I absolutely love the transfer windows. Trying to guess and predict what each team will get within their budget is a fun game that I like to play. I did this before the season started in a separate blog and I got a few of the moves correct, to toot my own horn here. I did a perfect transfer regardless of transfer funds and a more realistic transfer, and I’m going to follow the same structure in this blog. I thought United should’ve gotten AWB, Spurs should get N’dombele and Chelsea should actually start and believe in their youth. Now after 10 Premier League games and various cup & European matches, we’re starting to see what each team needs and should peruse in the winter window. Let us look at how each of the “top six” needs to strengthen in the winter. Sorry, Leicester, who at the time of writing is 3rd, and sorry to Crystal fucking Palace, who are somehow in 6th. Ol’ turkey neck Roy Hodgson working his magic yet again. Yeah, I don’t know how United and Spurs have allowed this to happen, but it’s a good example of why these teams need to strengthen. Let’s begin with the lowest of the regular top 6 at the moment, and work our way up.
11th. Spurs
Perfect Transfer: Ricardo Pereria
Realistic Transfer: Matt Doherty
Spurs in the summer sold Kieran Trippier and went into this season with Kyle Walker-Peters and Serge Aurier as their main depth at Right Back and welllllllll that hasn’t gone well for spurs. KWP has fallen massively out of form and Serge Aurier is a just big comical error waiting to happen. He’s very reckless and gives away silly fouls, he’s not very reliable and his lack of quality is hurting Spurs backline that is aging like cottage cheese as opposed to wine. Here’s where my transfers come to save the day, as Pereria has cemented himself in the discussion as the best Right Back in the Prem and in the conversation for the top 5 RB’s in the world. His defensive capabilities are exceptional and is great moving forward, however, I feel as though Leicester won’t let him go for anything less than £60 mil, and I just can’t see spurs paying that. More realistically is Matt Doherty for Wolves, as he’s a very good RB who can also cover at Left Back as well. He completes 2 tackles and interceptions a game while completing less than a foul a game, which will be a massive upgrade on Aurier. With his price rumored in the £30 million range, I think he’d be a great buy for a Spurs side that needs to bolster their fullbacks.
7th. United
Perfect Transfer: James Maddison
Realistic Transfer: Well, still James Maddison
United have two big problems in my eyes, lack of depth at fullback and the lack of a pure number 10 on their squad that’s worth a shit, and while they can strengthen at full-back depth through youth, I think going out and signing a young English CAM is their best bet. Time for Leicester to make another appearance on this list, and for United to overpay for another one of their English players as James Maddison has lit the prem on more fire than a Will Grigg hangover piss in the state of California. He averages almost 2 key passes a game and plays over 2 successful long balls a game, which with United’s Pace up front would be a deadly combination. Now because he’s English and is a pure 10, I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes £100 mil to pry him out of the King Power stadium. However United easily has that in their budget and since he’s only 22 and has a long career ahead of him, I believe buying now is the best option for United.
5th: Arsenal
Perfect Transfer: Kai Havertz
Realistic Transfer: Amine Harit
Okay listen, I actually think that when healthy Arsenal has a decent defense that they need to try and build around, rather than throwing a new center back in the mix every 6 months. I say ride Holding & Chambers out and rotate Sokratis and David Luiz when needed, and with Tierney and Bellerin healthy, that’s a solid back 4. Their big issue to me is the lack of a pure CAM as well. I think Ozil’s time is up at Arsenal and they need to bolster at that position to give their front 3 some good service. While they do have Ceballos on loan the deal isn’t permanent and I believe he isn’t exactly what arsenal need from a midfielder. He is more of a number 8 than a pure number 10. Now Kai Havertz is insane, we all know that but he is realistically out of Arsenals price range, with his rumored fee being well over £100 mil and getting up closer to £150 mil from some reports. In comes Amine Harit, a Moroccan attacking mid from Schalke. In 9 appearances he has 4 goals and 2 assists, completes 2 key passes and 2.3 successful dribbles a game, 2 long balls and gets fouled a whopping 3.6 times. Awesome stats from a 22-year-old versatile mid who can play anywhere in midfield and even out wide. All that for around £40-50 million, that’s a bargain that Arsenal should definitely try to buy this winter.
