There were last-minute panic buys, some real calculated buys and overall the January transfer window 2018 spend hit a skyrocket high. It was one of those rare transfer windows when the Premier League clubs spent a record £150 million, as per the BBC, and majority of that figure came from the purchase of defenders.
Aymeric Laporte moved from Athletic Bilbao to Manchester City for £57 million, while Virgil van Dijk moved from Southampton to Liverpool for a world-record £75 million.
But...which transfers were the best and the smartest?
We have analysed a few and have come up with this list:
Gerard Deulofeu to Watford: The Premier League side getting a terrific talent in the form of the 23-year-old Spaniard is one of the best deals of the January transfer window. Deulofeu, who was a fierce goalscorer for the Spain U-21 football side, may remain with Watford just until the remainder of the season, but the fact that they went out to opt for a hungry forward from Barcelona, says a lot.
The lack of game time at Barca, thanks to getting overshadowed by the likes of Messi, Suarez, Iniesta, and now Coutinho, was the reason behind Deulofeu's move to Watford.
"I hope in these three or four months I can help the team and play well and win games," said Deulofeu. "I'm so excited to be here. It's a great opportunity for me to get some minutes, to play well, play with confidence, and for me the most important thing is to help the team.
"I'm here and I will work to play my best football."
He is known for his incredible tenacity and the versatility to play in either of the flank and also as a secondary striker. Watch out for him!
Nature of transfer: Barcelona to Watford loan deal for the remainder of the 2017-18 season.
Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona: Talking of the Catalan giants, let us look at how important the costliest January 2018 signing is for Barcelona. They came with blazing swords in the summer transfer window but Liverpool's firm determination meant it was a defeat for Barcelona in the pursuit for Coutinho.
Following Mohamed Salah's arrival and the subsequent impacts, Liverpool found a new hero and may be, attention was fading from Coutinho. Sizing up the situation, Barcelona came back with big money again and successfully got the job done in January.
Coutinho has all the abilities to go down as a Barcelona player and when you have the likes of Messi and Iniesta in the team, you don't need to worry about your improvement!
Nature of transfer: Liverpool to Barcelona for £146m. Contract until June 30, 2023.
Lucas Moura to Tottenham: Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino is known for influencing the entire Tottenham Hotspur squad to play a superlative brand of attacking football. With a future star Dele Alli in the team and Harry Kane pulling the shots up front, what else would they have needed!
Also, Son and Eriksen are making the attacking play look great. Throw in Brazilian winger Moura into the equation and you get an incredible balance of attacking strength in the line up.
The 25-year-old footballer was hailed as the next best thing under Laurent Blanc at Paris SG. However, the arrivals of Neymar, Mbappe, Draxler and so on made Moura go out of favour. However as we mentioned about Deulofeu, there is still a lot of hunger left in him and Pochettino can reap the umpteen benefits of it.
Moura is all about versatility, blistering pace and beautiful dribbling acumen.
Nature of transfer: Paris SG to Tottenham Hotspur for £25m. Contract until June 30, 2023.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang to Arsenal: You can troll them as much as you like after their embarrassing 1-3 defeat against Swansea even despite the appearance of Mkhitaryan, fact is Arsenal have done one of the best transfer business in the recent years in the past month.
Out of Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez, Mathieu Debuchy and Olivier Giroud, it was Giroud's exit that hurt the Arsenal fans the most. But the fact is a team like Arsenal cannot simply relish the best of all worlds, can they? A compromise has to be made.
Looking at the winter swoop of Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang, Arsene Wenger has been utterly lucky to get two of the best players who can in no time adjust to his style of play. Also, Mesut Ozil has felt that he has got a fresh lease of life with the arrival of the former Borussia Dortmund men, who have linked up effervescently while playing for the Ruhr giants in the past.
Defensively, there is still a lot of worry, but fact is Arsenal will be way stronger attacking-wise in the coming weeks. And that despite the sale of Sanchez!
Nature of transfers: Aubameyang - Dortmund to Arsenal for £60m. Contract until June 30, 2022.
Mkhitaryan - Manchester United to Arsenal in a swap deal involving Alexis Sanchez. Contract until June 30, 2021.
