The Premier League's Best January Transfers of all Time

With the Premier League transfer window to open soon, this January has the makings of one of the most intruiging in recent years.

Newcastle have been flooded with cash as a result of their take over while Manchester United, Spurs, Norwich, Aston Villa and Watford are all likely to back new managers by dipping their toes into the January transfer market. Add to that the fact that we have a genuine 3 horse race for the Premier League title for the first time in a long time and you'd be surprised if the likes of City, Chelsea and Liverpool weren't looking for that key buy who could push them over the line while at the other end of the table investment to survive will be an appealing option.

Below we consider some of the Premier League's best January transfers of all time.

Luiz Suarez

Suarez had long been touted for a move to the Premier League League having been banging in goals for fun in the Eredivisie. It was Liverpool who ultimately decided that Suarez had the relevant skills to go up a step as they shelled out £22 million for him in January 2011.

Suarez's success as a January signing is often held in contrast to the other striker, Andy Caroll, that Liverpool also signed in the same transfer window and while Caroll struggled to ever justify the £35 million that the club paid for him, the same cannot be said of Suarez.

The Uruguyan came off the bench on his debut to score in front of the Kop and never looked back scoring 82 goals in 132 appearances for the club. He helped the club rise from 12th to 6th in that first season but it was from 2012 onwards that he had a major impact in propelling Liverpool back towards the top of the Premier League.

He finished the 2012/13 season as the 2nd highest scorer in the league with 23 goals and a nomination for PFA player of the year while the following season his 31 goals were enough for him to become the first non-European player to win the same award.

While the personal accolades continued to role in, Liverpool's lack of trophy success over the same period (Suarez won only the League Cup during his time at Liverpool) always meant that he would be a target for the big clubs around Europe and he ultimately departed for Barcelona.

Lets also not forget that Suarez's time in the Premier League had its controverial moments too from the charges of racial abuse against Patrice Evra to the multiple biting incidents, Suarez was never far away from the headlines whether on the front or back pages.

Seamus Coleman

Value for money wise there is a pretty compelling argument that Seamus Coleman has been the best in Premier League history not only in the January Transfer Window.

Coleman signed for Everton in 2009 at cost of just £60,000 (that is about what Cristiano Ronaldo earns a day playing for Manchester United) following a recommendation to then Toffees manager David Moyes from a former teammate who had seen him playing at Sligo Rovers in his native Ireland.

Within in an hour of his Premier League debut, Coleman had already repaid that meagre fee as he came off the bench to be involved in both goals of a 2-2 draw with Spurs, a performance that earned him the man of the match award.

Since then he has gone onto make 363 appearances for the club including reaching the coverted 300 Premier League appearances at the beginning of this year. From 2019 onwards Coleman has also been Everton's club captain and is proof as if any was needed that non-league football in the British Isles is as good a place as any for Premier League teams to look to buy young talent from.

Jermaine Defoe

Defoe makes this list off the back of a career of January transfers both in and out of the Premier League. Whether Jermaine is a man who likes to make some serious New Year's resolutions or whether it's more a case of him having played a significant amount of his career under the management of Harry Redknapp, a man who loved a bit of shopping in the January sales is up for debate but his transfer record speaks for itself

At Spurs and Portsmouth, where Defoe spent the prime years of his career and certainly where his most high profile January transfers occured he has divided opinion as to his impact. However, there can be no doubt that as an out and out goal scorer there are few in the Premier League who can match his record.

He remains 9th on the list of all time Premier League goal scorers and is the 2nd highest scorer for Spurs in the Premier League era.

Christophe Dugarry

So far our list has included Premier League stars who have all gone on to have relatively long and successful careers at the clubs who opted to sign them in the January Transfer Window. However, sometimes clubs are looking for that instant impact or few moments of magic from a player who can make a difference even if their presence doesn't last for long.

This is exactly what relegation threatened Birmingham City got in January 2003 when they signed French forward Christophe Dugarry. Dugarry joined a squad of workman like players that had just been promoted back to England's top flight and added that necessary bit of Je ne sais quoi to help the Blues maintain their Premier League status.

Perhaps the best example of how different Dugarry's footballing background was to those in the squad that he joined came in the form of his strike partner Geoff Horsfield, a man who had come up via non-league football while simulateously working as a bricklayer. By contrast, 1998 World Cup Winner Dugarry had spent his formative years gracing the pitches of Marseille, Barcelona and Milan.

Chalk and Cheese it may have been but the pair struck-up a formidlable partnership that helped the Blues win 13 points from their final 6 matches and ulitmately guarantee them safety.

Unfortuantely for Birmingham fans the magic didn't last into the next season and little over a year after joining the club, Duggary was released from his contract having gone AWOL both on and off the pitch.

Daniel Sturridge

At 32-years-old Sturridge currently resides in the "Where are they now?" category. An incredibly talented footballer and natural goal scorer who showed fleating glimpses of his God given talent throughout his career without ever really finding a club to call home.

Loan signings this January could again be in vogue and Sturridge's loan move from Chelsea to Bolton in January 2011 is a great example of what many clubs will be looking for in a short term deal next month.

Having struggled to get a decent run of games in star studded Man City and Chelsea sides, Sturridge made an insant impact when handed a regular starting role with 8 Premier League goals in his 12 appearances for Bolton. In the process he also became the first player to score in his first 4 appearances for a club in the Premier League.

Despite helping the club to 3 straight wins in March, Sturridge's goals weren't enough to keep the club in the Premier League as they finished a point behind QPR to be relegated back to the Championship.

Riyad Mahrez

Sometimes in sport it seems as though the stars align and everything comes together in the most unexpected of ways. That was certainly the case for Leicester City when they over came the odds to be crowned Premier League Champions in 2016.

However, the ground work for that squad had been set in previous transfer windows including the acquistions of Danny Drinkwater (also a January signing) and Jamie Vardy before an unknown Algerian by the name of Riyad Mahrez made his way to Leicester, a city he would later admit he'd never heard of before, in January 2014.

In fact, while Mahrez was unknown to Leicester the same can be said of the footballer to the club with Leicester initially going to scout one of Mahrez's teammates at Le Harve before deciding to move for the Algerian winger at a price of just £450k

Mahrez initially looked a little out of his depth in the Premier League as did his Leicester side in general as they finished 2014 bottom of the league having endured a run of 13 matches where they picked up just 2 points. However, as Spring sprung so did Mahrez and the Foxes with Leicester winning 7 of their final 10 matches to engineer a great escape and set up a 2015/16 season which will remain forever in the memory of their fans.