Temas: English Premier League, La Liga, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid
The CIES Football Observatory released issue number 213 of its weekly posts which highlights how teams in the top 5 European leagues fared in the recently ended winter transfer window.

Relative to seasons past, this January window saw a lot of big names switching one big club for another. The likes of Coutinho, Aubameyang, Vigil van Dijk, Olivier Giroud, as well as Alexis Sanchez and Mkhitaryan all completed quick-fire moves to various clubs.

As a result, it is not the least surprising that transfer transactions surpassed a record threshold of €1 billion, with the lucrative English Premiership coughing up the big spenders. Despite contributing 51% of the turnover accrued, the league also accommodates the two clubs who benefitted greatly from the business that transpired.

The first of them is Arsenal who cashed out on the injury-prone and out of sorts player Theo Walcott. The Gunners stacked a €6 million profit from the €26 million transfer of the England international to Everton, considering he had an estimated value of €20 million per the CIES’s analysis. 

The London club had another deal to their advantage after procuring Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund for a fee of €64 million as supposed to his estimated value of €83 million. Prior to that want-away forward Alexis Sanchez was exchanged directly for Manchester United’s Henrik Mkhitaryan.

It was generally a great window for two North London clubs with Tottenham Hotspur also paying €13 million less than the estimated €40 million value for ex-PSG winger Lucas Moura. The 26-year-old Brazilian was tied down to a five-and-a-half- year deal while receiving close to €85,000 per week in wages. 

Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool, on the other hand, found themselves on the wrong side of manifests after paying a staggering €21 million more than the estimated €63 million fee for Southampton’s Vigil van Dijk. 

Outside the English archipelago and into Spain, Atletico Madrid procured the highest loss via their acquisition of Diego Costa. The striker came in from Chelsea in a €66 million transfer as supposed to his estimated fee of €40 million.

Barcelona followed suit with the €160 million move for Coutinho bar his estimated fee of €140 million. Real Sociedad completed the top three with their €32 million fees for €18 million-rated Inigo Martinez from rivals Athletic Club.