5 losers of the January transfer window

This January transfer window was, for once, packed with big-name moves. Here are five losers from the month.

Rarely is the winter transfer window as entertaining as it has been this year. Usually fans are left to chew over one big transfer. This January, Philippe Coutinho, Alexis Sanchez, Virgil Van Dijk and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, to name only a few, all made high-profile moves.

All that player movement meant a lot of clubs can flip their calendar to February feeling pretty happy with themselves. However, many of the clubs who sold their players failed to find replacements. And those who needed to be buyers were prevented from doing so for a list of reasons.

These clubs are the biggest losers of the January window.

Borussia Dortmund

The German club currently lie in sixth place in the Bundesliga table, three points behind Schalke, who occupy the final guaranteed Champions League spot in third and two points behind Frankfurt, who occupy the Champions League qualifiers spot.

The gap is surmountable with almost half the season remaining, but Dormund’s January business did little to assure supporters their club will be able to close the gap.

Top goal-scorer Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang departed for Arsenal on deadline day and the club was forced to settle for Michy Batshuayi (on loan) as their replacement.

Batshuayi has been a decent player for Chelsea in the spot appearances he’s had but he’s not anywhere close to the quality of Aubameyang.

In fact, Batshuayi isn’t really a fair comparison for Olivier Giroud, who Dortmund initially wanted to replace Aubameyang. The Frenchmen, however, opted for Chelsea, leaving BVB with only one option. Giroud is a proven goalscorer in the Premier League and Champions League; Batshuayi is, well, not.

There’s always the chance that regular first team soccer could be all the Belgian needs to prove himself against some of the world’s best. But that makes this transfer a gamble even in a best case scenario, and a gamble is not a good way to respond to losing your top goalscorer.