The January transfer window has officially come to an end as Deadline Day finishes up across the football world.
It has been a particularly fruitful start to the year for Australian football fans, with the recent news that Leicester City — who recently signed Sydney FC’s Remy Siemsen in the WSL — have also snapped up Socceroos giant Harry Souttar in the Premier League.
2023 is set to be a huge year in the Premier League, so without further ado, let’s take a look at the teams to watch after Deadline Day.
Leicester City
We finally have a Socceroo in the Premier League again, so Leicester City is worth keeping tabs on for Harry Souttar, if nothing else.
The World Cup hero who, quite frankly, looks like he could step on every other player in the Premier League is headed to the Foxes from Stoke for a transfer fee of £15m plus £5 in add-ons. The Foxes, however, left us waiting right down to the final minutes of Deadline Day before confirming the news.
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Leicester City currently sit in 14th place on the Premier League table after losing four of their last five games, but hopefully the signing of the 6ft 6 defender can remedy that.
Chelsea
It has been a huge transfer window for Chelsea, with new owner Todd Boehly throwing giant wads of cash left, right and centre in an attempt to get the club out of its 10th place spot on the Premier League table.
In the biggest news of the transfer window, World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez is headed to Stamford Bridge in the a record-breaking £105m deal that scraped through in the final minutes of Deadline DAY. The deal will go down as the most expensive Premier League signing ever — trumpting the £100m Manchester City paif for Jack Grealish, but that is a small price to pay for the winner of the 2022 World Cup’s Young Player Award.
Chelsea also managed to secure Ukrainian winger Mykhailo Mudryk from Shakhtar Dontesk. At just 22 years of age, Mudryk is already being hailed as one of the most exciting transfers of the January window, and a huge win for Chelsea — who managed to secure him despite Arsenal (who sit pretty at the top of the table) making him an offer for an identical transfer fee.
However, Chelsea have also copped a loss in Jorginho — who heads to Arsenal on an 18-month deal with the option of extending for a second year.
All in all, Chelsea look promising after the window, but only time will tell if they can buy their way out of 10th place.
Arsenal
Despite sitting at the top of the table with a five point lead on Man City and more than 10 points on anyone else, Arsenal aren’t getting complacent this Deadline Day.
With Mohamed Elneny out with a knee injury, they’ve brought in reinforcements in the form of Jorghino to strengthen the midfield and maximise their chance of winning the Premier League for the first time in two decades.
Arsenal have also secured Leandro Trossard, who reportedly left Brighton on unsavoury terms after some drama following his World Cup return. Trossard is regarded as one of the best left wingers in the Premier League, and with seven goals in the 22/23 season (one goal per 189.4 minutes), he will likely help keep them on top of the table.
Manchester City
In perhaps the biggest gamble of the transfer window, Manchester City has loaned Portuguese star Joao Cancelo to Bayern Munich with an option to buy after a dramatic fallout with Pep Guardiola.
Despite being a key player for the reigning champions — who currently sit just five points behind Arsenal on the table in the fight for the top spot — Cancelo’s relationship with Guardiola has reportedly turned sour in the months since the World Cup.
After starting just three of City’s last nine games, Cancelo is officially out on loan and it looks unlikely that he will return.
City only managed to bring in Maximo Perrone by the time Deadline Day finished, while losing Cancelo, Luke Mbete, Kayky, Liam Delap, Josh Wilson-Esbrand, Morgan Rogers and Nahuel Bustos all on loan.
Is it worth sacrificing a key player for the good of team culture and harmony? Only time will tell for Manchester City.
Everton
And last, and also least, Everton is worth watching after the transfer window — mostly because they’ve done precisely nothing, despite battling relegation. They recently sacked coach Frank Lampard and are still yet to secure a replacement after losing Richarlison to Tottenham Hotspur in the summer.
They were working within tough financial constraints in the transfer window, which explains their lack of action, but will this send them straight to relegation? We will have to wait and see.
