"Manchester City" tops the list for the most expensive winter transfers, featuring in the top 10 deals.
On the night of Tuesday, February 4, the winter transfer window closed in most top leagues (England, Italy, Spain, Germany, France). The most expensive winter transfer of 2025 was John Duran. The English club Aston Villa, which previously acquired the 21-year-old Colombian from Chicago Fire for €29.50 million, managed to sell him to Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr for €77 million.
The second most expensive transfer was for Egyptian Omar Marmoush, for whom Manchester City paid €75 million to German club Eintracht. The most costly European transfer was Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – PSG paid €70 million to Italian club Napoli for the Georgian forward.
Interestingly, Manchester City was the biggest spender in the winter transfer window. The reigning English champions signed six players, four of whom ended up in the top ten most expensive transfers of the entire 2025 winter window. Pep Guardiola's team spent a total of €218 million on new signings.
Top 10 most expensive transfers of the 2025 winter window:
- 1. John Duran (from Aston Villa to Al Nassr) – €77 million
- 2. Omar Marmoush (Eintracht to Manchester City) – €75 million
- 3. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Napoli to PSG) – €70 million
- 4. Nico Gonzalez (Porto to Manchester City) – €60 million
- 5-6. Xavi Simons (PSG to RB Leipzig) – €50 million
- 5-6. Galeno (Porto to Al-Ahli) – €50 million
- 7. Abduqodir Husanov (Lance to Manchester City) – €40 million
- 8. Vitor Reis (Palmeiras to Manchester City) – €37 million
- 9. Luis Enrique (Botafogo to Zenit) – €33 million
- 10. Santiago Gimenez (Feyenoord to Milan) – €32 million
In Ukraine, clubs can sign new players until March 11 – this date marks the deadline for completing all transactions. Although some clubs have already made significant moves in the transfer market. In particular, Shakhtar bid farewell to four players (the most departures in recent years).
Specifically, the miners released the last player who played at Donbass Arena – captain and veteran Taras Stepanenko, who transferred to Turkish Eyupspor. Additionally, the Donetsk club decided to sell two of its leaders – forward Danilo Sikan and winger Oleksandr Zubkov – to Trabzonspor (according to Transfermarkt, both brought in €6 million to the Ukrainian club). The same amount was paid by Portland Timbers for Venezuelan striker Kevin Kelsi of the "orange and black".
Currently, Shakhtar has no official signings, although media reports indicate that the club has already finalized a deal with Brazilian Fluiminense for forward Kaua Elias (the miners will pay €20 million for the player, making him the third most expensive footballer in the history of the Ukrainian club).
Another giant of Ukrainian football – Dynamo – has effectively remained unchanged. The Kyiv club released goalkeeper Heorhii Bushchan to Saudi Al-Shabab. Wolverhampton offered €20 million for midfielder Volodymyr Brazhko, but the parties could not agree on the transfer (club president Ihor Surkis ultimately stated that Brazhko is needed to win the UPL title and qualify for the Champions League). Dynamo also did not let Nazar Voloshyn go, who was wanted on loan by English Sunderland, nor Maxim Dyachuk, whom Spanish Zaragoza sought to sign.
It's also worth mentioning the sensational transfer of midfielder Hennadiy Synchuk from first-league Metalist to Canadian Montreal for €6 million, the transfer of Ukrainian national team defender Maksym Talovierov from Austrian LASK to English Plymouth, and former Dynamo forward Artem Besedin moving to a lower division in the Czech league.