Ranking the Best Deals of the 2025/26 January Transfer Window.

With clubs becoming much more efficient and structured in how they do their transfer business, the 2026 January transfer window wasn’t the most exciting edition of the winter transfer window. Despite this, there were still some big transfers that caught the eye of football fans right around Europe throughout the month.

Just under £400 million was spent by Premier League clubs, down from the £421 million spent in January 2025, as clubs sought to enhance their prospects for the remainder of the 2025/26 season. The next biggest spending league was Italy’s Serie A, with their clubs spending around £205 million this January. This spending difference once again highlights the spending power available to English clubs over most of their European counterparts, even in what was deemed to be a quiet transfer window overall.

With that in mind, below, we will look at 5 of the biggest and best deals to go through over the January window.

January’s Best Deals

Ademola Lookman, Atalanta to Atletico Madrid

The Nigerian international has established himself as a feared wide forward at Atalanta, helping the Serie A side to the 2023/24 Europa League in Dublin. In that match he hit an impressive hat-trick, thus alerting some of Europe’s biggest clubs in the process. His relationship with the Italian club soured last summer after he felt he was refused the chance to join Inter, but he has now finally got his move away. He had entered the final 18 months of his contract in Italy, so the reported £30 million transfer fee appears to be a fair price for both parties.

Rayan, Vasco de Gama to Bournemouth

Bournemouth may have lost Antoine Semenyo (more on that later), but they set about immediately replacing their star man with what could be an extremely exciting purchase for the South Coast club. 19-year-old Rayan looks to be the man they feel can replace Semenyo. The former Vasco de Gama man has impressive dribbling abilities and shooting capabilities, meaning this could be a real coup for Bournemouth at just £24.7 million. He may need time to fully adjust to his new surroundings, but he has already had an impact at his new club, producing an assist in his league debut against Wolves.

Oscar Bobb, Manchester City to Fulham

Oscar Bobb looked to have the world at his feet last season when he made a very impressive start for Manchester City. Unfortunately for the young Norwegian, he broke his leg soon after halting the obvious progress he was making in City’s first team. Since his return, he has had to watch the club invest in the likes of Omar Marmoush, Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo, all of whom play in the same position as Bobb.

City are taking a risk letting a player of Bobb’s potential leave for just £27 million, with Fulham certainly looking like the winners in this deal. Marco Silva has positioned his side as a safe Premier League club, but they have certainly shown ambition for their manager, who is out of contract in the summer, by signing Bobb.

Antoine Semenyo. Bournemouth to Manchester City

He has already been mentioned a couple of times, but he was without doubt the biggest transfer deal of this January window. His £65 million release clause meant he was always going to be in high demand this January, with City ultimately winning the race for his signature.

The reported fee is slightly below that, at around £62.5 million, but nonetheless, it is still an impressive sum that Bournemouth have taken in for the 26-year-old wide man. In Semenyo, City have signed a proven, ready-made Premier League star who will add pace and power to City’s frontline, with his impressive start of 4 goals and an assist in his first 5 matches highlighting this.

Marc Guehi, Crystal Palace to Manchester City

Manchester City were the winners of this January window, not only adding goals and assists in Semenyo but also beating Liverpool and other top European clubs to the signing of former Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi. The England international looked for all the world to be joining Liverpool last summer before the move collapsed, thus allowing City to swoop now. With the acquisition of Guehi, City have added another quality centre half to their squad to aid their title challenge and ease their injury crisis, with fitness concerns over the likes of John Stones, Ruben Dias, and Josko Gvardiol for the remainder of this season.

With those absentees, Guehi will surely get lots of football between now and the end of the season as he gears up to play for England in this summer’s World Cup. He will also hope to help his new side challenge Arsenal for the title as well as make an impact in the Champions League as the season enters its most important stage.

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