The winter transfer window comes around in January. This one-month period offers teams across the leading football tiers in Europe a valuable opportunity to bolster their squads, ensuring they are well-equipped for the business end of the season.
As teams prepare for crucial stages of their ongoing campaigns, making shrewd quality signings in January can prove to be the difference between absolute success and abject failure. Over the years, some of the most memorable and successful transfers have occurred during this window, with certain players going on to become true legends for their respective clubs.
Here, we take a look at the ten most expensive signings of the January transfer window. The transfer values mentioned here have been sourced from Transfermarkt.co.uk.
Portuguese midfielder Bruno Fernandes arrived at Old Trafford in January 2020 from Sporting on a five-and-a-half-year deal. The reported initial fee was €55 million, which could rise to €80 million if all conditions were met.
Fernandes has since been the linchpin of the United attack. He is currently the captain of the team and has already won domestic trophies with them, including the EFL Cup and the FA Cup, having also reached the Europa League final on two separate occasions, picking up silver medals in both.
Ukrainian forward Mykhaylo Mudryk made a big-money move to Chelsea in January 2023 on a reported fee of €70 million on an eight-and-a-half-year contract. The Shakhtar Donetsk starlet had also been attracting interest from Chelsea’s local rivals Arsenal, who were favourites for his signature at one point.
This was not only one of the costliest transfers ever sealed in the January window, but also the most expensive sale made by Shakhtar.
Despite costing Chelsea the big bucks, Mudryk’s time at Stamford Bridge has been in turmoil. In December 2024, he was handed a provisional suspension by the Football Association after testing positive for doping. At the time of writing, he remains provisionally suspended.
Georgian forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was bought by PSG in January 2025 from Serie A side Napoli for a reported €70 million, signing a contract worth a little over €310,000 per week and set to run until the end of the 2028/29 season.
Kvaratskhelia helped Napoli win the Scudetto in the 2022/23 season and was brought in by Les Parisiens to bolster their attack ahead of a crucial second half of the 2024/25 season.
And it proved to be a massive game-changer for PSG, as Kvaratskhelia helped transform the team and helped them secure a historic continental treble, which included finally clinching the UEFA Champions League trophy.
Ghanaian forward Antoine Semenyo made a huge €72m move from Bournemouth to Manchester City in January 2026, signing a five-and-a-half-year, £150,000-per-week contract.
The 26-year-old was also attracting interest from other Premier League heavyweights like Liverpool and Arsenal, but it was the Cityzens who activated his release clause mid-season to bring him to the Etihad.
Semenyo is a versatile player who can play on either flank. Having arrived from Bournemouth in red-hot form, he has already hit the ground running at Man City, having helped them progress to the FA Cup fourth round and the final of the EFL Cup right away.
Egyptian forward Omar Marmoush arrived at Man City from Eintracht Frankfurt in January 2025 for a reported fee of €70 million with €5 million in bonuses, amid interest from several clubs throughout Europe.
Marmoush was having a fabulous season at Frankfurt, where he had scored 15 goals and bagged 10 assists in 17 games before City decided to move for him, adding him to their struggling attacking line, which was far too dependent on Erling Haaland.
However, so far Marmoush hasn’t really found ample opportunities to prove his worth due to the lack of game time, injuries, and City’s overall inconsistent form.
Columbian striker Jhon Durán was the surprise signing of the winter transfer window in 2025. The 22-year-old made a massive €77m move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr. With this signing, Durán became the second most expensive transfer in Saudi Pro League history.
Durán had been the centre of attraction in Europe after scoring 12 goals in 29 appearances for Aston Villa in the first half of the 2024/25 season. In what was considered a baffling decision by many, he decided to move to Saudi Arabia instead of a top European club.
His big money move didn’t work out as per expectation, however, and he is currently on loan at Fenerbahçe in the Turkish Süper Lig.
Serbian striker Dušan Vlahovic was signed by Italian giants Juventus in January 2022 for a staggering €83.5 million from Fiorentina. Vlahovic joined The Old Lady on a four-and-a-half-year deal, having also been attracting interest from North London outfits Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.
Vlahovic rose to prominence with his exceptional performances in Florence, scoring 21 goals in 40 appearances in the 2020/21 season. He carried his goal-scoring form into the next season, scoring 20 goals in 24 games in 2021/22 before Juve came calling.
Since then, Vlahovic has blown hot and cold, though he did win the 2023/24 Coppa Italia and was their top scorer that season.
Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk made his move from Southampton to Liverpool for a huge €84.65m fee in December 2017. This made him the most expensive centre-back signing in the world before the record was broken by Manchester United when they signed Harry Maguire from Leicester City in summer 2019.
Van Dijk’s move was deemed controversial at the time, with Southampton claiming that Liverpool approached the Dutchman earlier that summer illegally, having not waited for their approval. For this, the Reds ultimately had to issue a formal apology to the Saints. When Liverpool came calling again in the winter transfer window, however, they made an offer Southampton could not refuse.
During his time at Anfield, Van Dijk has proved to be transformational in the Liverpool backline, having led the club to win the Champions League once, the Premier League twice, while also winning the FA Cup, two EFL Cups, the UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup (now the FIFA Intercontinental Cup). Now captain of a Liverpool side in transition, Van Dijk signed a two-year contract extension in summer 2025.
Chelsea’s €121m signing of Enzo Fernández from Benfica in January 2023 is the second-most expensive January signing of all time. At the time, this was also a British record transfer fee, with the Blues surpassing the €117 million Manchester City paid for Jack Grealish a year and a half prior.
Since arriving at Stamford Bridge, Fernández has been crucial to Chelsea winning the UEFA Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup, having also helped them return to the UEFA Champions League for the 2025/26 season after missing the competition for a couple of seasons.
Liverpool’s Brazilian midfield maestro Philippe Coutinho became the most expensive January transfer of all time when Barcelona agreed an unbelievable fee of €135 million (plus add-ons) for him in January 2018, offering him a five-and-a-half-year contract.
Coutinho was one of the best players in the Premier League when Barça came calling. However, his tenure at Camp Nou turned out to be hardly impactful in contrast to his time at Liverpool. His time in Catalonia was marred by inconsistent performances and injuries, though he was part of two title-winning campaigns for the Catalans and also spent a year on loan at Bayern Munich, where he famously chipped in during the Bavarians’ 8–2 demolition of the Blaugrana en route to a historic treble.
Coutinho was ultimately sold to Aston Villa in May 2022, with the Villans having made their initial loan move permanent after a string of promising performances. That too turned out to be a false dawn for Coutinho, however, and he quickly became loan fodder once again before ultimately returning to Brazil with Vasco da Gama.
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