Arturo Vidal riding a horse in Chile, Arsenal's forgotten man moving on & the 10 January transfers you might have missed

It was always a matter of when, not if, Leonardo would leave Santos. And this January, following the Brazilian side's shock relegation, he finally sealed a move to Europe. Arsenal are understood to have held a long-standing interest in the centre-forward, but he has instead linked up with Portuguese giants Benfica for a fee around the £15 million ($19m) mark.

If he fulfils his potential, this could prove to be an inspired piece of business. Benfica have made some insane profit in the transfer market recently, flogging Enzo Fernandez, Ruben Dias and Darwin Nunez to Premier League clubs over the past few windows.

Runarsson's arrival at Arsenal from French side Dijon always seemed a slightly odd transfer. After reportedly receiving a glowing reference from goalkeeping coachInaki Cana, the Iceland international was drafted in to fill the void left by Emiliano Martinez's departure to Aston Villa in 2020.

But it soon became clear he wasn't going to be playing much football, with fans not convinced he was ever good enough for the Gunners. A series of loan spells followed, most recently at Cardiff City, where he failed to impress, and on deadline day Arsenal confirmed he had been released. He signed for FC Copenhagen shortly after and will go down as one of Mikel Arteta's strangest signings.

Guedes has experienced a meandering career in recent seasons. Once labelled one of the most exciting young wingers in world football, a 2017 move to Paris Saint-Germain failed to work out, though he did rebuild his reputation at Valencia after departing Parc de Princes a year later.

In 2022, he became the latest Jorge Mendes client to join Wolves, failing to set the world alight before joining Benfica on loan in January - a temporary stay that was extended by a year in the summer. However, last month Wolves announced that deal had been cut short, with Guedes instead set to finish the campaign at Villarreal. He's already scored for his new club and provided an assist as, not for the first time in his career, he looks to rediscover his best form.

Traore's loan switch to Napoli last month came out of leftfield. It's been a seriously testing season for the forward and brother of Man Utd sensation Amad, with the frustrations of limited playing time being compounded by him contracting malaria on international duty.

"We know he is good. We know he has the level," Andoni Iraola said in midweek. "He has, especially lately, had some health issues that makes it worse for his chances.

"But it is true also that we also haven’t given him the chance to have a run of games, starting and improving and making the mistakes the other players have been allowed to make. “But these are decisions you have to take and you can’t give the minutes to everyone."

Traore built his reputation in Serie A with Sassuolo, so joining Napoli does make sense, but it remains to be seen how long we will have to wait to see him action for the Serie A holders with his recent illness ruling him out of a home AFCON with Ivory Coast.

It's crazy to think, but as recently as 2020 Soyuncu's performances for Leicester City earned him a place in the Premier League PFA Team of the Year. Manchester City were even linked with signing him around this time too.

Flash forward to the present and he's just returned to his native Turkey, having barely featured in Leicester's doomed 2022-23 season and then failing to make the grade at Atletico Madrid. How differently his career could have gone if City had advanced their interest in him back in 2021...

Last season, Ekitike enjoyed some standout moments for PSG following his move from Stade Reims. This campaign has, in stark contrast, been a complete disaster. Not happy with settling for a secondary role in the squad, and concerned about the arrivals of Randal Kolo Muani and Goncalo Ramos, he attempted to engineer a deadline-day exit to Crystal Palace.

It didn't go through and Luis Enrique has played him just once since, omitting him from PSG's Champions League squad entirely. Now, he is set to finally get some minutes, having sealed a last-gasp loan exit to Frankfurt, despite some lingering interest from the Premier League.

And Ekitike will be joined at his new Bundesliga home by Kalajdzic, who has endured a similar fall from grace over the past few seasons. Heartbreakingly rupturing his ACL on his Wolves debut in 2022 following a big-money switch from Stuttgart, the towering frontman has found it impossible to usurp Matheus Cunha in the starting XI this campaign.

"Sasa has been incredibly unlucky," Wolves sporting director Matt Hobbs explained. "He got injured on his debut having come back from a bad injury. He worked hard to get back fit, but the form of our forwards has meant his game time has been limited.

"After the best part of two years out injured, the best thing for Sasa and us long-term is for him to go and get lots of football, in a league he knows well and one which is similar to the Premier League in terms of physicality and style of play. Sasa has shown he's a natural finisher, but after his injuries, he needs to trust his body again. I hope he goes there and does really well, plays lots of games, and is able to help us next season."

Spence's sudden exit from Leeds at the beginning of last month attracted attention, largely due to the reasons hinted at for departure by manager Daniel Farke.

"Listen, in the summer we came here in order to create and to bring new values and to create a new culture within the club and when we speak about a player if he's on here on a permanent or a loan deal, we have expectations and these expectations are in several topics important," the German.

"Obviously it's important, the potential and the quality of the player but also it's professionalism, it's discipline, it's workload on and off the pitch and also the soft skills, so also if he's positive and committed, good for the group and engaged with these topics, paint them more or less a picture."

What you may have missed is Spence sealing another loan move, this time to Serie A side Genoa. There's no doubting the defender's talent, that's why Tottenham pushed so hard to sign him back in 2022, and he's already made two appearances for his new club.

It was a quiet January for the Saudi Pro League, especially compared with their landscape-changing exploits in the summer, but there was one or two moves of note, with Renan Lodi joining Al-Hilal and Ivan Rakitic departing Sevilla for Al-Shabab.

Another move that might have passed you by is Seko Fofana transferring from Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr to Steven Gerrard's Al-Ettifaq. Following Henderson's controversial exit, Gerrard and Co had a foreign-player spot to fill and they eventually opted to snap up the ex-Lens midfielder on deadline day.

Despite arriving to much fanfare in the summer, Fofana did not always make Luis Castro's starting XI and he now has the job of inspiring an almighty turnaround in Dammam, with Al-Ettifaq currently all the way down in eighth, when he returns from AFCON.

Vidal returning to his boyhood club after conquering Europe was a huge moment for Colo Colo - and the Chilean club made sure the occasion was marked with the appropriate level of grandeur.

After travelling from the airport in a private helicopter, the former Juventus and Barcelona man touched down in the centre circle, donned some regal dress and a crown before mounting a horse and taking in the adulation of 35,000 fans packed inside Estadio Monumental David Arellano.

Perhaps the best thing about the pageantry was that Vidal had already featured for his new club in a friendly. How are Colo Colo going to top this if he inspires them to the title this season? Rent an elephant perhaps?!