It's January, a short window, a time where managers are skeptical about getting players due to fear of late integration with team, upsetting balance, or the player flatly being a dud signing.
Although there have been more busts that successes in the window, some signings in January did turn out to become some of the EPL's great. Without much ado, here are our top five Winter Signings in the EPL.
Daniel Sturridge Chelsea-Liverpool
Daniel Sturrridge would join Liverpool in January of 2013 from Chelsea for a transfer fee of about £12million. The striker always had the potential to be a good striker in his days at Man City and Chelsea but could not get sufficient game time to follow through on it.
It proved to be a great move, as Sturridge turned out to be a good buy holding on to one of the best goals to game ratios at Anfield. His time at Liverpool might seem to be drawing to an end but his Suarez partnership almost bore fruit when the Reds missed out on winning the Premier League title.
Patrice Evra, Monaco-Man Utd
When Patrice Evra joined in January, 2006 the French fullback didn't necessarily take the league by storm, in fact, in his first game for the club against Man City he was substituted at half-time with Evra recalling that Ferguson told him to sit down and learn the game from the sidelines.
Evra caught on quickly and went on to captain the side, win a Champions League title together with his five Premier League titles and other trophies on the side.
Gary Cahill, Bolton-Chelsea
I was tempted to put in Nemanja Matic over the English man but when you captain a side to a dominant Premier League win when not too long ago you were staring down the trap door at Bolton, then you automatically take this one.
Cahill would join in 2012 and would prove important in helping Chelsea win their Champions League trophy, and helped form a great partnership with fellow English defender John Terry.
Nemanja Vidic, Spartak Moscow-Man Utd
The legends of Vidic are well known. The Serbian joined Man Utd in January 2006 as well as Ferguson looked to make his backline solid with the inclusion of Evra and Vidic.
The Serbian was a dominating and commanding centerback forging a chilling defensive partnership with Rio Ferdinand that helped Man Utd have successful years from 2006 till his departure in 2014 to Inter Milan winning win five titles, one Champions League, three League Cups and one Club World Cup.
Luis Suarez, Ajax-Liverpool
Not the main man in the transfer window of 2011 after being overshadowed by the club record fee of £35 million for Andy Carroll. It would have been easy to forget he was signed in the winter window but cannot be removed from EPL top striker's list.
Suarez was an exceptional bargain. The Uruguayan scored 82 goals in 133 games to transform Liverpool and take them agonisingly close to winning their first Premier League title before leaving for Barcelona in a deal worth £75m
via Loud Naija Media
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