Did the January transfer window always seem fixed?

In recent years, the only notable signing heading into match day has been Enzo Fernandes.

Fernandes was fresh off being named Young Player of the Year at the 2022 World Cup with winners Argentina.

The midfielder joined Chelsea from Benfica weeks later for what was, at the time, a British record transfer fee of £106.8m.

It was Chelsea’s spending that shaped the window and helped set a new Premier League record.

In total, £815m was spent, of which Chelsea was responsible for £284.1m – 34.86%.

This marked an early delay to BlueCo’s investment in the team after completing the acquisition last summer. This has created an anomaly in overall spending, especially during the post-Covid years.

Fernandes’ deal continued throughout the evening. It was a real sporadic odyssey, but it eventually ended as the seconds ticked by.

Perhaps the equivalent of this season was Dwight McNeil’s move from Everton to Crystal Palace. This did not even pass.

It is rare for big clubs to spend in January unless they have a specific need.

Arsenal and Liverpool have not signed a player since 2023. Chelsea (£13.5m) and Manchester United (£27.5m) had only modest spending in 2025.

Manchester City has bucked trends over the past two seasons as Pep Guardiola tried to transform his team.

In 2025, he spent £188m on Nico Gonzalez, Omar Marmoush, Abdulkader Khosanov and Vitor Reis.

This winter has seen £84m spent, this time on Premier League-ready talents such as Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi.

You have to go back to 2018 to find a winter window when the Big Six collectively spent a lot of money.

The deals included Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joining Arsenal on deadline day from Borussia Dortmund, while Liverpool signed Virgil van Dijk from Southampton.

Of the Premier League’s total spending of £500m, the Big Six clubs were responsible for £322m of it. It has also spread. Arsenal, with £86m, was the largest shareholder (26.71%).

To compare with the 2023 window, Chelsea were responsible for 73.39% of the top six’s £387.1m spending.