World Football: 13 Biggest Fails of the January Transfer Window

The January transfer window is now eight days in the past and as all the new faces get set at their new clubs, there are certain players who should have been at new clubs by now, but their moves failed.

Not only did failed deals occur during January, certain clubs were not able to do much last month, which may also be defined as a fail by fans of the club, and the club itself.

Here are 13 of the biggest fails from the 2012 January transfer window. Enjoy.

The Carlos Tevez Saga

There is not much more to say about this topic that hasn't already been said in the past few months.

Tevez is out of favor at Manchester City and should have moved on to another club, whether it be one of the Milan clubs or PSG—but it somehow did not happen.

Now, as a result football fans will have to suffer through the speculation surrounding the Tevez saga during the summer as well.

Manchester City Losing out on Daniele De Rossi

At the beginning of January, this deal seemed like it would eventually happen with the Italian international making a move to Manchester City.

However, throughout the continuation of the window and the failure to sell Tevez to raise funds for the transfer, De Rossi stayed with his hometown club, Roma, and signed a new deal.

The absence of City's top midfield presence, Yaya Toure (because of the African Cup of Nations), affected City's form. De Rossi would have played in place of the Ivorian if a deal had gone through.  

Tottenham's Last Minute Surge to Sign New Players

Tottenham caught no one by surprise when they emerged in the last hour of the transfer window to make deals for Loic Remy and Milos Krasic.

Instead, Spurs ended up signing Louis Saha from Everton and dumping out of favor players like Steven Pienaar out on loan.

Imagine what the Spurs lineup would look like with Remy and Krasic on the pitch along with Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart in attack.

Hugo Rodallega's Ridiculous Wage Demands

Towards the end of January, Wigan's Hugo Rodallega started to have his name thrown out into the transfer discussions.

Tottenham were set to sign the Wigan forward, but Rodallega's wage demands were far too high for any club looking to sign him.

Not only did the claim of £50,000 per week seem ridiculous, Rodallega is not even in good form this season for the Latics, as he has only scored two goals.

Collapse of Xherdan Shaqiri's Move to Galatasaray

Xherdan Shaqiri is one of the best young players in Europe, and he has been presented with a stage like the UEFA Champions League to prove why he is one of the best youths on the continent.

The FC Basel midfielder looked set to shock most big clubs in Europe and move to Galatasaray, but his move to Turkey fell through.

After the January window closed, Bayern Munich picked up the Swiss starlet, and Shaqiri will join the German giants in the summer.

Robert Lewandowski Says No to Bayern Munich

Yes, I know this story broke a few days after the January window, but it was a failed signing that made the Shaqiri move to Bayern all the more certain.

Polish international Robert Lewandowski turned down a move to Bayern Munich, claiming he wants to stay with Borussia Dortmund.

In all honesty, the current Dortmund squad will not be the same in two years time, with talents like Neven Subotic, Shinji Kagawa, Mario Goetze, Mats Hummels and Lucas Barrios all expected to leave the club for Europe's elite very soon.

Lewandowski may now be left out of the fire sale that is bound to happen because of his loyalty to Dortmund.

Keisuke Honda's Failed Move to Serie A

Japanese midfielder Keisuke Honda is one of top talents to be produced from the Asian continent, and he looked set to make a big move to Serie A and join Lazio from CSKA Moscow.

But, the clubs could not agree on a fee, and Honda is staying in Russia for now.

Lazio missed out on the Japanese player because bigger clubs have had a eye on him, and it is only a matter of time—possibly this summer—that we see Honda in one of Europe's top-four leagues.

Emmanuel Frimpong's Loan to Wolves That Turned Sour

Emmanuel Frimpong is one of Arsenal's best young talents, but he was unable to see consistent first team play this season.

The 20-year-old midfielder went on loan to Wolves in the beginning of January, but suffered a torn ACL against QPR a week ago and is now out for the season.

This is a blow for both Arsenal and Wolves, as the Gunners looked to get a young player experience, while Wolves were banking on Frimpong playing a big role in midfield in their relegation battle.

Arsenal Not Making a Big Move

Speaking of Frimpong's parent club, Arsenal, they failed to make a big splash in the transfer window—when many fans thought the Gunners would make a move.

With Arsene Wenger's club in a fight for European places towards the end of the season, most people assumed some reinforcements would be coming into the club, but none did, except for 19-year old Thomas Eisfeld, who will not see too much first team action right away.

Didier Drogba's Proposed Move to China

As we all know by now, Chelsea is undergoing a youth movement under manager Andre Villas-Boas, and with veterans Alex and Nicolas Anelka leaving the club in January, some speculation said that Didier Drogba would move to China.

Some people in the football world took this rumor as rubbish, but Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua were very serious about this move for a while.

The move to China did not go through for the Ivorian forward, but Drogba will most likely be leaving Chelsea in the near future.

Rumored Swap of Strikers Between Liverpool and Manchester City

This is one rumor that seemed to be a bit ridiculous and it was.

According to the rumor, Liverpool would swap Andy Carroll and Carlos Tevez with Manchester City.

This suggested deal came about towards the end of January when it looked like Tevez was not leaving City, but there was no way this deal would have happened.

Jermain Defoe's Move to Anfield

Jermain Defoe's rumored move to Liverpool came about in the last day of the transfer window.

To make an assumption about why this deal did not happen, I would have to say that it is because Tottenham could not secure the signature of a big name playmaker, and settled for Louis Saha.

I am also not sure how Defoe would fit into Kenny Dalglish's plans at Anfield, but he is a quality striker that could provide off the bench if he had made the last minute move.

Lucas Barrios Moving to Craven Cottage

Another late rumor that broke at the end of January was the move of Paraguay international Lucas Barrios from Borussia Dortmund to Fulham.

Instead of Barrios, Fulham signed Pavel Pogrebnyak from Stuttgart and let the discussions with the more prolific striker of the two mentioned above stay in Germany.

Eventually, the signing of Pogrebnyak and failure to sign Barrios will hurt the Cottagers in the long run, as Pogrebynak does not have the goal scoring record that Barrios has.