Diego Simeone has hailed the "different" qualities of Ademola Lookman after the Nigerian international marked his Atletico Madrid debut with a stunning strike. The former Atalanta star joined the Spanish giants in the final days of the January window and wasted no time making an impact during a 5-0 rout of Real Betis. Simeone believes the attacker offers a unique threat to his squad.

The 2026 winter window closed on Monday, with Jorgen Strand Larsen's $66 million move from Wolves to Crystal Palace the biggest deal done on deadline day. Truth be told, though, it was a pretty tame end to what's been a fairly quiet month in the transfer market. Indeed, aside from Manchester City, most of Europe's top teams did next-to-no mid-season business, while there was very little movement at all in France, Germany or Spain - which wasn't that surprising, given January is traditionally a tough time to find good value for money.

Famously, the January transfer window is the more difficult of the two to operate in. It's hard to persuade other clubs to give up assets mid-season, sometimes even harder to convince players that they're better off making a move immediately rather than waiting until the following summer. But that doesn't mean deals are impossible, or that you can't get good value for your buck.

The Super Eagles came into the match hoping to go all the way and make amends for the shortcomings that saw them finish second two years ago in the Ivory Coast. However, they were not going to get it easy playing the Atlas Lions, who have enjoyed massive home support since the start of the biennial competition.