There are those that consider the January transfer window to be somewhat of a lottery, whereas others insist that the odds are stacked in the favour of the selling club who feel that they can generate an inflated sum for their players, even if they are out of favour. Nevertheless, business is still conducted because many clubs feel obliged to roll the dice in order to achieve promotion or relegation, or even just to appease a demanding fanbase. With that in mind, which teams can be considered to have put a significant amount of their chips into play in a bid to make a profit, both monetary and status?
Just like you can spend time searching for the most suitable roulette sites for UK players, Newcastle United surveyed the market to find the players that can deliver them instant results. That was always going to be the case after their well-documented, lucrative takeover several months earlier, and manager Eddie Howe will be content with having brought in five fresh faces for the remainder of the season. That said, while the Magpies have clearly taken risks in spending £93m and committing to wage outlays, there is still a perception, both in-house and outside of St James' Park, that they did not completely meet expectations having missed out on the likes of Jesse Lingard and Hugo Ekitike.
While it is easy to find the most reputable online casinos, some clubs were left needing to roll the dice in order to try to achieve their targets for the remainder of the season. Again, Newcastle fall into that category, but Juventus were not far behind as they struggle to guarantee Champions League football for 2022-23. With Cristiano Ronaldo having returned to Manchester United last August, the Italian giants have been missing a consistent-performing forward, and the decision was made to go all-in when it came to winning the race to sign Dusan Vlahovic from Fiorentina. After already scoring 17 times for Viola this campaign, club officials will insist that the risk is minimal, but committing to a £67.4m transfer fee when a top-four position in Serie A is in doubt is some show of intent from the club's hierarchy.
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Barcelona are in a similar boat, not in terms of financial position but most certainly when it comes to qualifying for the Champions League. The Catalan giants have somehow found a way to shell out nearly £55m and the wages which come with that, and it makes them the third biggest spenders in Europe. It should be noted that they were successful in getting Philippe Coutinho out of Camp Nou and the Brazilian playmaker will make the permanent move to Aston Villa if he impresses during the second half of the season, but few people could have predicted that they would have got Ferran Torres, Adama Traore and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang through the entrance door last month. Sponsorship in sport, whether that be shirts or stadiums, ultimately plays its part in more ways than one, and their reportedly imminent deal with Spotify has seemingly helped matters.
That kind of money is naturally not going to be spent everywhere, but that is not to say that other clubs down the food chain do not take risks and roll the dice like the bigger teams. Take, for example, Stoke City of the Championship. They have been inconsistency personified this season and find themselves as outsiders for the playoffs, but manager Michael O'Neill oversaw a transfer window that saw six arrive at the bet365 Stadium and six head elsewhere. It is worth noting that the fees received for the sales of Adam Davies and Sam Surridge means that the Potters made a profit during January, but the transition of personnel means that such upheaval could prove to be detrimental to their promotion chances.
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The same can be said of clubs who have had to make decisions when it comes to players entering the final six months of their contract. Logic would suggest that even parting ways with a player for a cut-price fee is better than losing them on a free in the summer, but every situation is different. Burnley could have generated close to £10m for James Tarkowski during the January window, but they instead chose to retain the services of one of their most important players. The perception was that they would have been rolling the dice by strengthening a potential rival in a relegation scrap if they had cashed in, so it can be argued that they actually took the smart decision in keeping him at Turf Moor in a bid to try to retain their Premier League status.
On the other hand, Peterborough United made the call to cash in on key man Siriki Dembele, rather than use him in their efforts to avoid dropping back into the third division of English football. The coronavirus pandemic has had huge ramifications for the finances at EFL clubs, particularly those who yo-yo between divisions without the crowds to generate income to match their fellow competitors, so while Posh made the opposite decision to Burnley, they made the only one that they could.
