Vote: Best Signing of the Winter Transfer Window

The winter transfer window is usually relatively quiet compared to the summer, but this January shuffle definitely looks like it should hold its own against the hot and heavy days of August. Amongst all of the star-studded movement, who is going to deliver the most impact for fantasy sides the rest of the way?

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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal)

Arsenal lost superstar Alexis Sanchez, but the Borussia Dortmund sniper seems like a pretty neat consolation prize. Disciplinary issues could pose a concern, but 98 goals and 22 assists in 144 Bundesliga games will take the focus away from that type of thing. He will certainly help Arsene Wenger’s push to get to the Champions League, and if the Gunners get there, Aubameyang has proven he can deliver in the competition with 15 goals and three helpers in 32 games. Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey, and fellow newcomer Henrikh Mkhitaryan sound like a pretty entertaining offensive combination, eh?

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Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City)

Coming over from La Liga’s Athletic Bilbao, the French defender had an immediate effect, starting the match and helping to keep a clean sheet in Manchester City’s midweek win over West Brom. Nicolas Otamendi and Kyle Walker have been the only regular starters for the Citizens in the back, where the Sky Blues have struggled with injuries to Fabian Delph, Vincent Kompany (my oh my, I do declare, the shock could make me faint!!!), Benjamin Mendy and John Stones. If Laporte can keep a regular spot in the XI, he should keep racking up plenty of CS bonus points for fantasy managers.

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João Mário (West Ham)

Going on loan from Inter Milan to West Ham, Mário earned an immediate start for the injury-depleted Hammers in their 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace. He scored 8 points in Fantrax thanks to two accurate crosses, three tackles won, and three fouls won (with none conceded). Fantasy managers will hope for even bigger contributions on the score sheet, as the Portuguese star midfielder notched three goals and 10 assists in 44 Serie A games.

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Alexis Sánchez (Manchester United)

Alexis has been one of the league’s shining lights and fantasy favorites since coming over from a little team called Barcelona, compiling gaudy totals of 60 goals and 25 assists in 122 games with Arsenal. However, following a brilliant 24 goal, 10 assist 2016/17 campaign, this season has been a disappointment, managing only seven scores and three helpers in 19 matches for the squad. After a more expected move to Manchester City fell through, Alexis ended up switching places with Henrikh Mkhytarian at the other locale in the same city, which Red Devils fans will take as a major upgrade. Things got off to a rough start at Wembley against a tight Tottenham defense, but the hope is that Alexis will boost Jose Mourinho’s inconsistent offense and that the Chilean will prove more happy with a Champions League appearance looking very likely for next season.

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Daniel Sturridge (West Brom)

74 goals and 20 assists in 195 Premier League games sound good to you? However, after scoring 21 times in 2013-14, he’s totaled only 17 in the three-plus seasons since, with injuries harshly cutting into his effectiveness. Albion is in desperate need of an offensive spark, so if Sturridge stays healthy, the change of scenery may be just what the doctor ordered for the Liverpool loaner.

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Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

Drama surrounding the Southampton star defender has been a major story this season, and it finally ended in the winter following a failed summer attempt by Liverpool, which of course had hordes of tea leaf readers correctly predicting the departure of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona. The Merseysiders’ back line has been a punching bag for a while, and the big Dutchman will be expected to organize things on that end, bringing a fair amount of clean sheets along with the occasional header goal for fantasy managers.

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Theo Walcott (Everton)

Everton had made a plethora of prior additions this season (most notably, Jordan Pickford, Michael Keane, Cenk Tosun, Wayne Rooney, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Sandro Ramirez and Davy Klaasen), but the Arsenal transfer is making everybody forget about the rest. Walcott accounted for 65 goals and 43 assists in the league across his tenure with the Gunners, but was surplus for Arsene Wenger this season, making only six appearances, all as a sub. The winger has started out like gangbusters for Sam Allardyce at Everton, scoring twice and adding a helper in two games for the Toffees, rewarding fantasy managers with mammoth averages of 9.5 ppg in Official and 23.5 ppg in Fantrax in that short span.

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What About Someone Else?

Sure, why not? The winter transfer period wasn’t just top heavy, but actually there’s been no shortage of depth to it as well. It wouldn’t be a total surprise if somebody else other than those listed above turned out to make the most waves, perhaps Andre Ayew (Swansea City), Moritz Bauer (Stoke City), Guido Carrillo (Southampton), Gerard Deulofeu (Watford), Jurgen Locadia (Brighton), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Kenedy (Newcastle), Henrick Mkhitaryan (Arsenal), Lucas Moura (Tottenham), Alex Pritchard (Huddersfield), Cenk Tosun (Everton), or maybe even someone else I’m missing.

(Note: As well as the Official and Fantrax fantasy sites, statistics were utilized via www.transfermarkt.com and www.premierleague.com.)

Vote below for your choice and let us know why in the comments!