Let's never speak of that again! Winners and losers of a remarkably quiet January transfer window

Premier League clubs spent a record-breaking £815 million ($1 billion) during the 2023 January transfer window. This year, the total outlay was justover £100m ($128m), not including loan fees. So, why the dramatic dip? Well, the Premier League's desperation to prove that it is capable of governing itself has been a massive factor.

With the United Kingdom looking at introducing an independent regulator for football to bring a semblance of order to a transfer market that has spiralled completely out of control, the English top-flight has embarked on quite the clampdown over the past 12 months. Just after last year's winter window closed, Manchester City were charged with 115 breaches of the Premier League's financial regulations (although they have yet to be charged). In November, Everton were dramatically docked 10 points for breaking profit and sustainability rules. The Toffees have since been accused of a second breach and been joined in the dock by Nottingham Forest, meaning three of the Premier League's 20 clubs have the threat of sanctions - or further sanctions in the case of Everton - hanging over them.

It's hardly surprising, then, that even the likes of title-challenging Arsenal and state-sponsored Newcastle were reluctant to spend big in January. The risk, it seems, is no longer worth the reward.

Saudi Pro League (SPL) director of football Michael Emenalo stated all the way back in November that the winter window would not be a particularly busy one for the emerging power in the transfer market. However, while more "additions of the highest level" weren't anticipated after last summer's spending spree, the SPL didn't expect to end up trying to limit the loss of high-profile players.

If Jordan Henderson's decision to move to Saudi Arabia last July was a "slap in the face" for the LGBTQ+ in England, his defection to Amsterdam after just six months represented a serious blow to the SPL's credibility.

Worse was to follow, though, as it emerged that Karim Benzema wasn't happy at Al-Ittihad. The Frenchman forward has been convinced to stay put - for now at least - but the mere fact that he wanted out does not bode well for Saudi Arabia's hopes of creating one of the game's strongest leagues.

Money is clearly no object for the nation's Public Invest Fund (PIF), but while the Pro League captured the attention of the football world last year, holding onto it is clearly going to prove quite difficult.

Manchester City certainly haven't splashed the cash in the same manner as past windows, but they have done a couple of deals that could pay off big time in the long run.

Claudio Echeverri is one of the most promising players Argentina has produced in years (he's rather inevitably being labelled 'The new Lionel Messi' even though he plays more like Pablo Aimar) and was wanted by nearly all of Europe's elite - and yet City have managed to snap him up for just £12.5m ($16m). That is an absolute snip for a player that showcased his incredible potential at the Under-17 World Cup.

City have also wisely allowed him to spend another season developing at River Plate, which will allow him to continue to grow and learn away from the spotlight at the Etihad - in much the same way that Endrick has done at Palmeiras before his move to Real Madrid.

Then there's Kalvin Phillips, a player that Pep Guardiola could never really find any room for in his starting line-up. City have sent him to West Ham for the rest of the season - but without an option to buy, so while there's an obvious fear that their Catalan coach could be left short on defensive midfielders, the club clearly felt it was a risk worth taking.

After all, if Phillips does manage to recapture the form that made him such a key part of England's team at Euro 2020, the Premier League champions can either try again to integrate them into their team or sell him for a decent fee this summer.

Say what you will about City's finances, but their work in the transfer market is nearly always astute.

So, here we go again, then? 'Tic, tac, tic, tac' - the Kylian Mbappe countdown clock is ticking once more, with the Paris Saint-Germain forward able to join Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer. It didn't happen in 2022, but surely this year Mbappe will swap Parc des Princes for the Bernabeu?

Of course, it's always hard to know what's going on in Mbappe's mind. He's long been proven to erratic and impulsive behaviour. There could yet be another twist in this tiresome tale, one more unexpected change of heart.

But what is already clear is that PSG have been put in a terrible position. Club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said all the way back in the summer of 2021 that Mbappe would never leave on a free transfer and repeated that claim only last July. And yet here we are again, with PSG facing up to the previously considered "impossible" scenario of Mbappe leaving the club for absolutely nothing.

