Tel's U-turn, Man City's splurge and ambitious Villa light up window

Mathys Tel’s dramatic move from Bayern Munich to Tottenham proved the biggest story of Deadline Day as Premier League clubs rushed to complete their business before the cut-off.

Manchester City added another £50m to their outlay with the signing of Nico Gonzalez from Porto but other clubs, including Arsenal, kept their powder dry, while struggling Manchester United’s only senior signing of the window was wing-back Patrick Dorgu.

Tel’s U-turn adds Deadline Day drama

It was not exactly Peter Odemwingie in the car park at Loftus Road in the Deadline-Day drama stakes, but Tel’s late change of heart about a move from Bayern Munich to Tottenham certainly added intrigue in the final hours of the window.

It appeared the move was dead on Friday when Tel turned the club down after they had struck a £50m agreement with the German giants. Three days later, though, he was Spurs-bound on a flight to London, wooed by a personal pitch from Ange Postecoglou.

The 19-year-old makes the move to Spurs along with goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky and defender Kevin Danso, and it will be fascinating to see how he fares having only shown flashes of his huge potential at Bayern, who paid £23m to sign him from Rennes aged 17.

Tel will certainly get more minutes at Spurs, whose injury crisis has left them light in attack as well as defence, with Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson among those sidelined. Part of Tel’s attraction is that he can play anywhere across the front line.

He was of interest to Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal too but those clubs, like many others, were quiet on a muted Deadline Day, during which loan moves for Evan Ferguson and Marco Asensio, from Brighton to West Ham and Paris Saint-Germain to Aston Villa respectively, were the most notable of the other signings.

Chelsea’s Joao Felix was the standout among the outgoings as the 25-year-old, a £46.3m signing from Atletico Madrid in August, headed to AC Milan, again on loan.

Man City pull the emergency chord

The extraordinary collapse in Manchester City’s form prompted drastic action in the transfer market. A club who try to swerve the January window altogether finish it this year as the Premier League’s biggest spenders, signing five senior players for a combined £176.1m.

Abdukodir Khusanov, a £33.5m signing from French side Lens, made an inauspicious start in their 3-1 win over Chelsea, his error, three minutes into his debut, gifting Enzo Maresca’s side a goal before he was hooked early in the second half.

But the £59m Omar Marmoush has already shown flashes of his huge talent and the hope for City is that by signing that pair, as well as Vitor Reis, Claudio Echeverri and Gonzalez, they have significantly strengthened, both for now and for the future, with Marmoush the oldest of the quintet at only 25 years old.

Sunday’s thrashing by Arsenal rammed home the scale of the work that still lies ahead. The defeat was Manchester City’s heaviest in the Premier League since 2017. It is the first time ever a Pep Guardiola team has conceded four or more goals in one season.

But City cannot be accused of sitting on their hands. Instead, they pulled the emergency chord, embarking on an uncharacteristic mid-season spending splurge intended to change the direction of their season and put them back on a positive trajectory.

How it works out remains to be seen.

Should Man Utd and Arsenal have gambled?

Manchester United’s dismal season hit a new low as they were beaten 2-0 by Crystal Palace at Old Trafford in a game which featured Kobbie Mainoo playing as their striker as Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee were left on the bench.

If it was intended as a message from Ruben Amorim about how he regards his striking options, then it certainly landed. But the January window has ended with no attacking reinforcements arriving. In fact, United have fewer options following the loan departures of Marcus Rashford and Antony to Aston Villa and Real Betis respectively.

Not that Amorim will have any regrets about those exits. The Portuguese seems determined to clear the decks, even if it means being left light on numbers in the short-term.

The club insist they are taking a long-term approach, eager to avoid reckless or expensive risks, but who will score the goals in the second half of the season? Amad Diallo is their top scorer in the Premier League with six goals but he ended up at wing-back against Crystal Palace. Zirkzee and Hojlund have a meagre total of five in 43 appearances between them.

Arsenal’s attacking problems look miniscule by comparison but there are similar questions there over the decision not to strengthen their attack in January. A unsuccessful bid for Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins showed their intent but, like Manchester United, they ended up putting the search on hold until the summer.

Will they regret it? Ethan Nwaneri’s goalscoring form offers hope that he could be an internal solution but, with Bukayo Saka still sidelined and Gabriel Jesus out for the season, they have left themselves perilously short at the top of the pitch.

Window defined by deals that didn’t happen

Watkins’ mooted move for Arsenal was one of various deals that didn’t happen. In truth it was probably a non-starter given Aston Villa’s intentions to cash in on Jhon Duran, who was subsequently sold to Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr for £64m.

Matheus Cunha was another talked-about attacker who seemed likely to move when he was criticised by Wolves boss Vitor Pereira after their defeat to Chelsea. Instead, he signed a new contract, nipping another potential January move in the bud.

Bryan Mbeumo was another potential-mover who went nowhere, remaining at Brentford along with Yoanne Wissa, while Crystal Palace held firm on Marc Guehi, rejecting a £70m offer from Spurs and providing another story that wasn’t in a January transfer window defined by what didn’t happen rather than what did.