The Debate: Who is the best Premier League January transfer window signing of all time?

The January transfer window presents teams with an opportunity to address any perceived shortcomings in their squad by bringing in fresh blood from elsewhere.

A notoriously difficult period in which to negotiate transfer deals, with clubs reluctant to give away valued players mid-season, clubs are forced to be particularly savvy when it comes to securing new signings in January.

There is often an element of desperation and urgency when it comes to January deals, with clubs not willing to wait until the summer off-season to make their move.

Amidst this context, it can be argued that January transfers are more difficult to get right, but Premier League history shows us that it is possible to strike gold in this window from time to time.

The bet365 News team deliberate over the identity of the best January transfer window signing of all time in the Premier League in the latest edition of our Debate series...

Virgil van Dijk

Southampton -> Liverpool - £75m (2018)

Ellis Statham

Virgil van Dijk delivered Liverpool’s first league title in 30 years and, for that, he is the greatest ever January transfer window signing.

Van Dijk joined the Reds from Southampton for £75m on 1st January 2018, becoming the most expensive central defender of all time. While questions were undoubtedly asked regarding the price tag, he shut down any doubts instantaneously.

The Dutchman made his Liverpool debut on 5th January 2018, just four days after officially joining. He would go on to score the winning goal in a 2-1 win over Liverpool’s local rivals Everton in the FA Cup.

This was just the start for the Reds’ number four. To say that Van Dijk revolutionised the Liverpool defence would be an understatement. Within five months, he had led Liverpool to their first UEFA Champions League final since 2007.

A year later, he was named Man of the Match in the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League final against Tottenham, a contest which the Reds won 2-0, claiming their sixth UEFA Champions League honour.

That same year, he became the first defender since Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 to make the top three in the Ballon d’Or rankings, falling just seven points short of the winner Lionel Messi.

The Reds ended their 30-year wait for domestic supremacy in the 2019/20 campaign, reaching 99 points and beating Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City to the title by 18 points.

While we can’t disregard Liverpool’s attackers’ contribution to winning the league, we also can’t ignore Alex Ferguson’s famous saying – ‘Attacks win you games, defences win you titles’.

Liverpool conceded just 33 goals in their league-winning 2019/20 season. Prior to the Dutchman’s arrival, the last time the Reds conceded less than 33 goals in a league term was in the 2008/09 campaign, conceding 27. Transformative.

Van Dijk has added a fear factor to the Liverpool side, whilst restoring a much needed element of composure to the back line. We have never seen a player make such an immediate impact at a club, nor have we ever seen a player make a £75m price tag look a bargain.

An immense physical presence, elite ball playing ability and incredible speed. These are the attributes that not only make him arguably the greatest defender to grace the Premier League, but undoubtedly the best January transfer window signing of all time.

Nemanja Vidic

Spartak Moscow -> Manchester United - £7m (2006)

Liam Williams

There’s no denying that Virgil van Dijk had a transformative effect on Liverpool. Under Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool became a free-flowing attacking outfit whose philosophy initially boiled down to ‘we’ll score one more than you’, and it wasn’t until the arrivals of Alisson and Van Dijk that the side looked complete.

Indeed, the signing of Van Dijk led to a UEFA Champions League and a Premier League title.

But in terms of impact, certainly over the long term, Nemanja Vidic rivals Van Dijk, and came at just 10 per cent of the cost.

Van Dijk’s imperious performances saw him named Premier League Player of the Season in 2019, winning an award Vidic claimed twice.

It’s easy to forget how lacking United were at centre-back after the departure of Jaap Stam in 2001, with Sir Alex Ferguson fielding the likes of Wes Brown, Mikael Silvestre, John O’Shea and Laurent Blanc there in the following years, and while the big-money signing of Rio Ferdinand strengthened United defensively, it wasn’t until the arrival of Vidic that the club were ready to contend for major honours again.

From Vidic’s first full season in 2006/07 to United’s third straight title in 2008/09, the side conceded an average of 24.3 goals per season. In the five years prior to that, they were conceding 34.8 goals per season. It’s not too much of a stretch to suggest that Vidic was saving United 10 goals each term.

United won three titles in each of Vidic’s first three full seasons before injuries started to play a factor. In the 2009/10 campaign, Vidic missed 14 games and the champions went from 2.57 points per game with Vidic to 1.86 games without him, ultimately coming a point short of Chelsea in the title race.

With Vidic back to full fitness the following season, United coasted to another title as well as a UEFA Champions League final. Sure enough, Vidic would spend nearly all of the 2011/12 campaign out injured and Manchester City would pip them to the title.

Vidic’s critics point to his struggles against Fernando Torres, and while the defender’s poorer games did indeed come against the Spaniard, Torres was a world class centre forward, and yet he only managed three goals in his 15 duels with Vidic.