That's not just a terrifying prospect from a financial perspective, it would also be a nightmare for their brand and a seriously ominous development for the entire Qatari-backed project. Without Mbappe, PSG will struggle to remain relevant.

Daniel Levy has copped an awful lot of flak over the years for his perceived parsimony - and it was often justified. Remember, at one point during Mauricio Pochettino's reign, he refused to buy a player for roughly 27 consecutive transfer windows. Tottenham were also often guilty of failing to move quickly enough to secure their primary targets, resulting in deals for the likes of Willian and Luis Diaz, for example, being hijacked by Premier League rivals.

Credit where it's due, then, because Spurs filled two gaping holes in their current squad just 11 days into the winter window. Timo Werner's arrival from RB Leipzig understandably attracted most of the media attention, given his previous spell at Chelsea - as well as the fact that it looks like one of those rare win-win-win deals for everyone involved.

However, the acquisition of Radu Dragusin from Genoa was actually more noteworthy, given it not only addressed Tottenham's shortcomings in the centre defence, it was also achieved despite stiff competition from Bayern Munich.

When one also considers that Spurs managed to also dump Eric Dier on the Bavarians while beating Barcelona to the signing of Swedish sensation Lucas Bergvall, who will join from Djurgardens at the end of the season, Levy and his colleagues deserve plenty of plaudits for the way in which they've gone about their business over the past few weeks.

Look, Giovanni Reyna had to get out of Borussia Dortmund this month - that much was clear. The United States international was barely getting any game time under Edin Terzic, who openly admitted that Reyna was behind Julian Brandt and Marco Reus in the No.10 pecking order - and that just wasn't going to change anytime soon.

So, at least Reyna and his team have secured their primary objective: sealing a January transfer. But Nottingham Forest, really? We obviously don't yet know how many clubs submitted serious bids, but we know there was strong interest in his services from Fiorentina, a wonderfully well-coached and exciting side who are challenging for a top-four finish in Serie A, which is home to quite a few thriving USMNT stars.

Reyna has instead ended up at the City Ground, where Forest are fighting relegation, and players come and go at an alarming rate. We really hope we're wrong here - as there's a serious player inside Reyna trying to get out - but it looks like a poor decision. At this delicate junction in his career, the 21-year-old surely needed a more stable environment to bring the best out of him?

The appeal of a January signing is that it can give a struggling side a mid-season boost - and that's exactly what Borussia Dortmund are benefiting from right now after securing two lovely little loan deals.

Three years after selling Jadon Sancho to Manchester United for €85m (£73m/$93m), BVB managed to sign the winger until the end of the season for just €4m (£3.4m/$4.3m). The 23-year-old is already starting to resemble his old self as he seeks to kick-start a career that stalled badly at Old Trafford, while the versatile Dutch left-back Ian Maatsen has also made an immediate impact after joining from Chelsea for the remainder of the 2023-24 campaign.

Dortmund were seriously struggling before Christmas, failing to win a single Bundesliga game in December, but three consecutive victories after the winter break have seen them rise to fourth in the standings. Sancho and Maatsen featured in each game and look more than capable of playing a major role as Edin Terzic's team look to qualify for next season's Champions League - and reach the quarter-finals of this year's competition by beating PSV in the last 16.

Thanks in no small part to some brilliant business by BVB in the notoriously difficult January window, talk of a crisis at Signal Iduna Park has suddenly subsided.

Granted, January is a tough time to push through transfers. The majority of clubs are always reluctant to risk destabilising a squad by selling a key player midway through the season. However, even with all of that in mind, this was an exceptionally dull winter window. Fabrizio Romano barely had any moves to 'Here we go', so thank heavens that the transfer obsessed-media (cough, cough!) had some football to focus on.

But spare a thought for the game's agents. Those poor souls usually find a way to further enrich themselves during the January sales, but there were desperately few deals and not one of them was above €40m! So, is there a chance that the game might be finally getting a grip on its spending? Unlikely. Expect some big-name players to spark another money-spinning transfer merry-go-round this summer.