Crystal Palace, embroiled in a relegation battle that they should not be anywhere near, set the target to go into the January window and strengthen their squad.
The Palace squad lacked depth, especially in attack, with frequent injuries to Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze, causing the team to look incoherent as an attacking unit.
The south London club were also in desperate need of a central midfielder that could fill the void of Cheick Doucouré, who suffered an Achilles Tendon injury against Luton Town and is expected to be out for the rest of the season.
Steve Parish and Dougie Freedman made a left winger and a central midfielder key targets for the window.
Palace were slow burners in the winter window, alike the majority of the Premier League. Their first signing did not come until the final week of the window, bringing in Colombian Daniel Munoz from Genk for around £8 million.
Crystal Palace fans were overjoyed by the signing of a right-back, the first transfer fee the club has paid for a right-back in ten years.
As the final days of the window unfolded, Palace highlighted their key target, Blackburn Rovers' Adam Wharton, and after days of negotiations, a fee was finally agreed upon, and the player travelled to London to finalise his move to the club.
An announcement didn't come until deadline day, but Palace had executed one of their primary goals going into the window, bringing in a talented player who fits the brief to carry out the 'Doucouré' role.
But there was one failure of the window for Palace: not securing a left-winger who would provide much-needed depth for the Eagles.
Maxwel Cornet was the man Palace wanted, but ultimately the deal did not materialise due to the fact that West Ham had too many attacking outgoings and didn't want to be left short.
Albeit there was some disappointment among supporters as the club were unable to execute all of their targets and utilise their loan spots.
But Palace finished the January transfer window as the highest spenders, and Hodgson was overjoyed with the club's spending as the board showed him faith, backed him in the market, and added much-needed depth to his squad.
High praise for Wharton
Veteran boss, Roy Hodgson bestowed ample praise upon the new boy in SE25 emphasising the high degree of talent the 19-year-old possess.
"I think it's an excellent signing for the club both in the short term and also in the long term because he has a lot of football ahead of him at such a young age."
Wharton truly encompasses Crystal Palace's transfer policy, as Hodgson highlights, signing young players with immense ability who will be great servants for the club and in the future be sold on for a much higher price than they were brought for, creating an extremely sustainable model at Selhurst Park.
Hodgson furthered his praise by sharing his first impressions of the former Blackburn man.
"I’ve found him a very mature nigh-on 20-year-old," He said.
"He's someone with a calm confidence, a clear idea of what he's good at and what he needs to do. A big ambition and a big desire to want to do well and go from being an already established Championship player to being an established Premier League player."
Munoz and Wharton to be thrown in at the deep end?
Palace travel to their fierce rivals, Brighton and Hove Albion, this weekend, with Roy Hodgson suggesting that his new additions are ready and raring to go should he chose to call upon them.
Wharton "is available – he’s been playing all the games up to now. There is no reason medically why he couldn’t feature in the game if I want to put him in the team.
"The same applies to Daniel Muñoz who has also been playing on a regular basis. They both come from clubs where they have been playing every week, and they have reported no injuries at all so both will be available.”
Unable to 'Max'imise attacking depth
Roy Hodgson expressed that Crystal Palace were interested in a deal for West Ham winger Maxwel Cornet.
The Ivorian would have provided much-needed left-back cover for the Eagles while also providing attacking depth as a talented winger. Palace have just one senior left-back in their squad and have failed to replace club legend Wilfred Zaha, whose contract expired with the club in the summer.
"We would have been interested when we heard about the possibility of Maxwel Cornet from West Ham. That was something which excited us all, we would have been more than happy to invite him to join us."
Hodgson shared that he was optimistic that a deal could have been concluded for the UEFA Europa Conference League winner.
"I thought maybe for a time that was going to be a possibility and the club certainly pursued it, but then West Ham decided that they weren't prepared to let him go, he wasn't going to be allowed out on loan after all, so unfortunately that fell through, which was a pity because I think he would have been a good addition to our squad."
Hodgson added that the deal was not done because the Hammers were reluctant to let the Ivorian leave the club.
Unfortunately for Palace, West Ham had already sanctioned moves for Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma, so they were not willing to let another member of their squad depart as they would have been left short on attacking options.
"But, of course, with all transfer deals, at the end of the day, it's the club who owns the player who decides. So you get the information: ‘are you interested? This is a possibility; would you like to pursue it?’ And you say, ‘Yes, oh yes, we'd like to pursue that’."
The Palace boss admitted that he understood why West Ham wouldn't part ways with the attacker.
"On this occasion, one can probably understand why, because one or two other players that they probably thought were leaving didn't go through."