Premier League: The January signings who have hit the ground running

January windows are rarely kind to buyers. Clubs are reluctant to sell their best players mid-season, fees inflate, and new arrivals often take months to settle.

But every now and then, a winter window produces signings that change the landscape of a campaign almost immediately.

The 2026 window has delivered several of them, and with the title race poised and the Premier League 2025/26 winner odds reflecting just how tight things are at the top, the impact of January business has rarely felt more significant.

Antoine Semenyo — Manchester City (£64m)

Almost every member of the Premier League’s Big Six had Semenyo on their radar this January, and it is not difficult to see why.

The former Bournemouth winger had been one of the standout performers in the division all season, arriving at the Etihad with 10 goals and three assists already to his name — third highest scorer in the league at the point of his departure.

In the end, it was Manchester City who won the race, and Semenyo made it clear that the Etihad was where he wanted to be.

He has justified that faith emphatically.

Five goals and two assists in nine appearances for Guardiola’s side is a remarkable return for a player still finding his feet at a new club, and three of those strikes have come in Premier League games as City have stepped up their pursuit of Arsenal at the top of the table.

The winger looked dangerous from the moment he walked through the door, scoring on his very first appearance, a 10-1 FA Cup demolition of Exeter City, before carrying that momentum into league football. At £64m, he looks like outstanding value.

Jørgen Strand Larsen — Crystal Palace (£48m)

January was a month Palace would sooner forget. The departure of captain Marc Guehi, who still had six months left on his contract, left a significant hole in both the squad and the dressing room.

Then, adding to the turbulence, FA Cup-winning manager Oliver Glasner confirmed he will walk away from Selhurst Park at the end of the season, citing a lack of ambition from the board.

The atmosphere around the club felt deeply unsettled.

Against that backdrop, the deadline-day arrival of Strand Larsen felt like a genuine lifeline.

The fee, £48m for a striker who had managed just one goal in 22 Premier League appearances this season, raised more than a few eyebrows.

Critics pointed out that his stellar 2024/25 campaign at Wolves, in which he scored 14 league goals, now looked like an outlier rather than a baseline.

But early signs suggest the change of scenery has done him good.

Strand Larsen made his debut in a 1-0 win at Brighton before scoring twice against Burnley on his home debut, doubling his entire league tally for the season within his first two starts.

For Palace fans desperately looking for something to cling to amid the chaos, that is exactly what they needed to see.

Marc Guehi — Manchester City (£20m)

Guehi’s move to Manchester City for an initial £20m is, in the context of the modern market, quite simply a gift.

Liverpool had been close to signing him for £35m in the summer, only for that deal to collapse on deadline day.

City eventually swept in this January with a lower offer, capitalising on an injury crisis at centre-back that had left Guardiola without Josko Gvardiol, Ruben Dias, and John Stones simultaneously.

Yes, City could have waited and potentially signed him for nothing at the end of the season.

But there is a compelling argument that getting him in January and keeping him ahead of the World Cup was worth that premium.

The England international debuted in the 2-0 win over Wolves, immediately bringing the calm and composure that had been so badly missing from City’s back line.

He is already the kind of player that makes those around him better, and if he helps Guardiola snatch the title from under Mikel Arteta’s nose, this deal will go down as one of the shrewdest pieces of January business in Premier League history.

Conclusion

All three signings serve as a reminder that January, for all its pitfalls, can still reshape a season.

Those keeping an eye on football tips online for the run-in will know that the title race, the European spots, and the relegation scrap all look considerably different following a window that delivered far more than the usual scraps and stopgaps.

The question now is whether the momentum holds.