The Athletic FC

Welcome to the Athletic FC podcast with me,

Ayo Akimuleri.

Well, the January transfer window has been relatively quiet by Premier League standards.

But does that mean we're in for a big summer in the transfer and managerial markets?

All right, in with us today. We have David Ornstein, Tim Spears.

We've also got Jay Harris as well.

Well, primarily clubs have spent a combined £397 million in January.

That's just shy of last year's figure of £403 million, yet nowhere near the $3.1 billion spent last summer. Still, there were some

big deals between Premier League clubs as well, including Semenio and Gahita City, Brennan Johnson

and Strand-Larsent, to Crystal Palace. How did you assess this window, David?

It was okay, a bit underwhelming from a purest point of view. It was solid,

if unspectacular. It started with more talk about managerial changes, and that was the focus

of a lot of our work. And then, yeah, you mentioned Semenio, big and good deal. Same with Gahey,

Connor Gallagher, I'd throw into the mix and Stran

Larson towards the end. But after that early flurry, it sort of took a bit of a lull. And then obviously

it picks up towards deadline day because work needs to be done. But when you're talking about

a striker who's been on the bench at Wolves, I'm actually much more

enthused by this signing than many are.

Even with the price, and we might come on to talk about it, I think that's a good recruit for

Crystal Palace and probably a good deal for Wolves as well and a decent move for the player.

To summarise my thoughts is that the summer is becoming ever more important to the clubs,

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