The football rumour mills and gossip columns have gone into overdrive ahead of the opening of the January 2019 transfer window.
Liverpool were also busy. They sold Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona for £142m but brought in Virgil van Dijk from Southampton for £75m.
Article continues belowThe Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Premier League clubs spent a total of £430m in January 2018, including a record £150m on the final day, reports the BBC, citing data from Deloitte’s Sports Business Group. Clubs in the top five European leagues completed 574 deals worth £817.1m, adds The Guardian.
So could we see that sort of spending power in 2019?
When does the January 2019 transfer window open?
English clubs in the Premier League, Championship and the Football League can start completing deals on 1 January 2019. A statement from the Premier League has confirmed: “Clubs have agreed that no new players registered at the start of the window will be eligible to play in matchweek 21, between 1-3 January.”
When does the transfer window close?
In England, clubs must complete their deals by 11pm GMT on 31 January 2019.
Global 2019 winter transfer window dates
Here are the key January dates, according to ESPN.
Opening dates
- 1 January: England, Scotland, France and Germany
- 2 January: Spain
- 3 January: Italy and Portugal
- 23 January: Russia
Closing dates
- 18 January: Italy
- 31 January: England (11pm), Scotland, France, Germany and Spain
- 2 February: Portugal
- 22 February: Russia