Aston Villa had a few near misses but they can be fairly satisfied with the January transfer window as they build for the future. Fans will be reassured that all eyes are clearly on getting ready to challenge more than ever in the years ahead.
Morgan Rogers was signed from Middlesbrough for a deal worth a reported £15m. It took the entire month to get him at Villa Park as Boro played hard ball, but they got their man and now there is some competition across the front line.
Kosta Nedeljkovic came in from Red Star Belgrade for a reported £6.5m. The teenage defender was immediately shipped back out after signing terms and will finish the season in Serbia before linking up with his teammates. Joe Gauci was brought in from Adelaide United to provide competition to Emi Martinez for the number one shirt. Gauci was at the Asia Cup with the Socceroo's and this weekend's clash with Man United will provide him with an opportunity to at least be part of a match-day squad.
Lino Sousa joined on deadline day from Arsenal and the West Brom academy product was loaned out to Plymouth Argyle with Villa having one eye on the future. January also saw a few players earn loan moves with Leander Denondkcer heading to Napoli whilst Ben Chrisene, Rico Richards and Filip Marschall all got EFL moves. Calum Chambers was linked with a Deadline Day move away but a move failed to materialise and now the only hope is that a club in Turkey can persuade him to join them until the end of the season.
Villa had a clear transfer strategy in January and that was to invest in the future. Unai Emery is building a squad that is capable of challenging for years and years and his players will only get better with time. As with any club, your best players are going to be linked with moves away and so it's interesting to see what they could go for.
Those at TransferMarkt have placed a valuation on Villa's current first-teamers and with everyone included, it's worth over just half a billion. Here is what every player's valuation is with some you'd tend to agree with whilst with others you might add a few digits on.