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, and part three which covers Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, and Luton can be found here.

Today’s piece will have a Manchester feel, so let’s get into it.

Manchester City

When you have won three league titles in a row, and have just won a treble, you obviously don’t need huge amounts of improvement but City could use some additional depth in their squad. With Kalvin Phillips likely to leave, City might want to add another holding midfielder as cover for Rodri, though ideally they’d likely want a player who can play multiple positions or a young cheap option that they could develop behind the world’s premiere defensive midfielder.

Federico Redondo of Argentinos Juniors is rumoured to be available for less than £10mil and given City’s recent track record of buying directly from Argentina he could well be someone that interests them as stylistically he is very similar to Rodri.

With the full power of the City Football Group at their disposal, they could even buy Redondo and loan him to one of the other clubs in the group if the feeling is that he’s not quite ready for life in the Premier League just yet.

Manchester United

What don’t they need is an easier question to argue as the Red Devils stumble through another disasterous season in the post-Ferguson era.

Erik Ten Hag has already spent in excess of £400mil and it is very hard to point at any of his signings and say they have been a success, but they are his signings and given the investment made in many of them you would have to believe that they are players he plans on using as part of his preferred 11.

That does narrow down the list of areas they are likely to invest in and leave us with two glaring areas that they might seek to address in January. One is the right sided central defence role, as it’s clear Harry Maguire and Raphael Varane are not part of the long term plans, and the other is central midfield.

United have invested heavily in midfield under Ten Hag, adding Mason Mount and Casemiro for significant fees, but it’s patently obvious that those two do not function well as a pair, or as part of a three with Bruno Fernandes. United will need to look for an Christian Eriksen type of player who can knit things together in midfield. The role Ten Hag had earmarked for Frenkie De Jong before the Dutch midfielder made it clear he had no interest in the move.

The centre-back role is probably easier to address in the January window, but it won’t be a cheap role to fill. With Lisandro Martinez playing the left sided role, United will be a tall, commanding aerially dominant player in the right sided role. But they will also need to be very comfortable on the ball to fit into what the manager wants from his team in possession.

Perhaps Ten Hag would be tempted to go for another Dutch player in Matthijs de Ligt, rumoured to be available from Bayern Munich at the right price.

de Ligt hasn’t lived up to the expectations that were placed on him as a teenager at Ajax but has been significantly better at Bayern than he was at Juventus. He’s still only 24 years of age so he does have time to rediscover what made him such a special player when he emerged at Ajax.

Newcastle United

At this stage, new legs for each and every player would be welcome but sticking in the realms of reality it feels like Newcastle might be well served to invest in a new central defender who can serve as the long term partner for Sven Botman.

Fabian Schar has been excellent since Eddie Howe’s arrival at the club but he is 32 and starting to show signs of physical decline. He’s also the last remaining piece of that defensive line in need of future proofing.

At right back they’ve brought in Livramento, while Lewis Hall projects as the long term left back. With Botman ensconced at left side centre-back, a right sided option is needed.

Toon have been very careful with what they’ve spent, and how they’ve spent it, and don’t necessarily need someone who is going to be an immediate starter but this is a premium position where it is often worthwhile to spend significant money and invest in the best possible option.

Ousmane Diomande of Sporting CP is one of the best young defenders in the world, with immense potential for development, and looks tailor-made to slot in next to Botman and complete an impressive long term defence with huge upside. He’s rumoured to have a significant buy-out clause in his contract and if Toon were to buy him now he could spend the next few months settling in and learning the system before replacing Schar in the starting 11 next season.

Nottingham Forest

Since their return to the Premier League, Nottingham Forest have spent a lot of money on a lot of players. They have a stockpile of defenders and midfielders but are a little light in terms of strikers with Taiyo Awoniyi injured. It’s probably not a position worth investing in at this point though, because the Nigerian will return in March and Chris Wood is a capable short term deputy.

The bigger, more immediate need, is the goalkeeper position. Matt Turner and Odysseas Vlachodimos were both recruited in the summer and neither have looked anything like the answer to Forest’s problems between the sticks.

Last January they had an issue in the same position because of an injury to Dean Henderson and they solved it in the loan market. They should look to do similar this time, and with the same player.

Keylor Navas is out of contract in the summer and PSG are likely to be open to letting him leave for a small fee in this window. The 37 year old is not a long term solution but he is a significant upgrade on the existing options, brings a wealth of experience and has familiarity with the club already.