January Transfer Window: Five ones to watch during the second half of the season

The chaos of the transfer window is once again over, with the January window having slammed shut on Monday evening. 

A number of clubs completed signings throughout the window, while there were also several high profile deadline day signings on Monday as clubs looked to take advantage of their last chance to sign players this season.

Newcastle were the most active Premier League side during the course of the month, recruiting five new faces to assist Eddie Howe in his bid to ensure their top flight survival.

Below, we take a look at five players who could shine during the second half of the season.

Dele Alli

One of two deadline day arrivals for newly-appointed Frank Lampard, the Toffees will be boosted in midfield by both Alli and Donny van de Beek. Alli joined the club from Tottenham Hotspur for a fee that could reach £40 million depending on performance-related factors and clauses.

The Englishman leaves North London after seven years and, while he has struggled for form and game time over the past two seasons, Everton will have landed on their feet if he can recreate the form he showed earlier in his career.

Alli scored 28 goals across his first two top flight seasons, and became an established member of the England senior side.

While his recent form saw him fall out of favour for both club and country, Toffees supporters will be hoping that Lampard can get the best out of him and use him to turn Everton’s season around.

Bruno Guimaraes

Perhaps the most high profile acquisition by any Premier League club this January, Newcastle splashed out £35 million on Brazilian midfielder Guimaraes.

The ex-Lyon star had been heavily linked with the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, but he ultimately opted to join Eddie Howe’s Tyneside revolution.

Guimaraes has swapped Lyon for Newcastle

The interest he had attracted from a number of top European clubs means that he arrives in England with big expectations, though.

The 24-year-old has been capped three times by Brazil’s senior side and was also part of the team that won Gold at the Olympic Games last summer.

Having racked up more than 70 appearances for the French side, Magpies fans will be eager to see the midfielder in action, and he will likely be one of the first names on Howe’s team sheets for the remainder of the campaign.

Christian Eriksen

The romantics’ choice for signing of the season, Brentford announced the unlikely return of Eriksen to English football on deadline day, on an initial six-month contract.

The Dane hasn’t played a game since suffering a cardiac arrest during Denmark’s Euro 2020 opener against Finland last summer, and was available for free after terminating his contract with previous club Inter Milan by mutual consent last month.

Serie A restrictions prevented him from playing with the defibrillator that has been implanted into his chest, but the Bees took full advantage of a lack of such restriction in England and completed one of the most intriguing deals of the window.

Eriksen was one of the division’s best midfielders during his six-year stay with Tottenham, registering 51 goals and 67 Premier League assists in 226 games.

While he hasn’t trained with a club since his incident, Thomas Frank revealed that he has been training alone and working on his fitness, and will hopefully return to action soon.

Philippe Coutinho

The only player on this list to have already made his debut for his new side, Coutinho has wasted no time in making an impact for Aston Villa, scoring on his debut against Manchester United earlier this month.

The former Liverpool star was lured to Villa by the chance to play under his former Reds teammate Steven Gerrard, and he will fit nicely into a side that already includes Ollie Watkins, Emi Buendia and Leon Bailey.

The Brazilian, who scored against Paraguay for his country on Tuesday evening, departed England for a staggering £142 million fee in January 2018, but returns after an uninspiring spell in Spain.

With the midfielder having already started to show his worth to Villa, Gerrard will undoubtedly already be considering taking up the opportunity to make his stay permanent for just £33 million, a clause that was included in his loan deal.

Luis Diaz

Liverpool are undoubtedly the envy of their top four rivals following the closure of the January window, having attracted one of Europe’s most prolific attackers to join their already free-scoring frontline.

The Colombian international has been in fine goalscoring form over the last two seasons for Porto, striking 41 times in 125 games for the club.

Klopp will be spoilt for choice up front in the coming months

The likes of Chelsea and Manchester United both opted against making a single signing throughout the month, while Manchester City’s only signing, Julian Alvarez, has stayed put in Argentina until the end of the season.

Diaz arrives in England having scored 14 goals and provided five assists in 18 Primeira Liga matches, and will provide competition for places for the likes of Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane.

The versatile forward, who can play in a number of attacking roles but is usually deployed on the left, made the move from Porto for a fee of £37.5 million, which seems like reasonably good value for money given his prolific record in Portugal.

While Liverpool’s title chances look to be all but over, the addition of Diaz will give Jurgen Klopp hope that they can in fact catch runaway leaders City.