The signing of Fernando Torres by Chelsea from Liverpool in the last minutes of the January transfer market was the biggest move in this phase of the season.

The €58 million signing, which Liverpool have re-invested in Andy Carroll, brought over from Newcastle, and Luis Suarez from Ajax, was by and large expected. Liverpool, in yet another sorry season, needed to make some money and, with Torres clearly unhappy and unable to be instrumental as he had been in the previous seasons, the best thing Liverpool could have done was to make money out of his transfer.

Chelsea, who have slumped to fourth place after leading the pack early in the season, needed to raise the morale of their struggling squad. And, since they are one of the few teams with money readily available, they took a gamble. The arrival of defender Luiz from Benfica has strengthened Carlo Ancelotti’s team further.

The Blues and the Reds were the most active on the market, as the other top England clubs seem to be happy with their season so far and chose to stick to their current squad without changing much.

In Italy, Milan were the prime movers, signing Cassano, Van Bommel, Legrottaglie, Vila and Emanuelson, practically getting five players in exchange of one – the departure of Ronaldinho. The income from the transfer as well as the savings on the Brazilian’s lucrative salary were re-invested in the five players to give coach Massimiliano Allegri a much wider choice.

Rivals Inter were also active, largely through the signing of striker Pazzini from Sampdoria, Nagatomo from Cesena and Kharja from Genoa. After a quiet summer, with Inter president Massimo Moratti failing to make coach Rafael Benitez happy by not signing any of the players wanted by the Spanish coach, Inter have changed tack and opted to please new manager Leonardo in a bid to strengthen the side.

Juventus, struggling with financial difficulties, managed a last-gasp signing of Matri from Cagliari.

Signings carried out in January are normally corrective measures clubs undertake to rectify their season and plug some holes. Players replace others who are injured for long periods, while coaches demand others who they think will serve their purposes better.

Few major transfers are carried out at this time of the season, also because players could be cup-tied, having played in the same competition with their previous club.

This time, however, Chelsea managed to break the tradition by spending many millions on Torres and Luiz – in the hope of turning their season around.