Named four times in the PFA Team of the Year, Vidic left Old Trafford after eight seasons as a two-time Premier League Player of the Season, a five-time Premier League winner and a UEFA Champions League winner.

All for £7 million.

Luis Suarez

Ajax -> Liverpool - £22.8m (2011)

Darren Durber

To call Luis Suarez a mercurial figure is arguably playing down the eccentricity and unpredictability of the Uruguayan forward.  

Controversy has undeniably haunted Suarez throughout his career. At times he is brilliant, other times maddening and on some occasions his behaviour has been downright outrageous.  

However, there is another important facet to the game of the man from Salto; goals, and lots of them.  

Signed for a then club record £22m fee from Ajax, Suarez flattered to deceive in his first six months on Merseyside, but eventually he would work his way into the hearts of the Anfield faithful.  

After his initial slow start the then 24-year-old striker found his shooting boots in the seasons that followed, leading the club's scoring charts for three consecutive campaigns and bagging 69 goals across 110 Premier League games for Liverpool.

Suarez was also the Reds' top scorer during the 2011/12 EFL Cup winning campaign, the only trophy Liverpool secured during his time at the club.  

The Uruguayan forward was the Premier League top goalscorer in the 2013/14 season, notching an impressive 31 goals, smashing a number of records along the way.  

Suarez broke the record for fastest player to reach 20 goals in a season and later also became the first Liverpool player since Ian Rush to score 30 goals in one campaign, a record that had stood for 27 years.  

He also joined an elite club of Premier League players in breaking the 30 goal a season mark, becoming the seventh player to do so and winning the European Golden Shoe alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.  

Despite never winning the league during his time on Merseyside, his goalscoring exploits helped propel the club forward, raised standards and planted the seeds for future success, following a long period of stagnation for Liverpool.  

Suarez would later leave for Barcelona in 2014 in a deal worth almost £65m, a move which netted Liverpool a huge profit of over £40m. No other player in this Debate can come close to the profit which the Reds gained for Suarez.  

The club would later reinvest that money into signing Roberto Firmino, a player who had a significant impact on Liverpool’s Premier League title winning season in 2019/20.

Suarez, meanwhile, would go on to form one of the most lethal strike partnerships in football history alongside Lionel Messi and Brazilian star Neymar.

Suarez scored an incredible 147 goals in 191 La Liga appearances for Barcelona, winning four La Liga titles and the UEFA Champions League in 2015.

Despite a lack of silverware from his time at Anfield, Luis Suarez was the best Liverpool striker in a generation – and they have arguably not replaced him 10 years after his departure.

Andy Cole

Newcastle -> Man Utd - £7m (1995)

James Wilson

Easily forgotten amidst the context of a sport increasingly defined by recency bias, Man Utd’s capture of Andy Cole in January 1995 has a credible claim to represent the most defining January transfer in Premier League history.

Already a prolific Premier League goalscorer prior to his Old Trafford switch, Cole notched a devastating 34 goals in 40 games for Newcastle – a division record for just shy of 30 years until a certain Erling Haaland came along.

Man Utd’s £7m signing of Cole – then a British record – therefore appeared as close to a sure bet as is possible for a football transfer.

With this price tag and expectation brought significant pressure upon Cole’s shoulders, not that the Nottingham-born striker would show it.

Cole was able to deliver from the outset of his Man Utd career, notching 12 goals in 18 Premier League appearances in the second half of the 1994/95 season – becoming the first player in the competition’s history to score five goals in one match during this spell in a 9-0 rout of Ipswich Town.

The 1994/95 campaign would ultimately end in dejection for the Red Devils, however, with Man Utd relinquishing their Premier League crown to Blackburn Rovers on the final day of the season.

Cole and Co. would bounce back in stunning fashion the following year, with the ex-Newcastle hitman a regular starter in attacking for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side who claimed the Premier League and FA Cup Double.

There would be plenty more records and accolades for Cole throughout the duration of his stay at Old Trafford, with Man Utd enjoying one of the most dominant eras in Premier League history with the Englishman leading the line.

Forging one half of one English football’s most iconic strike partnerships alongside Dwight Yorke, Cole was part of the famous Treble-winning Man Utd side of 1998/99, scoring 24 goals in all competitions.

Winning the Premier League title in five of his six seasons at Old Trafford, Cole not only represented one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s shrewdest ever signings but one of Man Utd’s most distinguished number nines of all time.

Had United not moved for Cole when they did in January 1995, the Red Devils’ era of destructive dominance in the late 90s may never have transpired in the way it did.

You’d struggle to find a more long-lasting legacy from a January signing than that.

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