An A to Z of the 2016 January Transfer Window
So that was it, then. It wasn't really very memorable, was it?
The January 2016 transfer window has, as the cliches demand it, "slammed" shut, with clubs now stuck with what they've got as they pursue their respective goals for the remainder of the season.
It wasn't a window in which we saw several money-spinning deals to set the pulses racing, but plenty of clubs will be happy with their business as they embark upon the remainder of the campaign.
We know what you're thinking, though, the transfer fun isn't really over until you've seen it all neatly rounded up in an A-to-Z format, so here it is.
We start with A...
A Is for Adebayor
1 of 26
He was a free agent, so he could have moved at any point outside of January, but Emmanuel Adebayor is a man who isn't averse to a transfer-window switch, and he duly popped up at Crystal Palace to increase Alan Pardew's striking options for the remainder of the season.
The Togolese could end up being the difference between a top- and bottom-half finish for Palace, although whether or not he's up to speed with his new team-mates yet after admitting he had to Google them isn't all that clear.
B Is for Baffled and Disappointed
2 of 26
That's how Jordan Rhodes felt when his switch from Blackburn Rovers to Championship promotion-chasers Middlesbrough initially broke down, according to Sky Sports News HQ, but the serial second-tier sharp-shooter wasn't to be denied his switch to Teesside.
Per BBC Sport, the two clubs eventually came to an agreement on deadline day, with Rhodes now on board and aiming to shoot Boro into the Premier League, where he's still remarkably never played a game.
C Is for Consistency
3 of 26
You might love a transfer window, but you probably don't love it as much as Italy forward Dani Osvaldo, who changed clubs for the SIXTH window in succession in January.
Those moves?
Summer 2013: Roma to Southampton (£12.8 million)
Winter 2014: Southampton to Juventus (loan)
Summer 2014: Southampton to Inter Milan (loan)
Winter 2015: Southampton to Boca Juniors (loan)
Summer 2015: Southampton to Porto (free)
Winter 2016: Porto to Boca Juniors (free)
Imagine being his agent.
D Is for Doumbia
4 of 26
Newcastle were one of the more active Premier League clubs in this window (as we'll see a bit later), and the Magpies have turned to Seydou Doumbia to fire the goals to help get them out of trouble, per BBC Sport.
The Ivorian joins on loan from AS Roma for the rest of the season, and at 28, he brings with him both the experience and the qualities to make an impact in England in a short space of time.
The signing could prove to be a masterstroke.
E Is for Eder
5 of 26
Over in Italy, one of the headline deals saw the Brazil-born Azzurri forward Eder swap life at Sampdoria for a title-chasing Inter Milan.
Eder began life in an Inter shirt by suffering a 3-0 defeat in the Milan derby, so it can only get better for him from here. Thirteen goals for club and country this season suggests it will.
F Is for Future Stars
6 of 26
Plenty of clubs opted to use the January window to strengthen for the future rather than now, with Liverpool taking that approach as they brought in the Serbia under-21 midfielder Marko Grujic from Red Star Belgrade, before loaning him back to the Serbian champions-elect for the remainder of the season.
Grujic will hold the accolade of being the first player signed on a permanent deal deal by Reds manager Jurgen Klopp, who was apparently urged to sign the 19-year-old by his Bosnian-Serb assistant Zeljko Buvac.
G Is for Gervinho
7 of 26
This could well be remembered as the window when we saw Chinese clubs really flex their muscles, as they began to lure star names from more established European leagues.
Gervinho is one such player, with the Ivorian swapping life at Roma for a move to Qinhuangdao-based Hebei China Fortune FC, who are managed by the former Everton midfielder Li Tie and also snapped up the former Marseille, Queens Park Rangers and Sevilla midfielder Stephane Mbia in January.
Nenad Milijas, the Serbian midfielder once of Wolves, is there too. Quite the bunch.
