Who would have thought it?
If there were betting odds on which Premier League club would provide the talking point on transfer deadline day, few sports betting fans would have taken a flutter on Burnley.
Yet, here were the newly-promoted Clarets breaking their transfer record for the third time in six months.
If midfielder Robbie Brady can show just a bit more consistency than he has managed at Norwich, then the former Manchester United man will be well worth the fee that could reach £13 million.
It says much for the Clarets that they had already broken their record twice this season with the acquisition of Steven Defour (£8 million) and Brady’s Irish international team-mate Jeff Hendrick (£10.5m).
Should they secure Premier League survival – as surely they will – then it will be money well spent.
On a damp squib of a deadline day – not financially but in terms of big-name moves (more than £200 million was still spent throughout the month) – that was as pretty much exciting as it got.
The arrival of Italian midfielder-cum-striker Manolo Gabbiadini from Napoli – who has a respectable scoring record – could prove a good deal for Southampton. Likewise, the signature of Jordan Ayew from Aston Villa will further boost Swansea as they show signs of progress under Paul Clement.
He will hope to have more of an impact than his brother Andre managed during his time at the Liberty Stadium.
Of the other headline moves, a defensive midfielder in Luka Milivojevic, who arrives at Crystal Palace from Olympiacos, will hardly set pulses racing, yet could prove important; as could the purchase of Mali defender Molla Wague at champions Leicester – he moves from Granada.
Mamadou Sakho has also arrived at Selhurst Park on loan.
And then there’s the club with the smallest squad in the top flight.
The departure of Jake Livermore to West Brom and Robert Snodgrass to West Ham didn’t help Hull, and one suspects they needed the duo to stay for the three-month battle which lies ahead.
However, they will have given themselves a chance to beat the drop after Italy defender Andrea Ranocchia and former Sunderland midfielder Alfred N’Diaye arrived on loan from Inter Milan and Villarreal respectively.
They’ve already brought in Lazar Markovic, and little known Polish winger Kamil Grosicki was an 11th-hour arrival.
So that was your January deadline day 2017.
Not particularly memorable but, then again, often the less talked about acquisitions are the best and big money deals in January aren’t worth writing home about.
Twelve months ago one of the big deadline day deals saw Lewis Grabban return to Bournemouth for £7 million.
He hasn’t scored a league goal since and moved to Reading on loan yesterday!
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