January Transfer Window 2012

Hi all, has been along time since i have blogged about anything.

Seeing as it is January, lets talk about the January transfer window, at the time of writing, we are 21 days into the January transfer window and there have not been any "big" transfers, with the total amount spent in this window at a meagre £18.4m. The two eye catching deals which have gone through is Gary Cahill heading to Chelsea to help shore up the surprisingly leaky defence, and Papiss Demba Cisse joining Newcastle to link up with Senegal international teammate Demba Ba. But why has there been a lack of movement in the transfer window? Has financial fair play finally made its mark on big spending teams? Are there no players who are good enough to strengthen teams like Man United; who many believe are in need of a central playmaker, and Arsenal; who have their yearly defensive injury crisis?

The answer is, as many of the top manager have put it, you can not find value in the January transfer window. Many of the top players will have been cup-tied for various European and domestic competitions while asking prices will rocket up as teams will not want to lose their prized assets during the middle of the season.

This has led to many teams turning to temporary solutions by loaning players with the current trend being to loan players from the MLS in the US. With three of the MLS' biggest stars; Thierry Henry, Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane, returning to the Premier League for a short period this has become very popular with Premier League teams who need that extra boost in the lead up to the final months of the season.

We have already seen the impact that they have had on their respective teams, Henry's delightful goal against Leeds in the FA Cup and Robbie Keane's double for Aston Villa against Wolves whilst Donovan returning to Goodison Park adding another dimension to Everton's attack. But will this persuade more teams to turn to players in the MLS in the January transfer window to give their team that breath of fresh life in the lead up to the final make or break months of the season?

The January transfer window always brings up great intrigue regardless of what managers say, it gives us fans something to get excited about, glued to our television screens watching Sky Sports News and grasping onto the hope that the manager of your team will be able to sign that one player who can change your team's fortune for the second half of the season. Over £200m was spent in the last January transfer window, Will we see a Torres-esque transfer before the transfer window deadline of 1:00pm on 31st January 2012 which would significantly increase the totalaliser on the Sky Sports website? Maybe not, but it would be great if it did happen.