Hello and welcome back to The Full 90. We are officially in the year 2026, and the excitement of world football continues to ramp up as we approach the end of the season. The January transfer window proved to be quite exciting for teams all over Europe, and in this week’s edition, I would like to discuss where things stand.
One of the more shocking points of the window included the departure of six top managers from their respective clubs, only a month and change into 2026. Tottenham Hotspur fired Thomas Frank only a couple of days ago after a bad run of results left the London club in danger of relegation. Frank was hired in the summer by Tottenham off the back of a very successful stint at fellow London club Brentford FC. Similarly, Sean Dyche was sacked by fellow Premier League club Nottingham Forest. Dyche’s spell with Forest was short-lived after just 114 days in charge — the ownership group sought change. Although these managerial decisions are dramatic, the two mentioned earlier were easy to see coming.
The real drama in the transfer window began when English giants Manchester United and Chelsea FC decided to part ways with their clubs. Former Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca decided to step down from the job on Jan. 1, 2026, after a solid 18-month tenure with the club. The Italian manager helped the London club win the UEFA Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup. Despite this success, an inconsistent run of results as well as a strained relationship with the club’s owners and hierarchy inevitably led to a mutual parting of ways. The exit was described publicly as “mutual consent” but many fans speculate that reports of growing tension and dissatisfaction behind the scenes made Maresca’s job increasingly difficult. Chelsea quickly pivoted and decided to appoint Liam Rosenior, who formerly managed Chelsea’s sister club RC Strasbourg in France’s Ligue 1. Since the appointment, Rosenior has led his side to six wins, one loss and one draw, which is a stark improvement from Maresca’s one win in seven games before he was let go from the club.
Fellow Premier League powerhouse Manchester United underwent a similar situation when its manager, Ruben Amorim, was sacked on Jan. 5, 2026, after 14 months with the club. Manchester United sat sixth in the table at the time, but over the entirety of Amorim’s tenure, it was never able to build a consistent run of form. Like Maresca, a major determinant in this firing wasn’t just the result. Within the Manchester club, there was a power struggle between the club’s recruitment and sporting directors. Amorim publicly complained and announced to the media that he wanted “full” managerial control. This means he wanted to be involved and heavily influence the club’s overall transfer policy. This caused the ownership group, alongside the sporting directors, to come to the decision to part ways with the Portuguese manager and replace him with Interim coach and Manchester United legend, Michael Carrick. Many Manchester United fans have been thrilled with this decision, as since the appointment of the interim coach, the team has gone unbeaten in its last five games. Big wins over Manchester City and Arsenal as well as two very well-managed wins against Tottenham and Fulham could spark thoughts within the club of giving Carrick a real go at the job.
Managerial turmoil was a prevalent theme in our most recent transfer window, and we can see that it transcended just the English Premier League. Over in Spain, one of the world’s largest clubs, Real Madrid, also decided to make a managerial change. In May 2025, Xabi Alonso was appointed manager of Real Madrid on a long-term contract after a wildly successful spell in Germany with Bayer Leverkusen. During his time at Leverkusen, he won the Bundesliga and the German Cup while maintaining an invincible season, never losing a game. Alonso’s side began the season well in LaLiga. However, inconsistency, as well as having a thorn in its side like FC Barcelona, eventually caused pressure to mount as opportunities for trophies slipped through the club’s fingertips. Behind the scenes, tactical discrepancies, dressing room dynamics and training demands all naturally played a role as Alonso was tasked with managing some of the world’s best footballers. Big names like Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Vini Jr are all pieces Xabi would need to make fit despite tactical preferences because the ownership had spent so much on them. After some anticipation, the club finally announced Alonso’s exit just seven months into the project, making it one of the most surprising and dramatic managerial sagas in European football.
It’s safe to say the transfer window was quite the show. Next week, we’ll dive into the rest of the drama and talk more about the most exciting transfers that happened in the January window and what they may mean for the future.