Ideal signings for the Premier League ‘Big Six’: Arsenal, Spurs, United, City, Chelsea, Liverpool
Which players are good potential transfer choices for the upcoming January transfer window?
With the Christmas turkeys cooked and the Premier League now back on our screens, the thoughts across England’s football clubs turn to the New Year, and the January transfer window. A notoriously difficult time to deal, the mid-season market opens its doors for 31 days, allowing only the bravest to step inside and do business. Deep pockets are needed to compete in the Premier League in general, but during January, buying and selling players is a completely different business. Prices fluctuate wildly: valuations can skyrocket and tumble in the same week and every single piece of business is a huge gamble for the clubs that choose to partake in the madness.
With that said, we had a look at the top 6 clubs in England and asked: where do they need to strengthen and who would be an ideal candidate to fill a gap in the squad?
Arsenal
Gabriel Jesus’ injury in the World Cup match against Cameroon sounded alarms all the way from Qatar to Brasilia via London. Mikel Arteta will, however difficult, scratch a finger through his perfect hair as he stumbles down the list of strikers that Arsenal will look to sign in January to fill the huge void left by the Brazilian. “We are going to be active and active means we are looking to strengthen the team”, Arteta said. Jesus was a revelation for Arsenal during the first half of the year, with the striker creating goals from nothing and surprising everyone after causing many fans to shrug in indifference. But now they have a problem in replacing somebody that did everything for them, and Lautaro could be the perfect substitute. Expensive, yes, but Martínez presses well, he has an eye for goal and can link up well with others, as shown at the World Cup. It will take a big wad of money for Arsenal to get the World Cup winner to the Emirates Stadium, but they have a feeling of desperation that is pushing them towards doing something soon.
Tottenham Hotspur
Poor Emerson Royal. Watch the ex-Barcelona player at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium and your mind quickly wonders if it is fair for the right-back to be out there. He has had a torrid time in London, one plagued by mistakes and laughter from opposition fans as he fails to adapt to the pace and power of the weekly football. Frimpong could be the perfect replacement: the defender started his senior career at Celtic before fantastic performances saw Bayer Leverkusen make the call to sign him. His time in Germany has been a success, with the player performing well in both attack and defence, and his young age means he fits into Conte’s requirements for young signings to balance out the ageing squad. The fans in Scotland fell in love with the player who started in Manchester City’s academy, and the same is now happening in Germany.
Chelsea
Chelsea is a club that appears to be in a perpetual state of renewal. Players come in and out of the door in what sometimes feels like an attempt to confuse the fans in a game of Guess Who?, and now after the latest revolving door case of Romelu Lukaku - is he still at Chelsea? - it looks like the London side are on the lookout for a striker. Kai Havertz has a constant look of being sad, Aubameyang can’t seem to find his scoring boots and now Armando Broja is injured. Could João Félix fill the void? The Atlético Madrid midfielder is even sadder than Havertz appears, and might well be on his way out of the Spanish club after the never-quite-right relationship with Simeone could finally have come to an end. He would be a good fit for Chelsea, with a spark of creativity in the forward line that the club are arguably missing as Graham Potter seeks to find the winning formula that can please the high demands of the fans.
Manchester City
How do you improve on perfection? Trying to pick holes in City’s squad is more difficult that trying to squash an octopus into a thimble. They have quite possibly the most balanced side in Europe and during the summer they reinforced even more by signing a real-life Dr Who monster: Erling Haaland. That being said, there have been moments of weakness in the side and the most recent drip of negativity to spill out was the news from Pep Guardiola that Kalvin Phillips was “overweight”. Of course, being overweight for a professional footballer in today’s world means eating 6 carrots instead of 5, but nevertheless it highlighted a potential point of fragility in the squad. Martin Zubimendi of Real Sociedad might be the perfect fit should City look to expand their midfield options; the Spaniard has a fantastic range of passing and slick movement, as well as a very high football IQ. Guardiola no doubt knows who he is, and surely has raised an eyebrow in delight at watching the boy kick a ball.
Manchester United
Ronaldo left Manchester United, did you hear? Yes, after a return to the club where he made his name on the world stage, things quickly went south for the Portuguese forward, who decided that nothing had changed since the days of Ferguson and dropped to doing an interview with Piers Morgan, who I didn’t even know still did television. Anyway, he’s gone, so Manchester United have a gap in the middle of their attack, the one that Ronaldo occupied from a stationary position in the first half of the Premier League season. An option could be Breel Embolo, who had a decent World Cup with Switzerland. The forward, currently at Monaco, has been linked with various clubs in England over the past few seasons but we are yet to see anything materialise. He is, in a sense, the antithesis of Ronaldo: he presses fantastically and runs like a lunatic - exactly what Manchester United and Eric ten Hag wanted all along.
Liverpool
With the signing of Gakpo already confirmed by PSV, Liverpool can now turn their attention to the hole slowly being left by an ageing Jordan Henderson. The midfielder started against Liverpool’s win against Aston Villa, but was taken off with 10 minutes to go, replaced by goalscorer Stefan Bajcetic. The Spaniard is a highly-rated prospect in the corridors of Anfield, but his age may mean Klopp holds off in pushing him straight into the first team. With that in mind, Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernández could be an option, with the Benfica player having had a fantastic World Cup, winning the award for Best Young Player of the tournament. The pursuit of Jude Bellingham looks to be over, with Real Madrid seemingly having won the race for the Dortmund midfielder.