
January Transfers' Best XI at Halfway Point of 2015 Window
We're almost halfway through January already (time flies, right?), and so we're almost nearly at the midway point of the transfer window, with clubs no doubt ramping up their efforts to attract new players to help out with their challenges this season.
Several transfers have already taken place or are near to completion, though. So which have been the best moves so far, and what if we were to make a team out of them?
We've tried to do just that here.
Goalkeeper: Victor Valdes
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It is a move which has surprised some, but former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes is now Manchester United's understudy to David de Gea after completing his free transfer move to Louis van Gaal's Red Devils.
Valdes' introduction to Premier League life was hardly a happy one as he sat on the bench for United's 1-0 defeat to Southampton at Old Trafford, and you have to wonder if the move is really nothing more than a safety net for United should De Gea be lured away from the club in the summer.
Either way, you can never have too many good, experienced players, and Valdes is certainly both of those things.
Defence: DeAndre Yedlin, Philipp Wollscheid, Matija Nastasic, Ivan Strinic
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DeAndre Yedlin was signed by Tottenham from the Seattle Sounders in the summer, but the young right-back has only just joined up with his new club after a stellar World Cup and impressive MLS season.
He takes his place on the right of our back four with the 33-times capped Croatian international Ivan Strinic lining up on the left. The 27-year-old has joined Napoli after four years with Dnipro in the Ukraine, and he'll offer some much-needed experience.
At centre-back, Manchester City's Matija Nastasic is on the verge of a loan move to Schalke, according to the Manchester Evening News' Stuart Brennan, and so that's good enough to see him earn his place alongside German international defender Philipp Wollscheid, who joins Stoke City on loan from Bayer Leverkusen.
Midfield: Steven Gerrard, Xherdan Shaqiri, Enzo Perez
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It won't go through until the summer, but Steven Gerrard's switch from Liverpool to LA Galaxy has been making the headlines throughout January so far, with the Liverpool icon and captain calling time on his boyhood club and heading for a new challenge in Major League Soccer.
He takes his place at the heart of our midfield, where he's joined by the Argentina international Enzo Perez following his big-money switch from Benfica to Valencia.
Xherdan Shaqiri completes our midfield trio after his switch from the fringes of the Bayern Munich team to a new challenge at Inter Milan, where the Swiss has signed a four-and-a-half-year contract and will turn his loan move into a permanent one at the end of the season.
Attack: Lukas Podolski, Wilfried Bony, Alessio Cerci
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Inter have been busy in this window and have also secured the signing of German World Cup winner Lukas Podolski on loan from Arsenal, with the forward adding some directness and a goal threat to what has been an underachieving attack.
Staying at the San Siro, Italian international Alessio Cerci has cut short his disappointing stay at Atletico Madrid and moved to AC Milan on loan for the next 18 months, with Fernando Torres (who doesn't make our team) switching the other way and back to his boyhood club.
At the time of writing the final touches to the biggest deal of the window so far, Wilfried Bony's switch from Swansea to Manchester City, haven't quite been ironed out yet, but with the BBC reporting that a £28m fee has been agreed between the clubs, the transfer of the player who scored more Premier League goals than anyone else in 2014 should soon be finalised.









