After a hugely disappointing first half to their Premier League season, Newcastle are taking no half measures. To wit, manager Alan Pardew, who is fortunate to be on an 8-year contract, has thrown some $29 million – out of a total of $78 million spent by all Premier League clubs thus far – at five new recruits, all of them French and all under 27. He bought defenders Massadio Haidara (Nancy-Lorraine), Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa (Montpellier) and Mathieu Debuchy (Lille), midfielder Moussa Sissoko (Toulouse) and forward Yoan Gouffran (Bordeaux).

Word has it that Pardew also wants to sign Didier Drogba-clone Wilfried Bony from Vitesse Arnhem, even though he isn’t even French at all but Ivorian. Failing that, either Rennes’ Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang, PSV’s Jeremain Lens or Sporting Lisbon’s Ricky van Wolfswinkel will do fine in the striker job vacated by Demba Ba.

Wesley Sneijder was reluctant to leave Inter Milan for Galatasaray, but when the Italian giants demanded that he re-structure what was the biggest contract in Serie A, the Dutch playmaker took the leap. Sneijder has been a big hit in Turkey. Even before he even signed the club sold 30,000 of his jerseys. This deal may yet be eclipsed after the Turks inked Didier Drogba, suddenly making the side a solid outsider to make a run at the UEFA Champions League title.

Harry 'Houdini' Redknapp has been charged with saving QPR, a team whose owners have spent a fortune for damn all. He knows he’ll have to make wholesale staffing changes this winter. After landing striker Loic Remy from Marseille for $14.3 million, Redknapp is on the prowl for more reinforcements, a wish list that includes: defenders Rolando (FC Porto), Christopher Samba (Anzhi Makhachkala), Anthony Reveillere (Lyon), Yun Suk-Young (Chunnam Dragons), Scott Dann, Martin Olsson (both Blackburn), Michael Dawson (Spurs); midfielders Niko Kranjcar (Dynamo Kiev), Mohamed Diame (West Ham) and Jake Livermore (Spurs); and forwards Peter Odemwingie, (West Brom), Florent Malouda (Chelsea) and Peter Crouch (Stoke). Whew.

The Blues killed two birds with one stone by flipping superfluous forward Daniel Sturridge to Liverpool for $20 million and spending $11 million of it on Ba. Then they sent $7.3 million to Fluminense for 18-year-old right back Wallace. Chelsea aren’t done, pursuing long-term targets Marouane Fellaini, Luka Modric and Stephane Mbia, midfielders owned by Everton, Real Madrid and QPR respectively. They also want Everton defender Leighton Baines.

Valencia?s Raul Albiol (R) vies for the ball with Villarreal?s Italian Giussepe Rossi (L) during their Spanish league football match at Mestalla Stadium in Valencia 26 August 2007.

After Nuri Sahin failed to make the grade in Liverpool’s reshaped central midfield and was shipped back to Borussia Dortmund (his third club this season, but who’s counting?) manager Brendan Rodgers set his sights on Wesley Sneijder. Didn’t work. So now the Reds hope to sign another attacking midfielder in Inter Milan's Philippe Coutinho. We’ll see.

The only American club that’s a serious player on the world transfer market headed off Robbie Keane’s departure at the pass by signing the Irish striker to a contract extension. It also bought Juninho outright from Sao Paulo, picked up Spurs goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini and is reportedly the preferred destination for ageing Chelsea legend Frank Lampard. And yes, their name is a reference to the old New York Cosmos.

If, for once, they are to make just one transfer move, the new French giants and their endless resources will see to it that it’s far and away the biggest one of the window. Their acquisition of Lucas Moura from Sao Paulo for a whopping $53.6 million is almost three times as much as any other deal concluded so far this window. The Parisians would also like to snap up Torino defender Angelo Ogbonna, who also counts Juventus, AC Milan and Napoli among his admirers.

The Serie A leaders have developed a striker fetish of sorts, dissatisfied as they are with their current corps of forwards, which counts no fewer than five reputable goalscorers and, uh, Nicklas Bendtner. Having missed out on Didier Drogba, Juve have signed Fernando Llorente are hoping to add Olympique Lyon forward Lisandro Lopez to their squad, according to reports.

After sending a retirement home’s worth of geriatric players to clubs willing to pony up, Milan found itself with gaps across its squad. (Lesson: be nice to your aging relatives. They’re useful.) In hopes of remedying their many shortcomings, AC Milan has signed 22-year-old striker Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli and also hopes to sign Real Madrid playmaker Kaka.

The Rossoneri allegedly want to sign one of two Dutch goalkeepers in Newcastle’s Tim Krul or AS Roma’s Maarten Stekelenburg.

Right back Cristian Zaccardo ought to come over in a player-exchange with Parma. Nomadic striker Nicolas Anelka is a hoped-for reinforcement out of China. And if central midfielder Lucas Biglia could be extracted from Anderlecht, the Italians would be much obliged.

In American leagues, general managers have up to three-quarters of the regular season to tinker with their rosters as they please. Soccer teams haven’t had that luxury since two strict transfer windows were imposed on them by FIFA a few years ago, meaning that the winter transfer window, the last opportunity to buy and sell until the summer off-season, is a big deal indeed. The window shuts on January 31st at 11 PM GMT in England and Scotland, and these are the clubs that have emerged as the major players in this year’s bonanza as rumors flutter into the frenzy.