Premier League clubs have often been known to splash the cash like there’s no tomorrow – even during the mid-season transfer window. January deals have a reputation of their own for requiring inflated transfer fees, chiefly down to the short turnarounds required to bid, sell and replace players before the deadline arrives.
The money has gone bonkers in recent years, with the English top flight’s biggest January moves all taking place in the past decade.
Whether selling or buying, English clubs have been able to exchange funds freely despite the looming threats of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations and the Premier League’s Profit & Sustainability Rules, which both purport to limit the amount of spending by even the richest in the land.
But who have been the Premier League’s most expensive winter movers? Here are the top 12 January window deals…
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Player
Date
Left
Joined
Fee
Philippe Coutinho
Jan 2018
Liverpool
Barcelona
Enzo Fernández
Feb 2023
Benfica
Chelsea
Mykhailo Mudryk
Jan 2023
Shakhtar Donetsk
Chelsea
Virgil van Dijk
Jan 2018
Southampton
Liverpool
Jhon Duran
Jan 2025
Aston Villa
Al-Nassr
Bruno Fernandes
Jan 2020
Sporting CP
Manchester United
Omar Marmoush
Jan 2025
Eintracht Frankfurt
Manchester City
Oscar
Jan 2017
Chelsea
Shanghai Port
Christian Pulisic
Jan 2019
Borussia Dortmund
Chelsea
Aymeric Laporte
Jan 2018
Athletic Bilbao
Manchester City
Diego Costa
Jan 2018
Chelsea
Atletico Madrid
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Jan 2018
Borussia Dortmund
Arsenal
12 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Arsenal £56m from Borussia Dortmund, 2018
Arsenal outlaid a whopping £56m to sign Borussia Dortmund’s prolific frontman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the 2018 January transfer window.
The north Londoners had only just signed Alexandre Lacazette the previous summer for a club-record £46.6m but Gunners boss Arsene Wenger was clearly keen to add further firepower to his ranks.
Aubameyang enjoyed a fruitful four-year spell with Arsenal, netting just shy of a century of goals across 163 appearances, though his time did come to a sour ending.
Arsenal released a statement just weeks before he would eventually leave for Barcelona, which read: “Following his latest disciplinary breach last week, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will no longer be our club captain, and will not be considered for selection for Wednesday’s match against West Ham United.
“We expect all our players, particularly our captain, to work to the rules and standards we have all set and agreed.”
11 Diego Costa to Atletico Madrid £57m from Chelsea, 2018
Diego Costa completed a mega-money move away from Stamford Bridge in favour of a move back to former club Atletico Madrid in January 2018.
After netting 20 league goals during the 2016/17 campaign, helping Chelsea to win their sixth Premier League title, Costa was frozen out over the summer.
Atleti’s transfer ban meant they couldn’t sign the Spaniard until the new year, but he eventually made his long-awaited second debut for the Madrid-based club on 3rd January 2018, scoring in a Copa del Rey last-16 tie against Lleida Esportiu.
The forward endured a difficult second spell with Los Colchoneros, managing a league-best of five goals, before cancelling his contract six months early in January 2021 due to personal reasons.
10 Aymeric Laporte to Manchester City £57m from Athletic Bilbao, 2018
Manchester City broke their transfer record to sign the classy left-footed centre-half in January 2018, paying Athletic Bilbao £57m.
Aymeric Laporte quickly established himself as one of the best defenders in the Premier League during his trophy-laden spell in England but ultimately lost his place in Pep Guardiola’s side towards the end, to the surprise of many.
Manuel Akanji’s arrival from Dortmund in 2022 appeared to be the turning point for Laporte’s City career, with the Switzerland international often the preferred defender in Guardiola’s system.
And that led to an exit in the summer just gone, signing for Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr – where Cristiano Ronaldo resides – in a deal worth £23.6m.
Nonetheless, City fans will remember his time at the Etihad fondly.
9 Christian Pulisic to Chelsea £58m from Borussia Dortmund, 2019
Chelsea forked out £58m to sign then-20-year-old Christian Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund in January 2019.
The west Londoners loaned him back to the German outfit for the remainder of the season and he ended the campaign with seven goals and six assists across 30 appearances.
