Top 5 January 2011 Transfers: Where Are They Now?

As well as recovering from the Christmas Day Turkey and Boxing Day drama, now is the time managers across the country will be plotting who to bring in during the January transfer window.

In 2011, the English winter market exploded like never before. Hours before the deadline, Chelsea shocked the world by signing Fernando Torres from rivals Liverpool for a record fee of £51.5 million. This sent Liverpool desperately searching for replacements. Cue absolute bedlam, and the super-fast £35million capture of Newcastle United forward Andy Carroll.

With that window very much going down in football history, we at Shoot thought it would be a good idea to take a look back at some of the biggest transfers from that month, and ask, where are they now?

Name: David Luiz
Transfer: Benfica to Chelsea
Fee: £21.3 million and Neamanja Matic

Luiz was a fan favourite at Chelsea

Then: The Portuguese Player of the Season was on the list of all the major players in Europe during the January window. A day before the deadline, Chelsea decided to part with £21.3 million and midfielder Neamanja Matic in order to land the Brazil international. Luiz quickly adhered himself to the Blues faithful with his exuberant appearance and performances to boot. He brought a strange attacking element to his central defensive game and looked set to take the Premier League by storm.

Now: Luiz is currently playing for Paris St Germain in the French top division. He moved to the club just over a year ago for a remarkable fee of £50 million. His time at Chelsea was successful, if not a little mad. Despite excelling technically, Luiz often found himself out of position and at the mercy of the media. He soon moved into a defensive midfield position as the club attempted to best utilise his talents. However, strangely he was replaced in that role by Matic – the man Chelsea used as bait to sign the Brazilian – when the London club re-signed the Serbian for £21 million in January 2014.

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