Instant Impacts – January Transfer Window

From Sheffield Wednesday to Portsmouth, Morecambe to QPR – the January signings making an immediate impression in the EFL.

Ali Maxwell, Huw Davies, Sam Parry

To judge a new signing on their first few games is to conclude that an avocado is bad when it arrives, hard and unyielding, from the supermarket. Time is the handmaiden of nearly all good things. But what happens when time is not on your side?

Consider the summer transfer window, where clubs have the time to ripen, the luxury to nurture, and the space to build a squad of complementary talents. Contrast that with January, when arrivals and departures roll in and out whilst the season is in full swing; when managers need impact. The winter window is an invigorating juice shot, unravelling as a splurge of chaotic activity until, all of a sudden, there is a new name on the team sheet.

We saw a lot of EFL signings in January. In fact, we covered every one of them. Since the window closed, there has been little time for a period easing in. With fewer than 15 games remaining for each club, which of those nearly-300 signings have delivered an INSTANT IMPACT? Which clubs are seeing an ROI on their January Sales purchases? And which individuals have hit the ground running?

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Instant Impacts — Team

The teams needing the biggest impacts tend to occupy either pole of the table — those at the top looking to seal promotion or those at the bottom looking to out-gun their opponents in a relegation dog-fight. But signing multiple players in January who immediately find a place in the first-team, improve the ceiling of the starting line-up, and impact results is no easy feat. Four clubs have made a good fist of it.

Queens Park Rangers & Sheffield Wednesday

For teams in the relegation zone, 25 or so matches is generally evidence enough for clubs to identify key areas for improvement in January. Weak spots have been exposed time and time again. Whether or not they can identify and acquire immediate difference-makers is, however, another question entirely.

Both Queens Park Rangers (22nd) and Sheffield Wednesday (23rd) were in such a situation. First-time Championship managers, Danny Röhl and Martí Cifuentes, had made strong starts and seemed clear on what sort of players would suit their style and elevate their teams in January.

The issue, in QPR’s case, was money. The new CEO made a public admission that there was a lack of disposable income. As for Sheffield Wednesday’s financial reality — answers on a postcard! Eight years into Dejphon Chansiri’s ownership of the club, it can often be unclear if he’s willing or able to inject funds at any given time.