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. This is the fifth and final part. The previous four can be found on by clicking here, here, here, and here.
This final piece is one of the trickier ones as it’s such a mixed bag of teams but let’s head to the Steel City first.
Sheffield United
It’s been a pretty disastrous season for the Blades thus far, as confirmed by their place at the bottom of the Premier League and only nine points to show for their 20 games so far.
While this season hasn’t felt as hopeless as their previous effort in the Premier League, they have only one point more than they did after 20 games of the 20/21, but unlike that season all hope is not lost. There are enough poor teams in the league this season that survival, while unlikely, is not impossible.
They have multiple major needs, a goalkeeper, a central defender or two, and a goalscorer. The only area they don’t need to address is the midfield, but they need help everywhere else.
The most urgent of those needs is probably a central defender. Outside of Ahmedhodzic, they simply do not own anyone good enough to be playing at the Premier League level and it’s an area they need to address.
Jacob Greaves of Hull City looks an ideal fit. Capable of playing in a 2 man pairing with Ahmedhodzic or as part of a three with the Bosnian and Austin Trusty the 23-year-old left-footer has the ideal size, speed, and ball-playing combination to be a success at the Premier League level but would likely not immediately push to leave should the Blades fail to survive the drop and could be part of a strong promotion push next season
Tottenham Hotspur
Season one of Ange Postecoglou has not been without it’s hiccups but must be seen as a success so far. Spurs sit 5th in the table, just one point behind Arsenal despite dealing with significantly more injury and suspension issues than their North London rivals.
The biggest need Spurs have is in central defence, as they have no cover for Cristian Romero and Micky Van de Ven. Van de Ven’s absence has hurt Spurs even more than that of James Maddison as they have been forced to use Ben Davies, Eric Dier and Emerson Royal in central defence, none of whom are ideal for a variety of reasons.
It does appear that Tottenham are set to strengthen in defence with the addition of Radu Dragusin of Genoa, an excellent young defender who will give them three starter quality defenders for the two positions. That will be very helpful given Romero is currently injured and does tend to miss games a little too frequently due to injuries and suspensions.
The next need for them is another midfielder. Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr have formed one of the best partnerships in the league this season, but both are now gone to AFCON. Bissouma has also had issues with suspensions and would be serving a four match ban for his second straight red card of the season if he was not away with his national team, while Sarr is young and needs to be managed carefully.
Tottenham do have other midfield options, like Rodrigo Bentancur, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, and Oliver Skipp but they don’t possess the same attributes as the starters and force Tottenham to change their style of play if one or both are missing. Spurs need someone that can fill in for Bissouma or Sarr, and allow the team to function the same way.
Ismael Kone of Watford stands out as someone that would make perfect sense. The Canadian international is a high-energy all-rounder who can be a ball winner, a box-to-box runner, and chip in with goals. At just 21 years of age he fits in with the younger profile of players that Tottenham have been targeting and having already adapted to life in England following his move to the Hornets a year ago shouldn’t need much of a settling in period.
West Ham United
The Hammers have been the most improved team in the Premier League based on where they were after 19 games of last season vs 19 games of this season. The confidence gained from winning the Europa Conference League coupled with good recruitment in the summer has made them a team reborn under David Moyes.
They aren’t the finished product though and could do with a couple of additions for depth as well as at least one starter. That starter is going to be expensive, as what’s most needed is a striker.
If West Ham could add a number 9 who could combine with Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus in the attacking midfield line, West Ham could potentially have one of the best attacks in Europe.
The player who makes the most sense for them is, unfortunately, injured and unlikely to be ready to play before March. That player would be Tammy Abraham. Signing a player, especially an expensive one, coming off an ACL tear is also a big risk and one West Ham might not be willing to take without seeing Abraham back on the pitch, looking sharp and playing well.
In which case the smart move for this summer might be to look for some defensive reinforcement at the fullback position. Recent reports have suggested that Vladimir Coufal is unhappy with the contract offer he received and would like to leave the club, in which case West Ham would do well to take a look at Lutsharel Geertruida of Feyenoord.
The 23-year-old Dutch international is strong defensively and very comfortable on the ball and would further solidify the Hammers backline.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Gary O’Neil has his team outperforming expectations, and playing some wonderful football at the same time.
The front three of Matheus Cunha, Hwang Hee-Chan, and Pedro Neto has been electric but unfortunately Neto’s recent injury and Hwang’s departure to the Asian Cup means it has not been available to O’Neil since late October and won’t be again until mid February.
With Sasa Kalajdzic departing on loan for Eintracht Frankfurt, Fabio Silva having joined Rangers on loan and Hwang set to miss up to a month due to international duty, the Midlands club might be wise to look for additional help in attack during this transfer window as Neto, Cunha and Pablo Sarabia, who himself is more of midfielder than a forward player, are the only remaining options.
O’Neil likely won’t have too much money to play with so Wolves might have to cast a wide net to find the right player to fit into how O’Neil wants to play. Someone with pace, versatility, good movement and creativity is what’s needed.
The ideal fit is Amine Gouiri of Rennes but as he, like Wolves left back Rayan Ait-Nouri, changed his national allegiance from France to Algeria he is gone to AFCON he would not be of help in the immediate future, so perhaps Wolves could look at his Rennes teammate Arnaud Kalimuendo.
The former PSG attacker is rumoured to be on the market and has been linked with a move to Eintracht Frankfurt but Wolves could offer the player a significantly more attractive financial package that might sway him.
As mentioned, money is likely to be tight for the Midlands club in this window so perhaps a loan with an obligation to buy in the summer, similar to the deal that brought Cunha to the club a year ago, is the type of move that would suit all parties and help Wolves financially.