3rd. Chelsea
Perfect Transfer: Yeah, about that
Realistic Transfer: Welp.
We had this issue before and well here it comes rearing it’s ugly head again. I said in the summer Chelsea needs to focus on selling deadweight and giving the youth a chance and they really have so far this season. Chelsea honestly has a great young side with a good manager, so it’s hard to find one specific area that needs a lot of bolstering anyway. Maybe center back depth or another attacking midfielder? But then again Chelsea have so much youth talent they could easily find a loanee to recall or wait for injuries to heal to fix these issues. I would say if the transfer ban is lifted a Willian and Pedro replacement, or just some good experience up front to help the youth out would be the best bet for Chelsea. I had a feeling this transfer ban would actually be good for Chelsea and it really has been amazing for them with the emergence of Tammy and Mount, honestly, this is a very dangerous team moving forward.
2nd. Man City
Perfect Transfer: Anyone who isn’t Otamendi
Realistic Transfer: Milan Skriniar
Contrary to popular belief, City doesn’t just throw £100 million at whim on whoever they want to buy. While the former is true, what is also true is the constant FFP breaches by making as many £40-50 million pound signings they want without ever having to sell a player or sign multiple high-end sponsorship deals to generate revenue like a normal club. However just because they don’t, doesn’t mean they can’t. They are very injured at center back, and need depth not only now but for the future as John Stones is very average on his own and they have no depth after him. Here comes Skriniar, the 26-year-old Inter Milan defender who has been in transfer talks for a while now, and I think it’s now or never for a transfer leaving the San Siro. His rumored price is around the £70 million pound mark, which is literally loose change for blood money FC. You could honestly put whatever good center back you want here instead of Skriniar, I just chose him bc I feel like he’s a likely mover from Inter and City are in desperate need for a center back. I’m honestly just bored of City so let’s move on to the current European champions. (yes that was shade)
1st: Liverpool
Perfect Transfer: Isco
Realistic Transfer: Hakim Ziyech
European champions and perennial premier league bottlers, my club Liverpool are last but certainly not least. Liverpool’s biggest issue is depth all around, specifically wide up front and at fullback. If we want to compete for a double this season we need more depth at every position. Now, this can be done in a few ways; buying cheap players at multiple positions, or instead Klopp’s recent philosophy of buying players that play multiple positions well. Now again, I feel fullback depth is much easier to fill with youth, so we are focusing on players much further up the pitch. This is where Isco comes in. If you don’t know what Isco is capable of, please watch a youtube complication you uncultured animal. He is sensational and is out of form at Real Madrid (has been for a while now actually) which means he’s a lot cheaper than what he normally would be. That being said, I don’t see Klopp spending another £60 mil on a player when Hakim Ziyech exists and is available for £25 mil as we speak and does almost everything Isco can do just as good if not even better for less than half the price. Ziyech has 14 goal involvements in 1040 minutes, which to put it into context is a goal or assist every seventy-four minutes. That’s exceptional regardless of what league you play in. He completes on average 3 key passes, 4 long balls, 2 dribbles, 4 shots, 2 on target, and attempts SEVEN CROSSES A GAME. The guy is a machine, he can play anywhere in midfield and on the right-wing, he is the best purchase in the world for the money at the moment, we were dumb to not get him in the summer and we would be even dumber to not get him now.
So, there you have it. I hope I’m right for some of these teams (Liverpool buy Ziyech or so help me god) but I probably won’t be. Regardless, I love doing these types of blogs and I love transfer season. So, I hope TransferClaus brings all you boys and girls great gifts this holiday season, and I look forward to speaking with you guys again soon. Take care.
Author: Logan Smith - 22, from Florida. Liverpool fan for 4 years now, also just a huge fan of the sport of football. You can find me on twitter @lxteralus