Julian Draxler: PSG signed flamboyant winger Julian Draxler, who was long linked with many different European giants, when he finally subsided all conjecture by putting pen to paper to a deal until 2021 moving to the French capital for €35m. Having joined the club in the beginning of the transfer window itself, the German has already played 4 times and even scored 2 times, with one on his Ligue 1 debut becoming the first person to do so since Zlatan Ibrahimovic, himself a PSG player when he achieved this feat. Although PSG are third on the table but Draxler believes the capital club are on the road to success and that big things are to come for them.
Alexander Isak: Dortmund signed this 17-year-old forward from the Swedish club AIK. Even though he’s still 17, his achievements have charitably been exemplary. The Swede already has a senior goal for his country and 24 appearances for AIK in the Allsvenskan, the Swedish top-flight, also scoring 10 goals for the club. Touted as the next Zlatan Ibrahimovic by Chinedu Obasi, a former teammate. Even at such a young age, Isak has a composed mind as he has shown his worth in big games as well, scoring an important brace against AIK’s rivals Djurgården. For a fee of €8.6m, the young forward might feel a bit of pressure to justify his price tag, but other than that, Dortmund all but seem to have unearthed another gem for the world to see.
Bojan Krkic: Stoke City having signed two centre forwards, Bojan has been given to Mainz on loan till the end of the season. Stoke have signed Saido Berahino, who shot to fame in 2014-15 scoring 14 goals and played in all of West Brom’s matches, on a five and a half year contract and George Waring, probably as a backup option. Bojan wasn’t featuring much in Hughes plans anyway as he had made only 5 starts in the Premier League this season. With this tranfer, Bojan becomes the ninth player ever to have appeared in the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga and the Bundesliga.
Neven Subotic: The Serb has struggled to keep his place in Dortmund’s defense in recent years due to varied problems troubling the, once an automatic partner to Mats Hummels. A thrombosis problem followed by a cruciate ligament injury in the knee have kept him off the playing field for quite some time now. With Sokratis, Ginter and Bartra available for coach Tuchel, for whom Subotic has solemnly featured, an exit from the club was almost an obvious choice for the defender. Last time, his transfer to Middlesbrough collapsed after he failed a medical due to a thrombosis in his arm, resulting in him having to undergo surgery to remove one of his ribs. FC Koln have now signed the 28-year-old centre back on loan till the end of season from Borussia Dortmund.
Holger Badstuber: Another injury plagued who has switched clubs this January, Holger Badstuber has joined Schalke 04 on loan, again till the end of the season. But this loan deal also comes with a contract extension with Bayern which keeps the German in Munich till 2018. Badstuber has had a lot of injury problems lately, which have kept him almost comletely out of Bayern’s plans for the entire first half of the season except for one appearance in each competition, namely Bundesliga, DFB Pokal and the Champions League. The 27-year-old has played on 177 occassions for Bayern and the contract extension only tells us to expect a significant increase in this number is to come.
Dayot Upamecano: RB Leipzig, who currently sits on the second spot on the Bundesliga table, just 3 points below leaders Bayern, have been dormant this January and this deal sums up their entire involvement in the winter transfer window this season. But signing this 18-year-old defender is no mean achievement given the interest shown in him by clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Arsenal and league leaders Bayern. For €10m, Leipzig have signed him for a span of four and a half years. The young defender has represented his nation on all youth levels, U16 through U19 and he also has made 21 senior appearances for Red Bull Salzburg.
