January transfer window: Was 2016 the worst month for big-money signings by Premier League clubs in history?
It's fair to say there was only one true success this time last year, with Charlie Austin signing for Southampton, accompanied by a host of super-flops, including Oumar Niasse
IT may not have been Fernando Torres to Chelsea or Andy Carroll to Liverpool, but it's fair to say January 2016 was one of the worst transfer windows of all time.
While Premier League clubs failed to splash the big cash to bring any true stars to the league at the halfway point of the season, they did still spend big for what has turned out to be a sea of flops.
Looking through all of the signings from 12 months ago, there are but a handful of passable signings, with only Charlie Austin's move to Southampton even remotely being able to be called a success.
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But who were the players - and the clubs - to make January 2016 so bad? We investigate...
THE FLOPS
ARSENAL: Mo Elneny (£7.4m)
COMING in for a pricey fee of £7.4m, it's understandable Gunners fans expected big things from the Egyptian midfielder.
Elneny has enjoyed a prolonged run in the first team this season, but mostly due to the continued absence of fellow midfielders Jack Wilshere, on loan at Bournemouth, Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey.
While not a complete dud and nowhere near the worst on this list, he's hardly set the league alight.
BOURNEMOUTH: Lewis Grabban & Benik Afobe (£16m)
REMEMBER Eddie Howe stumping up £7m to bring in Grabban? Probably not.
The former Norwich man has played just three times in the Premier League this term, with no goals to his name and no top flight games since Norwich.
Afobe on the other hand has started to pick up some momentum, but two goals in 17 appearances this term for £9m. Ouch.
CHELSEA: Alexandre Pato (Loan)
ONE of the most outrageous, initially exciting but ultimately laughable deals of all time, the Blues' move for the former Brazilian wonderkid grabbed the nation's attention.
Pato played just twice for Chelsea, including a 1-0 loss to Swansea... He did however manage to find the net once - a pity penalty to help the Londoners to a 4-0 demolition over the hapless Aston Villa.
CRYSTAL PALACE: Emmanuel Adebayor (Free)
IT'S always tough when you take the plunge to land a controversial player as you know - a la Mario Balotelli - that it might not work out.
That was the case for Crystal Palace when they brought in former Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City man Adebayor.
He played 15 times and netted just once in his half a season and has been without a club since.
EVERTON: Oumar Niasse & Shani Tarasej (£16.5m)
THE Toffees shelled out a lot of money to bring in Niasse, hoping he'd provide competition for Romelu Lukaku.
Instead, since joining, he has played just five Premier League games, had his personal locker taken away from him, been dumped to the Under-23s and been arrested on suspicion of assault.
He will now spend the rest of the season on loan at basement-boys Hull.
£3m man Tarasej on the other hand you could be forgiven for saying, 'Who?' He's been sent out on loan last season and this, without making a single appearance.
LIVERPOOL: Steven Caulker (Loan)
THIS one certainly raised eyebrows, when Queens Park Rangers defender Caulker joined Liverpool on loan, following a stint at Southampton.
He played just a handful of minutes for the Reds in four appearances, deployed usually as an emergency striker rather than his usual centre-half role, before quietly leaving at the end of the month.
MANCHESTER CITY: Anthony Caceres (Undisclosed)
ANOTHER absolute 'who are ya' for the list, most people don't even realise this transfer existed.
City splashed an undisclosed amount to land the Australian - who was sent off two games in a row at one stage last season - before loaning him straight to Melbourne in his native country.
I wonder if he will ever make the flight back to the Etihad, to be honest.
NEWCASTLE: Henri Saivet, Jonjo Shelvey & Andros Townsend (£29m)
THE Toon were not afraid to spend big in January last year in a bid to avoid relegation.
Fast forward to May and it's fair to say that the moves were total flops as they now reside in the Championship.
Saivet completely failed to live up to his reputation, Shelvey became a mere shadow of his Liverpool and Swansea self, while Townsend upped-sticks and joined Crystal Palace after a matter of months.
NORWICH: Timm Klose (£8.5m)
HANDY defender? Yes. Championship standard? Probably. Worth £8.5m? Absolutely not.
Even in this present era of sky-high transfer sums, this is a tad ridiculous, as the Norwich man could only watch as the Canaries sunk into the second tier of English football.
STOKE: Giannelli Imbula (£18.3m)
THE Potters' record signing, Mark Hughes splashed near £20m for Frenchman Imbula.
While he has played regularly, just two goals in 26 appearances is hardly repaying the mammoth transfer fee...
SUNDERLAND: Wahbi Khazri & Lamina Kone (£14m)
THE Black Cats may have once again used all nine of their lives to avoid the dreaded drop last term, but they too were guilty of some questionable January moves.
Parting with £14m for Khazri and Kone were particularly interesting as they have struggled to nail down a spot in one of the league's most underachieving teams.
SWANSEA: Alberto Paloschi (£8m)
FOUR-and-a-half months, that is all the Italian lasted in Wales.
After signing for £8m, Paloschi netted just twice before he was quickly offloaded to Atalanta on a cut-price deal.
WATFORD: Abdoulaye Doucore & Mario Suarez (£12m)
THE Hornets were one of the biggest spenders last January, bringing in no fewer than five players.
But the £8m on Doucore is the most eyebrow-raising, with just three appearances to his name, while Suarez has been shipped off to struggling Valencia on loan.
WEST HAM: Sam Byram (£3.7m)
DESPITE a host of injured defenders this term, the former Leeds star has played just nine times all year under Slaven Bilic.
On top of that he mustered a mere four appearances for the Londoners last term, being booked in seven of his 13 total games.
THE HITS
LEICESTER: Daniel Amartey & Demarai Gray (£8m)
THE word 'hit' may be scraping the barrel a tad, but in Amartey and Gray, Claudio Ranieri has easily brought in £8m-worth of talent.
Gray is already regarded as one of the hottest prospects in the country - and showed it with a wonderstrike against Manchester United earlier this year - while Amartey has been a solid role player in midfield all season.
LIVERPOOL: Marko Grujic (£5m)
AGAIN, 'hit' may be stretching it, but had it not been for his injury, Grujic would almost certainly be getting the nod under Jurgen Klopp.
After a strong pre-season, the Serbian has suffered a spate of unfortunate injuries, but at just £5m, the German has invested wisely for the future.
SOUTHAMPTON: Charlie Austin (£4m)
THE one real star signing on this list goes to Southampton's shrewd £4m signing of Austin.
The forward broke into the first team early in the season and has gone on to score nine times in 19 games in all competitions, to go with his late winner in the 1-0 win over United last season.