Whilst he did have his moments, his spell as a whole at Stamford Bridge was rather underwhelming, netting 26 times across 145 outings.
Having made just eight league starts last term, Pulisic’s Chelsea days looked numbered, and so it turned out to be, as he completed a permanent move to AC Milan in the summer.
#
Player
Left
Joined
Transfer fee
1
Christian Pulisic
Borussia Dortmund
Chelsea
£58m
2
Folarin Balogun
Arsenal
Monaco
£35m
3
Brendan Aaronson
Red Bull Salzburg
Leeds United
£24.8m
4
Tyler Adams
RB Leipzig
Leeds United
£20m
5
Sergino Dest
Ajax
Barcelona
£19m
8 Oscar to Shanghai Port £60m from Chelsea, 2017
Eyebrows were raised when Oscar departed Europe for the Chinese Super League in 2017, having just won the Premier League title earlier that year.
The Brazilian playmaker completed a colossal £60m move to Shanghai SIPG, now known as Shanghai Port, which at the time ranked as the seventh-highest transfer fee in history.
Oscar, speaking in 2017, gave his reasoning for leaving Chelsea: “When I made the decision to come here, I was thinking more of my family than of my career. I had other very good offers from big teams in Europe. But I thought a little more of my family, and after that – I am still young – I can return.”
It had been claimed he would earn £400,000 a week.
7 Omar Marmoush to Manchester City £63m from Eintracht Frankfurt, 2025
Manchester City went big on signing a challenger for Erling Haaland’s starting spot by bringing in Egyptian forward Omar Marmoush from Eintracht Frankfurt.
After dazzling in the first half of the 2024/25 season in Germany, Marmoush made the move to the Premier League after the clubs agreed on a £63m package, with £4m of that fee in add-ons.
He became the biggest Premier League incoming that winter and was one of four mid-season City arrivals.
6 Bruno Fernandes to Manchester United £47m (potentially rising to £67.7m) from Sporting CP, 2020
Manchester United landed the signature of Bruno Fernandes in 2020 for an initial fee worth £47m that could rise to £67.7m with add-ons.
The Portugal international has been a revelation for the Red Devils and is widely regarded as their best player, having scored 69 goals whilst laying on 59 assists across 207 appearances.
Erik ten Hag appointed the 29-year-old club captain at the start of the season, evincing just how highly thought of he is around Carrington.
Fernandes penned a new deal in 2022, keeping him at Old Trafford until 2026, with the option of a further year.
5 Jhon Duran to Al-Nassr £71m from Aston Villa, 2025
The biggest deal of the January 2025 winter window from a Premier League perspective was Jhon Duran’s exit from Aston Villa as he joined Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr.
The Colombian linked up with Cristiano Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia after an eye-watering £71m move – not bad for an £18m move from two years prior.
4 Virgil van Dijk to Liverpool £75m from Southampton, 2018
Virgil van Dijk became the world’s most expensive defender when he completed a £75m move to Liverpool in January 2018.
The towering Dutch defender quickly established himself as one of the best players across the continent and even finished runner-up to Lionel Messi in the 2019 Ballon d’Or rankings.
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He was a central figure in Liverpool’s first Premier League title triumph during the 2019/20 season and famously went a reported 50 games without being dribbled past.
Previous Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson departed the Merseysiders in the summer and Van Dijk assumed the armband, evidencing his glowing status around the changing room.
The 64-cap Netherlands international has already cemented himself in conversations regarding the best centre-back in Premier League history.
3 Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea £89m from Shakhtar Donetsk, 2023
Chelsea continued their heavy spending under new owner Todd Boehly when they shelled out £89m for Shakhtar Donetsk’s rising star Mykhailo Mudryk earlier this year.
The fleet-footed wide player is still in the early stages of his Premier League career, but many would admit, perhaps including himself, that it’s been a pretty disappointing start to life in west London.
Mudryk has found the net just twice in 31 outings and looks to be pretty bereft of confidence, though, he has looked a real threat at times.
The 2001-born Ukraine international is still a fledgling professional footballer and has plenty of time to develop under the experienced wings of Mauricio Pochettino, so only time will tell how successful of signing he’ll be.
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