January transfer window has and will be one of the most anticipated events in football and rightfully so, as it never fails to shock and stuns the football fans around the globe with surprise moves it brings each year.
With the month of January coming to an end and the transfer window slowly closing, let’s check a few of the “biggest” and most talked about transfers that have happened in the last month.
LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 27: Gonzalo Higuain of Chelsea runs with the ball during the FA Cup Fourth Round match between Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday at Stamford Bridge on January 27, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
The 31-year-old center-forward, 3 times Italian Cup winner and a top scorer in Serie A back in 2015/16 (36 goals) has been loaned to Premier League team Chelsea on Wednesday for a fee of £8.1m which will be the first time he will get a chance to play for an English club. His career started in River Plate in 2004 but was soon noticed by Real Madrid, where he played from 2007-2013. In his time with Real Madrid, Higuain won the Spanish Cup 2 times as well as the title of Spanish Champion 3 times. In 2013, he was traded to Napoli with whom he won the Italian Cup the same year. In 2016 Higuain moved to Juventus for a record fee of £78m. Since 2013 Higuain has played for Napoli, Juventus, and Milan. In his long career, he has gathered experience and titles in both LaLiga as well as Serie A, and now it’s time to travel to Premier League, where Higuain will play for the Blues for the next 6 months. After the 6 months when the loan expires, he is to re-join his former team Juventus. While this is a big move for Chelsea, there are some players not too keen on it, and as “some” I mean Oliver Giroud. After the transfer was announced, he opened the possibility of returning to France. Giroud moved to Chelsea in January 2018 but failed to get himself a starting place, instead he more or less played a back-up forward. With Higuain move to Chelsea, Giroud chances to get the starting position seems very slim, so maybe we are looking at yet another transfer.
SEVILLE, SPAIN – JANUARY 23: Kevin Prince Boateng of FC Barcelona runs with the ball during the Copa del Quarter Final match between Sevilla FC and FC Barcelona at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on January 23, 2019 in Seville, Spain. (Photo by Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)
In his career, he has changed quite a lot of clubs, gathering experience in Bundesliga, Premier League, Serie A, and LaLiga. After spending 3 years in Serie A in between 2010-2013 when he played for Genoa and AC Milan with whom he won the League in 2011, Kevin-Prince Boateng left the Italian league for 5 years only to come back on July 5th, 2018 when he joined Sassuolo. Quite surprisingly, Kevin-Prince Boateng moved to the Spanish giants Barcelona on January 22nd on a £900k loan where he will spend the next 5 months, and re-join Sassuolo on Jun 30th, 2019. For some, this move is quite… interesting to say the least. Why would Barcelona sign a 31-year old Kevin-Prince Boateng who is playing for a team who are the bottom of the Serie A? While it seems like a silly move, we cannot deny the fact Kevin-Prince Boateng has got a lot of experience in playing big games and knows the LaLiga well. There surely are people looking at this move confused; however, I believe Kevin-Prince Boateng will prove the naysayers wrong.
SEVILLE, SPAIN – JANUARY 16: Munir El Haddadi of Sevilla FC in action during the Copa del Rey Round of 16 second leg match between Sevilla FC and Athletic Club Bilbao at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on January 16, 2019 in Seville, Spain. (Photo by Aitor Alcalde Colomer/Getty Images)
3. Munir El Haddadi (Barcelona – Sevilla); Transfer £945k
This Spanish forward has played for Barcelona since 2011 when he got into Barcelona U17 team. In 2015, he advanced up to Barcelona team but was sent out to a loan to Valencia in 2016. After returning to Barcelona, he was once more loaned to Alaves in 2017. But now the time has come for him to be traded to another team for the first time in over 7 years spent with Barcelona. It was reported before Munir was planning on moving to Sevilla this summer after his contract was going to expire, as he rejected all offers from Barcelona. However, the clubs came to an agreement, sealing the deal for Munir in January. In his career, Munir El Haddadi was a top scorer and UEFA Youth League Winner (U19) in 2013/14 season. In addition, he was in the Barcelona squad in 2015 and 2016 when they won the FIFA Club World Cup. At this point, we must mention the Munir move might just make the Morata transfer much less likely. Sevilla has been in talks with Morata, however, the asked money for the loan was far too high. Where will Morata end up is yet unknown, but one thing is for sure. Not in Sevilla.
