REVEALED: The Premier League Clubs With the Least Cost-Effective January Signings Since 2013/14

Chelsea and Watford have been dubbed the Premier League's worst beneficiaries of goals scored and assists made by January recruits over the past five years, according to new research.

The Hornets and Blues have forked out an almighty £27m and £25m respectively when it comes to winter window arrivals' end product for their new clubs.

Newcastle United and Everton, meanwhile, are among the most likely to see their new stars bag vital strikes since the 2013/14 campaign, with the Magpies and Toffees having a cost-per-goal outlay of only £1.8m and £3m each, according to BetBonusCode.

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The betting company looked at which top flight sides had the biggest impact by new players following their arrivals in January, and it seems that clubs down south may want to look away over their expenditures.

Indeed, four of the top five clubs who posted the worst cost-per-goal ratio were find themselves south of Birmingham - Watford, Chelsea, Arsenal and West Ham - with Manchester United the only team north of the Midlands to appear in the first five positions.

Of the 20 current Premier League sides, data was unavailable for Brighton and Huddersfield due to the pair only contesting their first season in England's top division this term.

Rank	Club	Cost Per Goal (£)	Goals Scored
1	Watford	£27.1m	0
2	Chelsea	£25.2m	4
3	Arsenal	£25m	1
4	Manchester United	£9.4m	6
5	West Ham	£7.95m	2
6	Southampton	£7.8m	5
7	Manchester City	£7.1m	9
8	Bournemouth	£5.7m	4
9	Swansea City	£5.5m	6
10	Liverpool	£4.9m	6
11	Leicester City	£4.5m	2
12=	Crystal Palace	£4.3m	12
12=	Tottenham Hotspur	£4.3m	3
14	Stoke City	£3.4m	5
15	West Brom	£3.1m	3
16	Everton	£3m	10
17	Burnley	£2.6m	0
18	Newcastle United	£1.8m	19
19=	Brighton	N/A	N/A
19=	Huddersfield Town	N/A	N/A

Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Everton, however, can be proud of their recruitment in January days gone by with the northern trio seeing a good return on their investments.

Of those signed by all 20 clubs in the winter window, ex-Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse is the most profitable in terms of goals scored by a striker - the Senegal international weighing in with 13 goals and two assists despite costing £12m in January 2012, which amounts to a cost-per-goal/assist of £800,000.

Former Everton marksman Nikica Jelavic isn't too far behind - the Croatian bagging nine goals in the same season as Cisse at a cost of £6.6m - while Man City wonderkid Gabriel Jesus finds himself third with seven goals and four assists posted despite a huge sum of £32m 12 months ago.

(You may also be interested in REVEALED: The Premier League's Biggest January Window Spenders Since the 2006/7 Campaign)

For midfielders, Eagles star Jason Puncheon offers the best value for money with just £440,000 spent on each of his four goals and one assist, with Palace teammate Scott Dann posting the best numbers for a defender - five clean sheets coming at a cost of just £356,000 apiece.

Christian Kirk Rasmussen of BetBonusCode said: “With so much speculation around the January window, it’s a real eye-opener to see which signings actually make an immediate impact.

“Effective signings at this time of year appear to be few and far between, so fans who are hoping that new acquisitions will bring instant goals could end up disappointed.”