The January transfer window is just under two months away from opening, and several teams will undoubtedly look into the market to improve their squads in the middle of this season and beyond. In this article, we will look at the top three teams that need to make improvements. While January transfers are relatively rare as teams don’t want to disrupt their squad in the middle of the season, teams will often have to pay a premium to attract players in January due to this fact.
Liverpool
Liverpool are flying high and are currently top of both the Premier League and UEFA Champions League. New coach Arne Slot has had the luxury of inheriting a squad that already knows what it’s like to compete at the highest level. However, there have been one or two moments this season where Liverpool have shown the occasional fragility. Take for example their 2-2 draw against Arsenal, where winger Bukayo Saka got the better of Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson, and allowed him to score the opening goal for the Gunners.
With this weakness at left-back, in addition to the injury-prone defender Ibrahima Konate and aging Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool would do well to add a utility player who can cover both left-back and center-back. Manchester City is a team that utilizes these types of players, such as Nathan Ake and Josko Gvardiol, as well as Arsenal’s Riccardo Calafiori.
Arsenal
Arsenal has fallen off a bit recently, currently sitting in 5th place and on a run of 4 winless games in the Premier League. Although many pundits have tipped them to win the league this season, they are still lacking one obvious type of player to see them over the line: a proper out-and-out striker. It seems like Arsenal have been in pursuit of this type of player for multiple seasons, and their current strikers Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus are too inconsistent to challenge for the Premier League.
Manager Mikel Arteta has tried to utilize Havertz in a multitude of different attacking roles, but it seems nothing has quite worked for the German at the Emirates yet. While Arsenal have added much-needed reinforcements in defense and midfield — such as Calafiori and Mikel Merino — they still need a talisman for Saka to feed balls into before they are considered real contenders.
Manchester United
New manager Ruben Amorim is set to take the reins at Old Trafford during this international break, with interim coach Ruud van Nistelrooy shown the door. Amorim has been well-known for utilizing a 3-4-3 formation that worked so well for him at Sporting Lisbon, and suggestions point to him continuing this style at Manchester United. But does United have the players to effectively play this formation?
They likely need another striker, a left-footed defender, and a midfielder before they can begin to utilize this formation. Amorim will have to dip into the January market should he get funds from new owners INEOS, who have already laid out a large sum of money just to sack previous manager Erik ten Hag. Amorim may have to get creative with his personnel in the meantime.
