The 2022 January transfer window is over. Premier League clubs have spent the last few weeks looking to add to their squads as the second half of the season approaches, with almost all active in one way or another.

Dele Alli to Everton and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang to Barcelona were the two biggest moves on deadline day itself, but there were plenty of note across the month.

Our expert team have been leading the way bringing you the latest news throughout the window. Here, they deliver their verdict on each club’s business.

Arsenal

Mikel Arteta was clear at the start of the month: he wanted signings. He did not get any, and instead Arsenal spent the last few weeks finding new clubs for their fringe players. Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Pablo Mari and Folarin Balogun left on loan, while Calum Chambers and Sead Kolasinac left on a permanent basis.

Arsenal supporters were still hopeful a striker might be signed late in the window. As it turned out, a striker left. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s fall from grace in north London was cemented with a permanent transfer to Barcelona.

Arsenal have cleared out a series of players they do not want, creating plenty of space on the wage bill, but the feeling remains that the squad is actually weaker now than it was at the start of the month.

Grade: C

Aston Villa

Villa acted quickly and smartly, showing opportunism to sign Philippe Coutinho and Lucas Digne. Coutinho already appears a shrewd recruit, with a platform to revive his career, while Digne could prove a bargain even at £25m. Calum Chambers will fill a number of positions and has Premier League experience. Yves Bissouma, the Brighton midfielder, was a January target  – with a £25m bid rejected – but another move is on hold until the summer.

Grade: B+

Brentford

The arrival of Christian Eriksen at Brentford is one of the stories of the season so far. It is also the highest-profile transfer in the club’s history. The world will now be watching to see how he fares, and how he fits into Thomas Frank’s versatile and exciting team.

It did not all go to plan for Brentford, though, as they were unable to secure a deal for Nottingham Forest’s Brennan Johnson, despite making multiple attempts to sign him.

The addition of Jonas Lossl has provided them with more quality and experience in the goalkeeping position, where they have been missing the injured David Raya.

As for outgoings, there were a series of loan moves for fringe players such as Charlie Goode (Sheffield United) and Marcus Forss (Hull City).

Grade: B+

Brighton

It has been more about outs than ins with the biggest deal being the sale of Dan Burn to Newcastle United for £13million (a £9million profit) – a good fee for a 29-year-old who only had a year left on his contract after this campaign. Plus the squad has good cover in central defence. 

More importantly Brighton have kept hold of key midfielder Yves Bissouma although they may face more of a fight in the summer. They look like what they are – a well-organised club that does not panic and sells on its own terms and with a head coach in Graham Potter who is confident enough to find solutions from within his squad.

Grade: B

Burnley

Chris Wood’s departure for relegation rivals was untimely to say the least but 6ft 6in Holland striker Wout Weghorst may yet prove an upgrade. Burnley’s window may have been viewed through a different lens had they managed to entice Croatia midfielder Mislav Orsic from Dinamo Zagreb but the reality is Sean Dyche desperately needed more creativity in midfield and out wide and the failure to address those shortcomings could prove very costly in the final reckoning.

Grade: D

Chelsea

Injuries to Ben Chilwell and Reece James forced Chelsea to look at the January transfer market in case they could find the right player to fill in for either man. Head coach Thomas Tuchel recommended recalling Emerson Palmieri from his season-long loan at Lyon. That proved to be impossible and Chelsea ultimately decided against trying to instead sign Sergino Dest, who was offered to them, from Barcelona as cover for both positions. 

The Blues were never interested in a January deal for winger Ousmane Dembele, who will be available on a free transfer from Barcelona in the summer. Doing nothing can often be better than doing anything.

Grade: B

Crystal Palace

Palace were never expected to do much business in January, given their frantic summer had already resulted in a complete overhaul of an ageing squad. There were two deadline day deals: turning Jean-Philippe Mateta’s loan move from Mainz into a permanent move seemed improbable in the autumn but the French striker has impressed Patrick Vieira in recent weeks, to the extent that he now seems preferred to Christian Benteke in the starting line-up. 

Luke Plange’s signing from Derby is one for the future and maintains Palace’s recent trend of recruiting promising talents from the Championship – a marked shift in direction from the Roy Hodgson era.

Grade: B

Everton

Frank Lampard cannot ask for much more in the window. He was offered the job on Friday and over the weekend his new club got to work on adding two international-class midfielders before the deadline. It will now be down to the former Chelsea manager to get a tune out of Dele Alli and Donny van de Beek, who have been on the bench for most of the season.

Vitaliy Mykolenko and Nathan Patterson look like potential for the future rather than full-backs who will help Everton climb the table immediately. Anwar El Ghazi is also very similar to what Everton already have in their ranks. But Dele and Van de Beek breathe life into the midfield and offers hope. 

Grade: B+

Leeds

Easy to be critical of a window that features not a single signing, especially with such chronic injury problems, but one could argue Leeds have taken a brave stance. Bielsa does not want an oversized squad when the injured players come back – around nine missing currently- and the summer will allow them to do better business. It is also a vote of faith in the young players Leeds hope to promote from the academy. Any interest in standout attacker Raphinha was rejected which may prove to be the most important at decision of all.

Grade: D

Leicester City

Finances are tight at Leicester, due to the severe impact of Covid-19 on the club’s owners King Power, so nothing dramatic was ever expected. It has proved an injury ravaged campaign for Leicester’s squad, but the recent return of James Justin, and imminent comeback of Wesley Fofana, will feel like huge additions for Brendan Rodgers.

Grade: C

Liverpool

The headline-grabber was the astute way they hijacked Tottenham’s attempts to sign Luis Diaz from Porto for up to £49million. It brought in a player they wanted and showed a nimbleness to act quickly. They also have their insurance policy should Mohamed Salah, for example, refuse to sign a new contract.