By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Feb 13, 2023) US Soccer Players – The recently concluded window will have a huge impact on the second half of the club season across Europe’s domestic leagues. It will also impact the Champions League, which returns on Tuesday with the start of the knockout phase following the long winter break. In UEFA’s three club competitions – Champions League, Europa League, and Europa Conference League – teams entering the knockout phase are allowed to register a maximum of three new eligible players.
Since the 2018-19 season, it no longer matters whether those players had already played in the competition for another club. That has made the winter transfer window an even bigger deal as the past few weeks have proven. FIFA said the 4,387 international transfers that took place during the January window represented an all-time high since soccer’s international body started tracking the moves in 2010.
English clubs topped the spending list with a total of $898.6 million, 57% of the overall spending that took place globally, followed by French clubs who, at over $130 million according to Transfermarkt, were a distant second. This takes us to how all these roster changes and spending will affect the Champions League. While the knockout stage of the UCL is always a riveting and tense part of the season, the list of new names and players who have changed teams will likely make it even more interesting than usual.
You can’t start that analysis without taking a deeper look at Chelsea, who again according to Tranfermarkt have spent over $600 million on 16 signings this season if you include last summer’s transfer window and the winter one that just concluded. Among those signings are midfielder Enzo Fernandez, who helped Argentina win the World Cup this past December. The now-former Benfica player was purchased by Chelsea on January 31, on the final day of the January window, and could very well be instrumental for the team both in the Premier League and in the UCL.
Chelsea, who take on Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday in the round of 16 at Stamford Bridge, has included strikers Joao Felix and Mykhailo Mudryk on the 25-player roster UEFA required teams to submit by February 2. Like Fernandez, Felix and Mudryk are expected to ignite Chelsea’s attack and score the goals needed to go far in the competition.
Not included were fellow January signings Noni Madueke, Benoit Badiashile, David Datro Fofana and Andrey Santos. As a result, striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was also left off the UCL roster in order to make room for the bevy of new stars the team signed over the past few weeks. Chelsea is building for the future with an eye towards 2023-24, but they will also be playing to win in Europe this season while trying to move up the table in the Premier League.
Since the Champions League is at the knockout stage, anything can happen. Domestic form may turn out to be fallacy since what matters most now is getting the most out of your players and grinding out wins. With a few breaks and an excellent run of form, a team like Chelsea can get far even though they may not finish in the top four in the Premier League this season.
This same scenario could play out for Liverpool. The Reds, who play Real Madrid on February 21 in its last-16 contest at Anfield, could certainly use some big wins. Liverpool has struggled this season domestically after they reached the Champions League final last year. The rematch of that final against Real Madrid should be a combative affair.
Whether Liverpool is up for the challenge could depend on January signings like Cody Gakpo, a former PSV Eindoven striker who had a very good World Cup with the Netherlands. Liverpool named Gakpo to its updated UCL roster, joining Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Both those players had been dealing with injuries during the group stage.
For Liverpool, success in the Champions League this season is already a make-or-break proposition. While they’ve gone four games without a win in the Premier League, they should not be underestimated at European level. Striker Mo Salah remains this season’s Champions League top scorer, tied with PSG’s Kylian Mbappe, with seven goals.
Among the teams in the Champions League round of 16, only Chelsea and Liverpool made it into the top 10 of the biggest spenders this January, a list where Premier League clubs took nine of those ten spots. Chelsea leads that list with Liverpool 7th. How much the decisions on transfer spending impact what happens on the field in the coming weeks and months in Europe’s premier club competition is part of the annual story. While that’s been the case for some time, its relevance increases with the amounts being spent.
Clemente Lisi is a regular contributor to US Soccer Players. He is also the author of the new book “The FIFA World Cup: A History of the Planet’s Biggest Sporting Event.”
More from Clemente Lisi:
- Five MLS player moves worth your attention
- The goalkeeping pool, MLS talent, and building atmosphere from the January USMNT friendlies
- As expected, the 2023 January camp highlights new players and MLS
- St Louis City gets the MLS expansion focus in 2023
Photo by Imago via ZUMA Press – ISIPhotos.com
