Premier League January Needs

It’s January, and the transfer window is open. Teams now have the rest of this month to strengthen their teams as the races for honours, European qualification, or simply survival, begin in earnest.

We’re going through all 20 Premier League teams and highlighting one area where each team needs to strengthen. In part one, found here, we looked at Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth and Brentford. Part two covered Brighton, Burnley, Chelsea and Crystal Palace and can be found here.

We’ll begin part three with the first of two trips to Merseyside.

Everton

If they hadn’t been deducted 10 points for breaking the profit and sustainability rules, Everton would be sitting in a very comfortable 12th place and Sean Dyche would be getting Manager of the Season consideration as Everton have massively outperformed expectations this season.

Instead, they find themselves in somewhat of a precarious position. One point ahead of Luton, who have a game in hand, and a poor run of form away from finding themselves in the bottom three with work to do in order to stay up.

The Blues have a solid starting 11 but do find themselves in need of more goals. Dominic Calvert-Lewin has proven in the past that he is a capable Premier League goalscorer but hasn’t rediscovered his finishing touches since losing so much time to injuries.

Summer signings Beto and Chermiti have not had the desired impact, though it is still far too soon to judge either. With Everton having three target-man type number 9s and Dyche only playing one upfront it seems pointless to recruit another striker, so what about the line behind the striker.

Jack Harrison and Dwight McNeil have nailed down the wing positions, but Everton don’t have any depth behind them so that might be one place they could look to strengthen.

Arnaut Danjuma was signed to provide width in the wide areas and in the number 10 role behind Abdoulaye Doucoure but his loan looks likely to be cancelled this month, with the Dutch attacker finding himself glued to the bench and not getting any sort of significant playing time and a replacement for him would seem pointless as Dyche has not even called on him when Doucoure has been absent or forced to play deeper in midfield.

Could Sunderland be convinced to part with Jack Clarke, capable of playing both wings, in January? The Mackems are aiming for promotion back to the Premier League and likely won’t want to lose their best player. Clarke himself might not be overly keen on a move that doesn’t guarantee him a regular starting role either.

An alternative target could potentially be the versatile Samuel Iling-Junior of Juventus, rumoured to be available in January and already being linked with a handful of Premier League clubs. The England U21 international could be an exciting change of pace addition for Everton and offer them a different sort of wide presence to the current starting duo.

Fulham

Marco Silva continues to outperform expectations at Fulham, having overcome the loss of top scorer Alexander Mitrovic and kept the Cottagers well clear of the relegation scrap so far.

Reports suggest that he has been promised significant backing in the January window as part of the agreement that saw him turn down a significant offer to join Mitrovic in Saudi Arabia and sign a new contract with Fulham.

In truth, Fulham need additions in defence, midfield and attack over the next two windows but given they will be working to a budget it seems unlikely that they will address all three areas in January.

If Tosin Adarabioyo departs then a new addition will be needed in defence but assuming he stays put the smartest move might just be the obvious move. The one that’s been heavily rumoured and reported. Andre Trindade.

The Fluminense schemer would bring a new level of control and quality to Fulham’s midfield and would be an ideal fit next to Joao Palhinha. Wrongly profiled by some as a defensive midfielder, the Brazilian works best next to a defensive midfielder and his skillset would compliment Palhinha’s perfectly, while the Portuguese powerhouse would help cover up Andre’s physical limitations.

Liverpool

Liverpool have had a fantastic season to date, sitting top of the Premier League as well as having progressed through the Europa League Group Stage and having a League Cup semi-final on the horizon.

They are well ahead of schedule in Jurgen Klopp’s “Liverpool 2.0” rebuild with summer signings Dominic Szoboszlai, Alexis MacAllister and Waturu Endo all looking like shrewd acquisitions.

They are far from the finished product though. They require a left sided defender who is comfortable about left back and left side centre back in a back three, a defensive midfielder, and ideal a left winger given the struggles of Luis Diaz since his return from injury in April.

Klopp will likely give Diaz more time to rediscover his best form, as well as using Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez in that role when necessary.

The ideal fit at defensive midfield doesn’t appear to be available in the January window so they might have to hold out to fill that role.

But the left sided defender can definitely be addressed with Goncalo Inacio a hand-in-glove fit for the role if Klopp wants to continue to invert Trent Alexander-Arnold into midfield. The Portuguese defender has played a starring role for Ruben Amorim’s Sporting Lisbon since breaking into the team during the 20/21 season.

A versatile player he can fill in anywhere across the backline and in midfield, but it has been on the left side of a back three that he has really shone. His progressive passing from deep can be a real weapon for his team and would add a new dimension to Liverpool’s build-up play, while his outstanding defensive attributes would make the best defence in the Premier League even stronger.

Luton Town

Luton are in an interesting position. In the summer they had a clear strategy. They invested in high-end Championship calibre players who could play a big role in their team if their stay in the Premier League was for one season only and they had to drop back down and attempt to get promoted again.

It’s a smart strategy, one that Norwich have had success with in the past.

But now they are in a position where they could potentially move out of the bottom three and survive the drop. Now they must ask themselves whether they want to stick with the strategy of having a very strong team should they drop into the Championship with no albatross contracts on their books, and no players likely to view themselves as being too good for the drop, or do they throw money at the possibility of survival.

They have multiple needs, the most obvious one being in central defence after Tom Lockyer’s recent cardiac arrest left the club captain facing an uncertain future, but they could really do with multiple additions throughout the spine of them.

Their strategic view will dictate their actions but could they potentially try a balancing act of targeting a couple of permanent additions that would be comfortable, and affordable, to carry into the Championship if they fail to beat the drop while perhaps bringing in some higher calibre players on loan?

They won’t be able to make another Premier League loan as they already have Issa Kabore and Albert Sambi-Lokonga in from Manchester City and Arsenal respectively, but they could look abroad and see what opportunities are available, perhaps Ben Brereton-Diaz who has struggled at Villarreal since his loan there? A move back to England might be appealing to the former Blackburn striker.

He has been linked strongly with Sheffield United, who appear to be close to wrapping that deal up at time of writing so maybe focus on the other end of pitch and try to add an experienced central defender who could replace Lockyer. Stefan Savic perhaps?