Sky Sports News’ chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol analyses why this January transfer window is so quiet – and why it could pick up in the final few days…
Why has this January window been quieter than normal?
The real reason is the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules. They have been around for a long time but in the past couple of months, we’ve seen the league being very serious about applying those rules.
For instance, Everton were deducted 10 points for breaching the rules, while they and Nottingham Forest have been charged. So that has focused minds at a lot of clubs as the last thing they want to do is break those rules and potentially be deducted points. That is the main reason – people are being very careful.
There are other reasons: the Africa Cup of Nations and the Asia Cup are on at the moment. But let’s not forget the January transfer window is normally pretty quiet every year, a lot of the big business is usually done in the summer.
It was only very busy last year because Chelsea spent a lot of money. A third of the 2023 January spend was Chelsea spending money. Their new American owners came in and made a big splash in the transfer market. And that’s why last year was a January busier than normal.
This year, a lot of the deals that have been done are either loan deals or deals on young players for the future. It’s also part of a trend that I’m seeing where the days of wheeling and dealing in the transfer market seem to be disappearing fast.
I do expect it to be a little bit more busy in the next few days. But nothing like what we saw 12 months ago.
Why are teams not panicking in the transfer market?
Most clubs have very professional recruitment departments, they use a lot of data. Everything they do in the window is planned well in advance.
So there’s not so much panic buying or selling that we saw in the good old days, or the bad old days, depending on what you think about the transfer market.
As one European agent says: “No one wants to sell their best players in January. Only an idiot would sell their best players. Only from South America [could you see players move] as their season finished in December.”
Why are Saudi Arabia not buying more players?
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Jordan Henderson has completed his move to Ajax having agreed to terminate his contract with Al-Ettifaq.
The Saudi window closes a bit earlier but their market has been a bit flat as well. The kind of players they want to sign are the players who want to move in the summer.
There are a few deals to be done. We know that Al Nassr are looking for a right-back, they tried to sign Emerson Royal from Spurs and they’re being linked to Aaron Wan-Bissaka at Manchester United.
We know that there is interest in Miguel Almiron from Al Shabab. I don’t think he’s sure if he wants to go to Saudi Arabia at the moment.
But the big stories as far as Saudi Arabia are concerned involve players leaving. Jordan Henderson was unhappy there so went to Ajax.
There is a lot of talk that Karim Benzema is thinking about leaving as well – that would be a big blow to Saudi football if he was to leave.
He’s not happy at Al Ittihad at the moment, but the kind of wages he’s on – around £2m per week tax free – would make it very difficult for anyone in Europe or elsewhere in the world to sign him.
Follow the January transfer window
The winter transfer window is open and will close at 11pm in England and midnight in Scotland on Thursday 1 February.
To ensure harmonisation with the major leagues in Europe, the closing dates were set following discussions with the EFL, DFL, Serie A, LaLiga, and LFP, who will all close their summer and winter windows on 1 September and 1 February respectively.
Keep up to date with all the latest transfer news and rumours in our dedicated Transfer Centre blog on Sky Sports’ digital platforms, while you can also catch up with the ins, outs and analysis on Sky Sports News, including daily transfer shows, and listen to our Transfer Talk podcast.