H Is for Hamstrings
8 of 26
If you're going to have an injury crisis, then January is a good time to have one.
As hamstrings continued to pop all around Liverpool's Melwood training ground, Jurgen Klopp decided that he needed to draft in another defender to help his ailing squad, with QPR's Steven Caulker ending an underwhelming loan spell at Southampton to move to the Reds.
He's featured more often as an emergency striker than at the back this season, but he got his first start in the FA Cup clash at home to West Ham United and was generally impressive.
I Is for Iturbe
9 of 26
Once tipped for the very top, it has been a strange couple of years for the quicksilver Argentinian winger Juan Iturbe, who was frustrated by life on the fringes of things at Roma.
Enter Eddie Howe and Bournemouth, with Iturbe becoming part of the Cherries' band of brothers on the south coast as they bid to stave off relegation from the Premier League.
The wide man has joined on loan, but if he's a hit and they stay up, then a permanent deal isn't out of the question.
J Is for Jiangsu Suning
10 of 26
That's the name of Ramires' new club, with the Brazilian midfielder completing a money-spinning—and fairly surprising—£25 million switch from Chelsea, which suddenly becomes a bit less surprising once you realise who the Nanjing-based club's manager is.
Ready? It's none other than Chelsea legend Dan Petrescu, who must have used his contacts at Stamford Bridge to bring in Ramires, who joins a club which also includes the Australia international Trent Sainsbury.
K Is for Khazri
11 of 26
Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce has been busy scrambling around and trying to improve his relegation-threatened squad, and in the Tunisia international Wahbi Khazri he appears to have done just that.
The 24-year-old joins from Bordeaux, where he enjoyed an impressive goalscoring record from midfield, hitting nine strikes in Ligue 1 last season and four this term.
L Is for Loan Deals
12 of 26
While Khazri's was a permanent deal, the number of loan switches appeared to rise again as clubs sought to bring in temporary fixes for their problems.
In West Ham's case, injuries to the likes of Andy Carroll, Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho forced them to boost their striking options, with the well-traveled Nigerian Emmanuel Emenike arriving on loan from Fenerbahce.
He managed nine goals in 15 games during a similar spell at Al-Ain this season, and something similar would make him a hit at Upton Park.
M Is for Miazga
13 of 26
Chelsea's season remains a curious sight, and they made a curious transfer in January when they brought in the 20-year-old American defender Matt Miazga from the New York Red Bulls.
The New Jersey native has one cap for the United States men's national team, and he will see his switch as an opportunity to replace the apparently departing John Terry in the Blues' defence, even if most others have already doomed him to a life of loan deals.
N Is for Naismith and Niasse
14 of 26
There were high-profile ins and outs at Everton, and thankfully for this list their surnames began with the same letter.
Scotland international Steven Naismith took his special brand of tenacity to Norwich City, where he scored on his debut against Liverpool only to ultimately end up on the losing side as the Reds won a ridiculous game 5-4.
While incoming was the Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who managed 13 goals for Lokomotiv Moscow this season, per BBC Sport.
O Is for Options
15 of 26
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger never really wants to rock the boat during a transfer window, and instead of a superstar signing, he opted to increase his midfield options with the signing of Egypt international Mohamed Elneny.
With a title challenge to come in the remaining months of the season, the Gunners boss will be desperate to keep his star players fresh, and the versatile Elneny can help with that, even if he isn't the big name Arsenal fans are usually craving.
P Is for Pato
16 of 26
He's back! Plenty thought that we'd seen the last of Alexandre Pato in Europe, but the former Brazilian prodigy has popped up on loan at Chelsea until the end of the season.
Once tipped for the very top when he moved to AC Milan as a teenager, a combination of injuries and excess set his career back while in Italy, and he needed a return to South America in order to rediscover some of his best form.
If he can impress at Chelsea, then a place in the Copa America squad isn't out of the question.
