The January transfer window has traditionally been a frenzy in the football transfer market.
In the European major leagues, the transfer window opens in the middle of the season, while for the leagues that start their season in the spring, it functions as a preliminary transfer window all year round. Officially, the transfer period for players starts when the year turns to January 1st.
The transfer window closes at different times in different countries, but in most of the time the hourglass ends on February 1 Finnish time.
In the European major leagues, especially in England, the last day of the January transfer window (eng. transfer deadline day) always gathers huge media attention. It is often the busiest transfer day of the window, during which players are flown around Europe and within countries, and contract papers are sent in the last minutes to be registered with the Football Associations.
Most likely, transfers will be massaged to the last this year as well. In this story, we present which players are the most wanted names in the transfer window and which Finns might be moving to a new club.
Who are the biggest names in this transfer window?
Next January’s transfer window will be exceptionally affected by the winter WC tournament. The football World Cup, which is normally seen in the summer, is fresh in the memory due to its exceptional schedule in 2022. It can be assumed that the performances of the players in the tournament will be given even more weight in the January transfer patterns.
One name that shined in the World Cup tournament has already received his transfer. Dutch striker Cody Gakpo will move to Liverpool in January (you will move to another service), after hitting three goals in the tournament. The 189-centimeter, soon-to-be 22-year-old attacker was paid for According to Sky Sports (you will switch to another service) 40-50 million euros.
In addition to Gakpo, there are plenty of players who have charmed at the men’s World Championships.
Benfica, who won the World Cup gold in Argentina’s shirt Enzo FernandezMoroccan and Fiorentina midfielder Sofyan Amrabata promising defender for Croatia and RB Leipzig If Guardiol and Cristiano Ronaldo effectively replacing the one representing Benfica in Portugal’s shirt Goncalo Ramos are just some of the players who are now sought after on the transfer market.
In the binoculars of Europe’s big clubs, England’s new hero has also emerged Jude Bellingham. Interest in Bellingham, one of Borussia Dortmund’s key players, grew even more when The Daily Mail reports (you will switch to another service), that there would be a “secret buyout price” in the Englishman’s contract. According to the Daily Mail, this would be worth around 68 million euros.
The case of Mudryk in the January transfer window
Among the clearly most interesting names of the transfer window is also one player who did not appear in the World Cup.
The 21-year-old winger of the Ukrainian Shakhtar Donetsk, who developed into a peak during the war Myhailo Mudryk are Europe’s most wanted footballers in January.
– He is one of the best young footballers in the world. If I don’t bring him to the highest level, I will take it as a personal failure, the former Shakhtar head coach, who currently coaches Brighton in the Premier League Roberto de Zerbi praised Mudryk earlier.
According to media reports, the London club Arsenal submitted a whopping 65 million euro offer for the youngster, but Shakhtar rejected it (you are moving to another service). Shakhtar has said that they want a staggering 100 million euros for the speedy Mudryk.
– If a club really wants him, the club must be ready to pay a lot. The club needs to show that it respects us, Shakhtar’s director of football operations Darijo Srna staked The Athletic in the podcast (you switch to another service).
In the background of the large transfer amount, there is also a cycle, which is affected by the war of aggression started by Russia.
The major Ukrainian club from Donetsk has been forced to play in evako since 2014 due to the war started by Russia. It has played its home matches in, for example, Kyiv and Lviv, and its Champions League matches in Warsaw, Poland.
After Russia began its attack in February 2022, the international football association Fifa decided in March to terminate the contracts of the club’s foreign players and background personnel. Fifa justified this by saying that in this way the parties to the agreement could get out of the war without sanctions if they wanted to.
Shakhtar naturally saw the situation differently. It accuses Fifa of more than 40 million euros in revenue losses and breaking the laws of Ukraine, Switzerland and the European Union. The processing of the case has progressed to the International Court of Appeal for Sports, CAS, where the parties concerned were consulted just before Christmas (you will switch to another service).
Against this background, Mudryk’s contract negotiations in the January transfer window have also become a stopgap for Shakhtar’s needs in terms of money.
What about the Finns?
For Finnish national team names, the transfer window has often been more about waiting than actual transfers.
Finnish players under the age of 25 have been the first to receive transfers in the opening transfer window. For the first time, those who have performed well in European games in the Helsinki Football Club move abroad for the first time Santeri Väänänen and played excellently in the Veikkausliiga Casper Terho. From the Seinäjoki Football Club to the world By Daniel Håkans the loan agreement to Norway quickly turned into a permanent transfer.
Played in the Norwegian premier league Kairinen too in turn, moves to the ranks of Sparta Prague of the Czech premier league for 3.5 years.
Kairinen’s years in Norway, who went from long-term top promise to the regular face of the national team abroad, brought an increase in value to the million range. In January 2021, he moved from Denmark to Lilleström for around 300,000 euros. Now Sparta Praha paid for Lilleström’s local newspaper According to Romerikes Blad (you will switch to another service) about 1.5 million euros from Kairise to Lilleström.
Among the most expected fates among Finns is Glen Kamaran the situation at Glasgow Rangers.
The transfer of Kamara, who was counted as the most valuable footballer in Finland in the evaluations of the Transfermarkt website, seemed very likely before the World Cup. Coached Rangers Giovanni van Bronckhorst didn’t see a use for the Finn in his lineup, and Kamara’s actions on the pitch didn’t give much cause for objections. Kamara was rumored in the Scottish media to, among other things, go to the Italian main league Salernitarna and the French main league to Nice and Nantes.
However, van Bronckhorst, who got into trouble with the players, was fired right after the games started. Rangers new manager Michael Beale is familiar to Kamara Steven Gerrard’s from the coaching group. Beale has praised Kamara and said he wants to keep him at Rangers.
– We have a fantastic relationship and have known each other for a long time. I would always want him at Rangers, where I coach or watch. Knowing all the speculation and the interest from these other clubs mentioned, I want to say that Glen is far too good for these teams,” Beale told The Scottish Sun in an interview (you move to another service).