High Press Episode 12: Best and Worst of the January Transfer Window

High Press Episode 12:

Episode 12 of High Press takes a look at the January Transfer Window, discussing the best and worst moves over the years.
Host Alison Bender is joined by journalists Mark Ogden, Ollie Holt and Steve Bates to look at the chaos in January and what it’s like behind the scenes at a club during the window.

The chaos of a transfer window

Bates gets the conversation rolling by saying, “If there’s one word that springs to mind with a January transfer window, it’s ‘chaos’.”
Bender references a particular occasion when she was stood outside Fulham’s ground in the snow, and Bates mentions how big the transfer window has become for football media in the UK.

Manchester City tried to sign Kaka

Ogden brings up windows in other countries shutting at later dates, which means the news never really stops quite when we all expect it to around the Premier League deadline.
Looking at moves that have fallen through, Ogden says, “The one that stands out to me is Manchester City and Kaka. They were about six months into the Abu Dhabi takeover, they’ve come in with all this money and signed Robinho.

“You get to January, and Kaka was probably the best player in the world… they would have broken the record to sign the world’s best player and it got really close. Talks were taking place in Milan, Milan wanted the money, and I think Kaka thought ‘I don’t want to sign for Man City’.”

Bates responds with a remarkable story about Tottenham using a helicopter to distract Sebastien Bassong when they were trying to sign him from Newcastle. Everton were unable to contact the defender while he was in the air, and Spurs ultimately completed the transfer.

BEST January signings

Moving onto the best January deals, Holt says Virgil van Dijk is the deal that ‘stands out’ for him. Holt describes van Dijk as a ‘cornerstone of Liverpool’s modern success’.
After agreeing on van Dijk’s significance and mentioning the arrival of Luis Suarez at Anfield, Ogden picks out Bruno Fernandes, who has been vital for Manchester United since signing in January 2020.

Bates sticks with the Old Trafford club, but opts for Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra. Both players enjoyed immensely successful spells at Manchester United.

WORST January signings

Bender moves the conversation on to the worst January deals, and inevitably Fernando Torres is the first name mentioned. Talking about the Spaniard, Bender says, “Everyone [at Chelsea] was so excited about this one. To be fair on the Chelsea players, they supported him through thick and thin. I think it was 16 league games he went before he scored his first goal.”

Andy Carroll is naturally mentioned, too, as his transfer to Liverpool with the funds from the Torres deal didn’t work out much better.
Holt goes in a slightly different direction, instead picking Alexis Sanchez to Manchester United.

“Partly it’s such a bad one because United were so desperate to sign him and fought off City, and almost hijacked the deal [to City]…
“The other reason I remember it was because he was a spectacular, spectacular bust, but I remember writing at the time, ‘what a brilliant move it was, it was a no-brainer for United, fantastic signing.’”

Ogden also brings up Holt’s now infamous tweet after Charlie Adam signed with Liverpool and Manchester City landed Sergio Aguero.
There are some revealing anecdotes about deadline day in general, with Ogden saying that journalists are ‘basically told lies’, even citing Manchester City’s claims that Chelsea were after Alexis Sanchez.

Behind the scenes of a football club

Bender recounts when she worked for Chelsea, and was able to use a club photocopier. She remembers how she found a full list of every player they were in for.
The January window has provided some famous drama over the years. What will be the biggest move in the coming weeks?

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