falls neatly into the bracket of Premier League-adjacent but also very Championship in the case of relegation, while Enciso managed six shots in his first start so will at least be great fun.
But ultimately Ipswich might be the biggest winners of all after signing a keeper. The bar Alex Palmer has to clear is so low it’s approaching Earth’s core.
Manchester City
INS: Abdukodir Khusanov (£33.7m, RC Lens), Vitor Reis (£29.6m, Palmeiras), Omar Marmoush (£59m, Eintracht Frankfurt), Christian McFarlane (free, New York City), Juma Bah (£5m, Real Valladolid), Nico Gonzalez (£49.9m, Porto)
OUTS: Issa Kabore (loan, Werder Bremen), Josh Wilson-Esbrand (loan, Stoke City), Kyle Walker (loan, AC Milan), Juma Bah (loan, RC Lens)
A handful of factors need to be met by a club to qualify for what most perceive to be a good transfer window: a considerable spend; deals done relatively early; no significant outgoings; and additions in multiple positions.
It generally runs counter to the reality that business should be judged holistically across a number of years, but in isolation the entirely broken rule is that the more signings and greater expenditure the better.
And the truth is that nothing titillates quite like a deadline day deal either. Manchester City have ticked pretty much every possible box.
Like a greedy child staring at an advent calendar, they have tried to have a few windows all at once. Pep Guardiola and friends have tried to correct some glaring retrospective transfer mistakes in one go, dragging the squad’s average age kicking and screaming down, overhauling the defence, midfield and attack and offloading long-time liability Walker while making a couple of signings with an eye on the future.
It certainly can’t be part of a coherent, intelligent plan. In Guardiola’s previous 15 January transfer windows as a manager with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City he signed six first-team players – Ibrahim Afellay, Gabriel Jesus, Aymeric Laporte, Maximo Perrone, Julian Alvarez and Claudio Echeverri – for just over £120m. Four for £180m in one window is an unprecedented mid-season care package and undeniable consequence of panic but also a long overdue recognition of past errors.
West Ham
INS: James Ward-Prowse (loan terminated, Nottingham Forest), Evan Ferguson (loan, Brighton)
OUTS: Maxwel Cornet (loan, Genoa), Michael Forbes (loan, Colchester)
As far as Like A New Signings go, the loan recall under a new manager is a welcome addition to the genre. That Ward-Prowse represents an improvement in terms of midfield endeavour and defensive acumen reflects atrociously on those with whom he will now be vying for a place but Graham Potter will at least enjoy working on set-pieces.
Ferguson is the wildcard, an injury prone forward who only scores or assists once every four games or the former £100m-rated prodigy courted by the elite, depending on your viewpoint of choice.
But again, when the alternative to a bubble-wrapped Jarrod Bowen for most of the rest of the season is Danny Ings or an out-of-position Lucas Paqueta, reuniting Ferguson with Potter – under whom he scored his first Brighton goal – makes a fair amount of sense as a stopgap.
The inherent risk with a straight loan is that supporters develop an unrequited love again as with Jesse Lingard, or it all goes a bit Kalvin Phillips. Without fear of relegation or European aspirations, West Ham can afford to inject that sort of jeopardy into their season.
Southampton
INS: Welington (free, Sao Paulo), Rento Takaoka (free, Nissho Gakuen), Joachim Kayi Sanda (£4.18m, Valenciennes), Albert Gronbaek (loan, Rennes)
OUTS: Ronnie Edwards (loan, QPR), Will Armitage (loan, Aldershot), Ben Brereton-Diaz (loan, Sheffield United)
They resisted any and all urges to spend £4m or so on Danny Mills, Emanuel Villa, Laurent Robert, Robbie Savage, Hossam Ghaly, Roy Carroll, Mile Sterjovski and Alan Stubbs so Saints are at the very least up on Derby’s January 2008 efforts.
Ben Brereton-Diaz’s loan back to St Mary’s in the middle of next season after Sheffield United are promoted and his Premier League curse continues will also be generational.
Willian
Will play in London for a 13th consecutive year, more like. It is a nightmare changing dentists or barbers to be fair.