Q Is for Quick
17 of 26
That's how you can describe Papy Djilobodji's Chelsea career, with the Blues' strangest summer signing leaving the club in January for a loan move to Werder Bremen.
The 27-year-old Senegal international centre-back appeared for one minute of stoppage time in the 4-1 League Cup win over Walsall in September... and was never seen again.
R Is for Rejected Bids
18 of 26
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp tried to solve his side's goalscoring issues with a move for Shakhtar Donetsk's free-scoring Brazilian Alex Teixeira in January, but he ended up being frustrated at every turn.
Per the Daily Mail, the Ukraine club held firm and rejected two bids from the Reds, who are likely to return for the 26-year-old in the summer, which doesn't exactly spell good news for their current forwards.
S Is for Shelvey
19 of 26
One of the headline-grabbing switches in the Premier League saw Jonjo Shelvey swap Swansea City's relegation battle for a similar fate at Newcastle United, where he's already making an impact.
The former Charlton Athletic and Liverpool midfielder appeared to lose his way a little in South Wales, and if he can recapture the form which saw him win caps for England, then it might not be long before the Toon pull away from the bottom three.
T Is for Townsend
20 of 26
Staying with Newcastle, who had a pretty good window, they also managed to bring in Andros Townsend from Tottenham Hotspur, where things had long since gone stale for the winger.
Another who has picked up caps for England, Townsend can sometimes seem to be a bit frustratingly one-dimensional, but by bursting down the wing, he's bound to be taken into the hearts of the Newcastle fans, who are desperate to see their team play attacking football.
U Is for Undisclosed Fee
21 of 26
The notion of the "undisclosed fee" has become more and more popular in recent years, with clubs often deciding not to release the specific details of a transfer to the general public.
We can often take a guess at the figures involved, though. For example, Sky Sports claim that Benik Afobe cost Bournemouth £10 million, and that seems about right.
V Is for Value
22 of 26
It's become one of the most well-worn sayings of the January transfer window, but the idea that you can't good value in it should really become a thing of the past.
Southampton have proved that saying wrong by bringing in Charlie Austin from QPR for around £4 million, with the forward scoring the winner at Manchester United just minutes into his debut.
Not a bad way to start.
W Is for Welcome Back
23 of 26
The transfer window offered a chance for underperforming players to return to friendlier climbs, with the switches hopefully helping them return to the form they're capable of.
Florian Thauvin went back to Marseille on loan after underwhelming Newcastle fans all season, while forward Ciro Immobile has gone back to Torino on loan from Sevilla, doubtless looking to recapture the form which saw him finish as Serie A's top scorer in 2013/14.
X Is for Xuri Zhao
24 of 26
We were struggling a little bit for an X, but thankfully help has arrived from China.
Chinese international midfielder Xuri Zhao completed his switch from Guangzhou Evergrande to Tianjin Quanjian in China's League One, where he'll team up with the former Sevilla and Brazil striker Luis Fabiano, former Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Jadson and manager Vanderlei Luxemburgo, the former coach of Brazil and Real Madrid.
Y Is for "You're Still Here?"
25 of 26
Well, he's not any more.
Ostracised by Louis van Gaal, goalkeeper Victor Valdes has finally left Manchester United after becoming the Red Devils' forgotten man ever since arriving at the club just over a year ago.
Valdes has moved on loan to Standard Liege for six months, and it would be a huge surprise if he was ever seen at Old Trafford again.
Z Is for Zarate
26 of 26
He's been on the move again, and Mauro Zarate has now gone back to Serie A with Fiorentina after an up-and-down year-and-a-half at West Ham, which included a brief loan spell at QPR.
Zarate did occasionally impress when picked by the Hammers, such as when he scored in their first game of the season victory at Arsenal, but he seems more suited to the Italian game and will look to replicate good form he showed in the division for Lazio.
.jpg?w=600 "Browns Rejected Cowboys Trade Offer")
