We have been over this times many.
The number of players who make an instant impact when signed in the January window are in few and far between.
The best transfer activity in that window is, more often than not, no activity.
Yes, we have been through this many times and the point is fundamentally flawed
Moreover, the whole point, when looked at objectively, makes no sense.
You can absolutely argue that clubs tend to make
poor transfer decisions in January. That is a fair point and the brevity of the window can lead to that, alongside clubs being reluctant to let players go
But in recent years we have literally seen impact.
Last season West Ham completely turned their season around in January, from dead and buried to going down with the highest points total in a decade, because of the signings of Disasi and Taty
Forest in 2023 signed three key players- Navas, Felipe and Wood. Wood made a huge long term rather than short term impact due to injury, but without the other two we would have been relegated.
A casual glance through the January transfers shows that most clubs did virtually no business anyway
Of those that did, you cannot reasonably argue that Semenyo at Man City did not make an immediate impact, given he scored plenty of goals (including a cup final winner) and neither can you say that of Guehi
Connor Gallagher certainly made an impact at Spurs and played a key part towards the end of the season in keeping them up
Rayan came into Bournemouth and scored 5 PL goals in 12 starts, with 7 overall contributions. That's an instant impact.
Nilson Angulo at Sunderland was only 22 and managed 500 minutes from right midfield- hard to tell impact I guess
Oscar Bobb, Tammy Abraham (2 goals) and the two at Palace are the only 8 figure transfers that window that clearly more was expected from and didn't make an impact, alongside Pablo at West Ham- which was an outright dodgy piece of business anyway
It's an easy canard to throw around but not especially backed by the facts of the last window
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