Johnny Phillips: Striker transfer scramble becomes annual tradition
Wout Weghorst’s move to Manchester United would have been predicted by few at the start of the season, but it is a reflection on a curious time of year when one position on the pitch is more sought after than any other.
When January and strikers are involved, there is little that is off the table.
This mid-season window has always been about solving problems and trying to rescue situations. It is a window for rolling the dice and taking a flyer on somebody.
The 30-year-old Dutch striker is on loan at Turkish club Besiktas from Championship side Burnley.
He made a modest impact during his spell at Turf Moor last season and few pundits would have had him down as an obvious candidate to answer Erik ten Hag’s striker situation at Old Trafford.
But that is the beauty of the January transfer window. Managers are prepared to take leftfield gambles that could just pay off.
With Marcus Rashford in such fine form, some would even question the need for a striker.
But Weghorst is a target man, somebody who can change the way a team plays effectively when coming off the bench, as illustrated when he turned the World Cup quarter-final between Holland and Argentina last month. United don’t have that option at the moment.
Another fascinating striker signing this month is Chelsea’s acquisition of Joao Felix.
Again, there is something mildly desperate about the situation for all parties. The player’s relationship with his manager at Atletico Madrid, Diego Simeone, has broken down and Chelsea are going through a slump in form.
The 23-year-old Portuguese international is a precocious talent and the Blues were prepared to pay a hefty loan fee to pull the deal off.
And after Felix’s red card on his debut against Fulham, that £11million loan fee will cover just 18 matches. Is it all really worth it?
It is not the first time Chelsea have raised eyebrows in January.
In 2011, their £50million acquisition of Fernando Torres from Liverpool was supposed to reignite Carlo Ancelotti’s push for a second successive title.
The Spaniard never settled at Stamford Bridge and could not live up to the transfer fee.
Chelsea have not always been on the wrong end of transfer fees in January, though.
They recouped £50million for Diego Costa in 2018. Then 29 years old, he had not played a game for Chelsea that season after being frozen out by Antonio Conte.
The Spanish international never recaptured the form of his first spell in Madrid and the move was not a success.
Costa is now at Wolves, who have been busy this January in an effort to give Julen Lopetegui the tools he has asked for to drag the club up the Premier League table.
Matheus Cunha has arrived on loan and, although Wolves have not yet forked out a transfer fee, there is an obligation to buy the Brazilian forward at the end of the season for around £40m.
The desperation of Wolves to bolster the attack certainly helped Atletico Madrid’s case when agreeing the price.
Cunha is a very different type of player to Willian Jose, who arrived at Molineux on loan midway through the lockdown season of 2020/21.
After Raul Jimenez’s horrific injury at Arsenal earlier on in the campaign and Diogo Jota’s sale to Liverpool, Nuno Espirito Santo’s small squad was by now relying on Fabio Silva.
The youngster was shouldering an unfair burden and Jose’s arrival from Real Sociedad gave a bit more presence to the attack.
He only managed one goal during his stay at Molineux, but an upturn in results ensured the season ended without any fears of relegation.
Wolves are certainly shopping in a different market to the one they occupied during the club’s first Premier League season back in 2003/04.
After a summer when Sir Jack Hayward gave manager Dave Jones relative pennies to try and survive back at the top, it soon became clear the team was heading straight back from where it came.
With goals in short supply, Jones persuaded Carl Cort to come to Molineux midway through the season from Newcastle United for £2m.
Cort returned a fairly respectable five goals after his January arrival in a struggling team, but it wasn’t enough to prevent relegation.
January striker signings are often a risk and not always the best value, but one who was an unqualified success at Molineux is Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.
He had scored 11 goals for Plymouth Argyle in the Championship in the 2007/08 season when Mick McCarthy turned to him to bolster a faltering promotion push.
A further 12 goals that season couldn’t quite answer all McCarthy’s problems as Wolves finished one place short of the play-offs.
But the £1.5m capture continued his fine form the following season as McCarthy’s men ran away with the league title.
It is traditionally hard to find a good deal at this time of year, especially when looking for a forward but, as Ebanks-Blake showed there will always be exceptions to the rule.
