Football Features

10 done deals you might have missed from the January transfer window so far

By Muhammad Butt

Published: 12:26, 13 January 2021

Incredible as it may seem, the January transfer window is already a third of the way through.

Obviously the month itself is dragging absurdly, but the transfer window is moving along at a nice clip, even though there has been very little high-profile activity to draw the eyes and headlines.

Don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s been an inactive window, mind you. There are plenty of transfers that have already gone through, and we’ve come up with 10 done deals you might have missed so far.


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1. Bas Dost

  • From: Eintracht Frankfurt
  • To: Club Brugge
  • Fee: £3.6m
  • Football Index value: £0 (Sell)  £0.11 (Buy)

The veteran Dutch striker, who was once team-mates with Kevin De Bruyne at Wolfsburg, has moved to Belgian side Club Brugge after a largely unsuccessful spell in Frankfurt trying to replace Sebastian Haller.

Club Brugge will be hoping Dost can recover the kind of form that saw him score 93 goals in 127 games for Sporting CP just a few years ago.

2. Etienne Capoue

  • From: Watford
  • To: Villarreal
  • Fee: £2m
  • Football Index value: £0.17 (Sell)  £0.33 (Buy)

The French midfielder was so good for Watford that he completely rehabilitated his image after a poor spell at Spurs, to the extent that he is clearly too good to stay in the Championship. Capoue joins Villarreal where he will play under Unai Emery.

3. Radja Nainggolan

  • From: Inter
  • To: Cagliari
  • Fee: Loan
  • Football Index value: £0.24 (Sell)  £0.43 (Buy)

Radja Nainggolan is a veteran savage in midfield and should, in theory, be a perfect match for Antonio Conte’s but he spent last year on loan at Cagliari and in January, after six months on the Inter bench, he returned to the club hoping to keep his form as consistent as it was in 2019/20.

4. Sead Kolasinac

  • From: Arsenal
  • To: Schalke
  • Fee: Loan
  • Football Index value: £0.15 (Sell)  £0.28 (Buy)

When Sead Kolasinac was no longer needed at Arsenal due to the excellence of Kieran Tierney, the emergence of Bukayo Saka and the versatility of Ainsley Maitland-Niles, he knew he had to leave.

A return to former club Schalke may not have seemed great given they were about to complete an entire calendar year without winning a game. But on his debut (well, re-debut) he played his part in a storming 4-0 win, Schalke’s first league victory since 17 January 2020. Talk about impact!

5. Diego Costa

  • From: Atlético Madrid
  • To: Free agent confirmation
  • Fee: N/A
  • Football Index value: £0 (Sell)  £0.66 (Buy)

This one isn’t a classic done deal as no destination club has been announced yet but Diego Costa did formally extricate himself from Atlético Madrid for the second time in his career.

Costa left Atleti top of La Liga and as favourites to win the title, which makes this a strange move, though personal reasons have been cited.

6. Andy King

  • From: Leicester
  • To: OH Leuven
  • Fee: Loan
  • Football Index value: £0.08 (Sell)  £0.20 (Buy)

Mr. Leicester City has been with the Foxes since 2006. He is the only player in the modern era to win League One, the Championship and the Premier League with the same club.

A dedicated servant even though the club has long since outgrown him; King now spends his time going on loans, with his latest to Belgian side OH Leuven.

7. Rolando Aarons

  • From: Newcastle
  • To: Huddersfield
  • Fee: Undisclosed

Rolando Aarons has been at Newcastle all his career, well, officially. He’s only played 27 times for the Magpies though and has been a loan traveller for much of his career. However, this month he finally cut the cord and joined Huddersfield on a permanent deal.

8. Sebastian Haller

  • From: West Ham
  • To: Ajax
  • Fee: £20m
  • Football Index value: £0 (Sell)  £0.36 (Buy)

The elegant Ivorian forward was sublime for Eintracht Frankfurt but like Luka Jovic failed to translate that success away from Germany. He was poor for West Ham, struggling with injuries and a loss of form.

Now he’s playing for Ajax, a club sure to suit his associative style of play, so surely this is where Haller really makes his name?

9. Robert Snodgrass

  • From: West Ham
  • To: West Brom
  • Fee: Undisclosed
  • Football Index value: £0 (Sell)  £0.41 (Buy)

Robert Snodgrass is a Premier League veteran who had become surplus to requirements at West Ham. Still, with his crossing and set-piece ability it’s little wonder someone signed him up and even littler wonder that someone was Sam Allardyce with West Brom.

10. Charlie Austin

  • From: West Brom
  • To: QPR
  • Fee: Loan
  • Football Index value: £0.15 (Sell)  £0.32 (Buy)

With Sam Allardyce trying to keep West Brom alive in the Premier League he’s starting to ring the changes, and allowing Charlie Austin to leave on loan was one of those. Austin joins former club QPR and will hope to recapture his previous form for them, where he scored 48 in 89.