Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea NEED three key man signings in January transfer window including Prem star and JT clone | All Football

JANUARY is an extremely difficult transfer window for clubs to shop in.

Player value is at a real premium because no one wants to take the risk of weakening their position by selling one of their best players.

That, however, does not stop the rumor mill from turning as players will be continuously linked with moves throughout the month.

However, it is inevitable that there will be some movement at the top level, with the heavy financial blows likely to drive moves due to affordability at this time of year.

Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United are three such clubs who are said to be keeping deals in January.

Below we look at one profile that each club should target to achieve their respective goals of challenging for the title and the top four bids to move away from relegation and towards European contention.

Chelsea

Considering how trigger happy they have been since Clearlake took over under Todd Boehly, it won’t be out of the ordinary to suggest that Chelsea will be active this winter.

However, despite having one of the most bloated squads in top-level football, they still lack quality options in the middle of defence.

These days teams seem to favor central defenders who are extremely comfortable with the ball at their feet and can contribute in the build-up to their team.

But if we think back to Jose Mourinho’s most dominant Chelsea side, their former captain John Terry was at the back – a defensive player who was more comfortable in tackles and contests than he was in line-breaking passes.

This is the profile Chelsea are currently missing in their squad’s defensive unit, and to that end 20-year-old Lens star Abdukodir Khusanov would be a perfect fit.

The young Uzbek international is in his first season in France’s Ligue 1 but is already being linked with big moves across the continent.

He is powerful, aggressive and dominant and fits the age profile Chelsea have tried to recruit, meaning he still has levels he can improve to.

Khusanov is the definition of an attacking and forward-footed defender and this is where he profiles in a similar way to Terry in his prime.

He is comfortable defending tight in 1v1 situations where the opposition striker looks to post with his back to the defender to receive the ball and allow his team to move the ball forward.

He is also, however, comfortable and able to defend large areas of space showing mobility in his movements to cover large areas.

The biggest criticism of him at the moment is that he can be over-aggressive in challenges at times, although that only tends to endear him more to the fans of the team he plays for.

Signing a player like Khusanov would bring a profile to the squad that Chelsea are missing.

Arsenal

Arsenal under Mikel Arteta feel they are so close to creating the right environment with their squad building in order to take the next step and win the Premier League.

Still, the Christmas period brought a real suction punch with Bukayo Saka sidelined through injury until March, meaning they simultaneously lost a reliable set-piece taker.

The profile Arsenal are missing at the moment is a striker who can create for others but also plays on the back line and threatens the space behind the defense and between opposition defenders to score for himself.

Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz have quality, but neither feels Arsenal really need to make that final step.

That’s where Newcastle striker Alexander Isak comes into the equation.

The Swedish forward has 13 goals and four assists in all competitions this season, and although he won’t come cheap he would represent value for Arsenal.

Isak has shades of Thierry Henry to his game, without the electric pace of the Frenchman, and very often we see him pulling into the channels on the right side of the field.

This type of movement makes him difficult to mark properly and we often see him start in these areas and then make clever moves into the middle with timing to attack the line last.

Crucially, Isak is a player who thrives in the final third and would suit a team, like Arsenal, who are extremely dominant in possession.

Arsenal have often had to rely on Saka or Martin Odegaard to make something happen.

But adding a player like Isak to this group would provide another option in attack, and as such the 25-year-old feels like the perfect signing for the Gunners.

There’s no doubt it will be extremely expensive – with a £150m price tag being floated around – but if they want to keep Liverpool this season they really need to look at this kind of deal.

Manchester United

At the halfway point of the 2024/25 season, Man Utd sit in 14th place in the Premier League at the turn of the year.

They have already sacked Erik ten Hag and replaced him with two-time Portuguese league winner Ruben Amorim, although the results are yet to pick up.

Indeed, these are the problems the Red Devils face that cannot be “fixed” in one winter transfer window.

A complete squad rebuild is on the cards across several windows to bring in players who fit Amorim’s system and have the quality to play for Man Utd.

You could argue that a central defender, midfielder and forward would all make sense, but more than anything United are missing a consistent and dangerous goalscorer on the back line.

And a proven quantity for Amorim at Sporting Lisbon in the form of Viktor Gyokeres could be the perfect solution to their goalscoring woes.

The 26-year-old is a powerful striker who can lead the line and play on the opposition’s last line of defense and is ideal for the type of football Amorim wants to play at United.

None of Rasmus Hojlund, Joshua Zirkzee and Marcus Rashford have the ideal profile for the position, as they are too raw, prefer to drop deep or prefer to play in wider areas respectively.

The speed and movement of a striker like Gyokeres would force the opposition teams to play deeper and make the Red Devils more effective on the ball in the attacking phase.

This would be very effective for when United try to attack in transition and, of course, he has also proven himself to be an excellent goalscorer, with 62 goals for club and country in 2024.

There is a real sense that the United board need to be prepared to back Amorim in January to give their coach a chance to at least compete for a place in the Europa League or Conference places.

Signing a forward like Gyokeres would go some way to helping them achieve those goals.

Conclusion

There is rarely any real value in the market in January.

At the top of the Premier League, however, there is still an effort for clubs to strengthen in order to give themselves the best chance of finishing as high as possible.

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