In the midst of the professional seasons across leagues in Europe, the winter transfer window opens for clubs to make changes if necessary in order to optimize their performance for the second half of the season. For the duration of January, European clubs are free to buy and sell players at their discretion.

Clubs may decide to offload players, whether it be due to a decrease in performance or to bring in revenue, or they can bring in players to strengthen positions identified as weak within the roster.

Although this winter transfer window has not been as active as windows in the past, some noteworthy transfers have occurred worth reporting.

Ferran Torres (Manchester City to Barcelona)

Twenty-one-year-old Spanish striker Ferran Torres made the move from Manchester City to Futbol Club Barcelona for a fee of $49.5 million. This transfer came as a shock, considering that Manchester City is in first place in the English Premier League while Barcelona is in fifth place in La Liga.

Another surprising element surrounding the transfer is Barcelona’s financial situation, since the club is notoriously facing $1.35 billion in debt, therefore it seemed as if they were not going to be able to buy expensive players such as Torres for quite a while.

“Ferran Torres’ move to Barcelona was definitely surprising. It seemed as if Barcelona were not going to be able to sign anyone for a while, but they managed to sign a top prospect. I am very excited to see how Barcelona is able to rebuild with Torres in the equation,” senior Isaac Zerdoun said.

Phillipe Coutinho (Barcelona to Aston Villa)

In the same window, Barcelona has also decided to offload a player. Twenty-nine-year-old midfielder Phillipe Coutinho joined Premier League Aston Villa on loan with the option of a permanent deal from Barcelona for the rest of the season.

This move is not as surprising as the transfer of Ferran Torres, since Coutinho is paid 8.5 million euros per year, and the loan transfer will help Barcelona recuperate some money to erase their debt.

“As a Barcelona fan, I was super excited at the prospect of signing Philippe Coutinho years ago. Now I am happy to see him leave as I hope that he is able to find his form again at Aston villa and hopefully he can return better than ever,” senior Felix Audouze said.

However, he arrived at Barcelona from Liverpool for a sum of $146 million. The loan move away from Barcelona exemplifies that the transfer of Coutinho may not have gone as well as Barcelona would have hoped as they look to find new prospects to help rebuild their team.

Anthony Martial (Manchester United to Sevilla)

Twenty-six-year-old French striker Anthony Martial left Premier League club, Manchester United, for the Spanish club, Sevilla, on loan. Martial has been out of favor at Manchester United, having played only eight matches this season as strikers Edison Cavani and Cristiano Ronaldo are favored by management.

Martial has made the move to Sevilla hoping for more game time seeing as he is still young and needs regular playing time in order to develop as a player.

Sevilla currently sits comfortably in second place in La Liga, so Martial may play a significant role as Sevilla hopes to assume the title. Martial also makes the shift to Sevilla to avoid sitting on the bench as Manchester United hopes to remain in the top four in the Premier League.

With the return to a normal season for soccer leagues across Europe, this window serves as an opportunity for clubs to get back into normal business dealing regarding players. The window has provided significant shifts between teams that indicate exciting second halves in the European leagues.