Best January transfers as Liverpool strike gold and Man Utd land club's heartbeat

THE BIG DEBATE: Going after players in January is always a risky strategy with prices often inflated, but several clubs have struck gold mid-season with some elite players moving during the Premier League era

The January transfer window is the toughest time of the year to recruit but also the time where you can transform the course of your season if you get it right.

Going after players mid-season is often born out of a desire to cover cracks that have appeared during the season. It is regularly a time where teams in the relegation battle go after new signings, desperately looking for a fresh injection of quality.

But over the years there has also been times where top clubs have been able to bring in players with the business end of the season on the horizon. Sometimes a player you wanted in the summer has continued to haggle for a move, think Virgil van Dijk to Liverpool in 2018.

Maybe a player comes on the market unexpectedly and it is who acts fastest. Perhaps a signing comes out of the blue or is tempted by the lure of the Premier League.

The right man at the right time can prove transformative though. Luis Suarez moved to Liverpool in January when they didn't even have a permanent manager. Nemanja Matic helped make Chelsea champions in Jose Mourinho's second spell 18 months after his arrival. Who had heard of Nemanja Vidic before Sir Alex Ferguson came calling?

READ MORE : Man Utd isn't 'too difficult to fix' as Michael Carrick told to sort glaring issueREAD MORE : PSG plot Enzo Fernandez transfer swoop with £107m Chelsea star 'unsettled' by sacking

Mirror Football's writers have cast their minds back to give their take on which January signing could go down as the best the Premier League has ever seen.

John Cross - Gary Cahill

The answer is simple but does not get highlighted enough. Gary Cahill. The centre half joined Chelsea from Bolton for £7m in 2012 after Arsenal baulked at paying that much.

My barometer for a good January signing is the effect they had on the team in the second half of the season. That is why you are doing the deal. Well, Cahill only went and lifted the Champions League trophy in his first season after playing a crucial part in the club’s remarkable run to glory.

Cahill made a miraculous comeback from injury to be one of the heroes of the final which Chelsea won on penalties against Bayern Munich in Munich. It was their first European Cup and remains arguably their greatest triumph.

Cahill then spent seven years at Chelsea, became a club legend and won two Premier League titles, two FA Cups, two Europa Leagues and a League Cup. He also became an England regular, made the PFA Team of the Year three times and is as good an ambassador and face of any club that you will find.

Sam Meade - Philippe Coutinho

It is easy to forget that Inter Milan had all but given up on the young Brazilian when they were happy to sell him to Liverpool for just £8.5m. Yes you read that right. Before you knew it Coutinho was forming part of a Liverpool side that launched an assault on the title.

They fell narrowly short, albeit Coutinho did all he could, scoring the winner against eventually champions Manchester City in 2014 before Liverpool let it slip.

The playmaker would continue to step up, even when some of his quality team-mates left, and he was front and centre when Jurgen Klopp first rocked up. Eventually the lure of Barcelona became too much, but Coutinho's quality, coupled with his value for money, makes him one of the best.

54 goals in 201 games as well as the club's Player of the Year in successive season. And without knowing it, his £105m up front sale generated huge profit that ultimately bought Virgil van Dijk to the club. Without those series of events, maybe Liverpool don't get to where they are today.

Andy Dunn - Papiss Cisse

There have been plenty of January signings who proved to be magnificent long-term acquisitions, the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Bruno Fernandes and Luis Suarez prominent amongst them.

But, normally, if you are buying in the winter, you are wanting - and needing - an instant impact. So, step forward Papiss Cisse, now of Wythenshawe Vets, but formerly of, amongst others, Newcastle United. It is fair to say the Senegalese striker’s four-and-a-half year career at St James’ Park had its ups and downs.

But the best January signings are the ones that come in and make an immediate impression. After all, they are mainly short-term gambles. And after signing in January, 2012, Cisse was soon repaying the £9.3million fee it took to get him out of SC Freiburg.

In 14 Premier League appearances, he scored 13 goals, including a worldie against Chelsea’s Petr Cech with the outside of his right boot that won the BBC Goal of the Season accolade.

He did not maintain that sort of scoring average over the next four seasons but few mid-season Premier League acquisitions have had quite the effect Cisse had.

Daniel Orme - Robert Huth

Usually an aging centre back beset with injury issues moving from Stoke to Leicester would not get any coverage at all - and to be honest it didn’t at the time. Robert Huth’s loan switch to the King Power Stadium in 2015 looked to be the last desperate move from a club doomed for relegation.

Oh, how wrong we were. The German centre-back was instrumental in the Foxes’ push for survival as they won seven of their final nine games of the season to secure their spot in the Premier League against the odds.

It was however what happened next that underlined Huth - who became a permanent Leicester player shortly after - as a legendary figure in the East Midlands. The centre-back played another crucial role as Leicester went from relegation favourites to unlikely champions the following campaign.

He played 35 of 38 games and scored crucial goals against Tottenham and Manchester City to help Leicester to the Premier League crown and write one of the greatest sporting stories ever told. And it might not even have started had it not been for Huth’s arrival.

Neil McLeman - Virgil van Dijk

He wasn’t cheap - the £75m Dutchman was then the most expensive defender in transfer history - but he has been worth every penny and has become the heart and soul of the Anfield club.

Klopp’s side reached the Champions League final that season and finished in the top four before winning Europe’s top club competition in 2019 and the FIFA Club World Cup. He then played his big part in Liverpool’s first Premier League title in 30 years.

Van Dijk is not only a world-class defender but he has a huge positive influence on and off the pitch - and Liverpool are not the same without him even at the age of 34. He should be kept at the club after his playing career in some capacity

Honorable mention to other Kieran Trippier joining Newcastle in January 2022 and leading them back to the Champions League and the Carabao Cup triumph.

Jeremy Cross - Bruno Fernandes

Considering Manchester United's recent transfer history, Bruno Fernandes has to be the best signing a club has made in January. And to think, some senior figures at United didn't want to go ahead with the deal.

One scout even did a video presentation, showing Fernandes kicking the dressing room door of its hinges following a red card for Sporting Lisbon, questioning if he had the right attitude and mindset to be successful at Old Trafford.

But Fernandes was the best signing of the Ed Woodward era by a country mile. He has carried United on is back since arriving in 2020 for just £47m. Fernandes has been the heartbeat of the team, and it's frightening to think where the club might be now if it wasn't for him.

Click here to read article