Has the January transfer window always felt flat?

In recent years, the only notable signing to have timed out has been Enzo Fernandez.

Fernandez had just passed after being named the best young player of the 2022 World Cup, which Argentina won.

The midfielder joined Chelsea from Benfica weeks later for a then-English record transfer fee of £106.8 million.

It was Chelsea’s spending that shaped the window and helped set a new Premier League record.

A total of £815 million was spent, of which £284.1 million (34.86%) belonged to Chelsea.

This was the first delay in BlueCo’s investment in the squad after completing the takeover last summer. It has created an outlier in total spending, especially in the post-Covid years.

The Fernandez deal remained on the agenda throughout the evening. It was a real on-off epic, but it eventually passed as the seconds ticked by.

This season’s equivalent was probably Dwight McNeil’s move from Everton to Crystal Palace. And it didn’t even happen.

It is rare for big clubs to spend in January unless they have a specific need.

Arsenal and Liverpool have not signed a player since 2023. Chelsea (£13.5m) and Manchester United (£27.5m) only spend modestly in 2025.

Manchester City have bucked the trends of the last two seasons as Pep Guardiola looks to shape his squad.

In 2025, he spent £188 million on Nico Gonzalez, Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis.

This winter, £84m has been spent, this time on ready-made Premier League talent such as Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi.

You have to go back to 2018 to find a winter window in which the big six collectively spent a lot of money.

The deals included Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joining Arsenal on deadline day from Borussia Dortmund, while Liverpool signed Virgil van Dijk from Southampton.

The big six clubs were responsible for £322 million of the £500 million total Premier League spend. It also spread. Arsenal were the biggest contributor with £86 million (26.71%).

Compared to the 2023 window, Chelsea were responsible for 73.39% of the top six teams’ £387.1m spend.