Manchester City, Crystal Palace, and West Ham used the winter transfer window to solve clear structural problems, while Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea either stood still or lost key battles in the market, and the rest of their Premier League campaigns will reflect that divide.
Here at The Hard Tackle, we look at the Premier League’s winners and losers from the winter transfer window.
Winners: Manchester City, Crystal Palace, West Ham
Pep Guardiola’s squad badly needed reinforcements at centre‑back and up front, and the arrivals of Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace and Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth have addressed both issues in one window.
With injuries to Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol thinning City’s defensive options, Guehi has brought proven Premier League reliability, homegrown status and the ability to defend large spaces, exactly what City demand from their backline.
Guehi has slotted in immediately, looking composed on the ball and aggressive without it, as evidenced by his impressive debut and his role in helping City tighten up out of possession. His presence allows Guardiola to rotate more often, rest key defenders for Europe and maintain the high defensive line that underpins City’s press, all of which should matter in a title race likely to be decided by fine margins.
In attack, Semenyo’s signing, after City triggered his release clause at Bournemouth, injects pace, physicality and direct running either through the middle or from wide areas. He has already been among the goals since joining, giving the Premier League bigwigs a different profile to their more intricate forwards and offering a valuable option when opponents sit deep or when matches become stretched late on.
Together, these deals give City a deeper bench and more tactical variety for the Premier League run‑in. Guehi shores up a vulnerability that could have been ruthlessly exposed in the spring, while Semenyo adds chaos and end‑product to a forward line that now has another match‑winner off the bench, sharpening City’s edge in a tight title race.
Crystal Palace have quietly put together one of the most ambitious attacking rebuilds of the window, funding it smartly by selling Guehi and reinvesting heavily in the final third. The arrival of Brennan Johnson from Tottenham for around £35 million adds a versatile, high-intensity forward who can play across the frontline, press from the front and stretch teams with his running in behind.
They have doubled down on that strategy by signing Jorgen Strand Larsen from Wolves for £48 million, a powerful focal point who has been a consistent scorer in the Premier League and offers aerial presence, link play and penalty-box instincts. Bringing in both Johnson and Strand Larsen transforms Palace’s attacking options overnight, giving them the firepower to turn narrow draws into wins and to play more proactively at home.
Crucially, they have managed to keep Jean‑Philippe Mateta after his proposed move to AC Milan collapsed on medical grounds, turning what could have been a disruptive saga into a surprise boost for Oliver Glasner. Retaining Mateta alongside Strand Larsen and Johnson suddenly leaves Palace with three serious forward options, allowing for rotation, tactical flexibility and genuine competition for places.
For the rest of the season, Palace can realistically target a comfortable mid‑table finish with an outside push towards the European places. With a deeper, more varied attack and Mateta still in the building, they have the tools to damage bigger sides and avoid the annual flirtation with the relegation battle.
West Ham entered January in the relegation zone with a chronic lack of goals, and they have responded decisively by investing heavily in the centre‑forward position. The early capture of Brazilian striker Pablo Felipe from Gil Vicente, a player who arrived off the back of double‑figure goals in Portugal, gave them a penalty‑box presence and a finisher used to carrying attacking responsibility.
Hot on the heels of Pablo, they completed a move for Valentin “Taty” Castellanos from Lazio, a 27‑year‑old forward known for his work rate, movement and willingness to press from the front. Together, Pablo and Castellanos represent roughly a £40-45 million gamble on firepower, but it is the kind of calculated risk a side sitting eighteenth simply had to take to change the trajectory of their season.
Nuno Espirito Santo now has two mobile, hungry strikers rather than relying on an ageing lone option, which opens the door to a front two, more aggressive pressing, and a more direct route to goal when needed. So, West Ham have given themselves a genuine shot at clawing their way clear of trouble, and these signings could be the difference between survival and a damaging relegation.
Over the coming months, success will be measured simply: goals and points. If one or both of Pablo and Castellanos catch fire, West Ham’s winter business will be hailed as the turning point that preserved their Premier League status; if not, questions will be asked, but at least they have addressed their most obvious weakness.
Losers: Manchester United, Liverpool & Chelsea
Manchester United’s window will be remembered more for what they did not do than what they did. With the midfield already lacking a true tempo‑setter to control games alongside the resurgent Casemiro, recruitment plans had clearly identified the centre of the pitch as the priority, yet the club failed to land a single senior midfielder.
Instead, Manchester United were limited to recalling youngsters, moves that add bodies but not the proven quality required for a sustained push towards Champions League qualification. Michael Carrick’s work on the training ground has lifted spirits and improved performances in recent weeks, but he still lacks that calm controller in midfield who can dictate rhythm, take the sting out of difficult away games and raise the team’s technical floor.
As the season heads into its decisive phase, this inaction could prove costly. Manchester United will have to lean heavily on their existing core, hoping that form and fitness hold, but any injuries or dips in level in midfield could expose the lack of depth and leave the team short in key fixtures against direct rivals.
Meanwhile, Liverpool approached January in the midst of a defensive injury crisis, with issues at right‑back so acute that Arne Slot has already been forced to use midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai there in at least one game. With Conor Bradley unavailable for the rest of the season, Jeremie Frimpong out again and Joe Gomez also missing, the need for a specialist right‑back was obvious, yet Liverpool did not add one during the window despite late links with Lutsharel Geertruida.
That leaves them to navigate the second half of the season, improvising at full‑back, risking both defensive security and attacking balance on that flank. Given how poor they have been in the first half of the campaign and the intensity of the race for the top four, this gamble could easily come back to haunt them if makeshift solutions are exposed in high‑stakes matches.
Chelsea, meanwhile, came into the window with well‑documented defensive frailties and a clear need for another high‑calibre centre‑half, yet still ended up empty‑handed in that area. Jeremy Jacquet, the Rennes defender long pursued as a priority target, ultimately chose to join Liverpool instead, believing the Anfield pathway to first‑team football was clearer than at Stamford Bridge.
Missing out on Jacquet not only deprives Chelsea of a long‑term solution at the back but also strengthens a direct rival, compounding the sense that the window failed to address their most glaring weakness. As the fixtures pile up, a leaky defence could undermine any progress made and leave Chelsea simply battling to secure European qualification rather than pushing higher up the table.
What the run‑in looks like
For Manchester City, January’s business should translate into greater resilience and fresher legs when it matters most, with Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo likely to feature heavily in rotation as Guardiola juggles domestic and European commitments.
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace now have the attacking depth to aim upwards rather than look over their shoulders, especially with a front line built around JorgenStrand Larsen, Brennan Johnson and Jean-Philippe Mateta, who offer goals, mobility and physical presence.
West Ham United’s season will likely be defined by whether Pablo and Castellanos can hit the ground running; if they settle quickly, the Hammers have every chance of dragging themselves clear of the bottom three over the next few months.
By contrast, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea all head into the spring knowing that their own inaction or near‑misses could significantly limit their ceilings, forcing managers to over‑rely on existing players and makeshift solutions in the very period when title races, European spots and survival battles are decided.
