January 2022 Transfer Window

[El brooko79]

To put it in perspective, if we get through our quarter final with Tottenham we will play 17 games between the 20th Nov and 15th Jan, that's 17 games in only 57 days with the Europa knock out stages beginning again in Feb. If we really want to target a trophy and a top 6 finish, we are going to either need a huge amount of luck with injuries (and Antonio somehow playing twice a week) or some re-enforcements

It's a good point.
But tbh we can't do anything about 17 games in 57 days as most of them are before the window opens.

3rd round of fa cup will be back up squad.

But we certainly do need to be able to go full strength in the EL knockouts and league so a couple of decent signings needed to play from Feb.

[Gsbgsb]

Will know lot more before the window opens. Have we qualified for the semis of the league cup? Did we win our Europa group, in which case I do not think we would play until March. This could see a reduction of 4 games from the possible fixture list for January/February.

Absent any injury issues by the end of that month I can see one “first team” signing in January (permanent or loan) and that will be another attacking player. People speak of Hlozek but by comparison Sima (a similar young talent) has still to make a start for Stoke I believe. I would be most surprised if Hlozek was brought/loaned in January for anything other than development purposes.

[stu1]

There's only two league games in the five weeks from January 2nd and we are in a bit of state if we are saying Vlasic, Lanzini, Yarmolenko, Masuaku, Noble etc aren't able to give us a couple of starts in Benrahma's absence.

It's not just about the starting players it is about the bench. Currently if we are chasing the game with a fully fit squad our only viable attacking options are Lanzini (decent option), Vlasic who is yet to settle and Yarmolenko who is clearly past it and has zero pace.

If Benny is off to ACON and we have just one injury to any of our other forwards players, that would mean both Lanzini and Vlasic starting, leaving the lacklustre Yarmolenko as the only real attacking option on our bench.

Ok we might only have a couple of prem games, but we could also have arguably two of the biggest games in our recent history in the form of two Carbao Cup semi finals, as well as a 3rd run FA Cup tie which knowing our luck will be a tough tie. I for one would be gutted if we missed out on the chance of being the Carabao final due to the obvious hole in our squad.

If really hope Moyes/the new head scout have a striker lined up for early in the window (if we beat Tottenham in the quarters), with the inevitable Lingard saga hopefully coming to a positive close later in the month.

[Bubbles Fortuna]

I'd be looking at Adebayo (Luton), Brereton (Blackburn), and Mohamed Bayo (Clermont), to come in and adapt to the league ready for next season.

I'd sign Brereton + one of the other two, if they hit the ground running like Bowen, great.

If Man Utd relent over Lingard I'd add him in too.

Then it depends on our thought on Kral, and whether or not we can find a young Left Back to shadow Cresswell and eventually replace him.

[bubbles1966]

Any player we sign needs to be ready straight away if we are looking to seize an opportunity, an opportunity that may not be there next season.

I would expect Moyes to want the same as he did in the summer - players immediately able to participate/challenge/start.

Assuming our form of the last 18 months holds, we'll be chasing a top 4 spot and be on target for a 70 point season. In that scenario, the trusty PL loan option probably disappears with all bar the top 2 or 3. If I was Man U, I wouldn't loan/sell us Lingard, for example.

So, that may well mean our option would be to a big continental club for a solution. Who's available at Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, PSG etc? Either that or we go into a "Europa league" level league to find someone.

[S-H]

At this point, Lingard would be an excellent addition (again)

[funky chicken]

This one would be probably more for the summer window. But one player that has really impressed me and I believe would be a realistic signing if his current club gets relegated is that Maxwel Cornet at Burnley. He’s mostly played on the left, but has played up front in the past and even recently for Burnley.

It’s early days yet. So I’d want to see if he continues to play well for the rest of the season. But he could be a very shrewd signing. And ticks the boxes of a typical Moyes signing. I.e. Versatile, hard working, from a club near the bottom. They only paid £15m for him. So if Burnley are relegated we may well be able to get him for £20m(ish).

[Bucksexile]

Left back and center forward.

Job done.

That would REALLY strengthen the squad.

Top 4 finish.

Champion league.

Happy days

[kitthehammer]

Left back and center forward.

Job done.

That would REALLY strengthen the squad.

Top 4 finish.

Champion league.

Happy days

I concur. A back up left back is essential.
I wish people would stop banging on about Lingard although i would rather he came in and Yarmolenko went out, but then rather have neither if it meant instead we got a centreforward to back up Antonio who can win the ball, hold the ball and score goals.

[IronZ-79]

Yarmalenko is gone at the end of the season so Lingard coming in would replace him.

I think we need a CF, CM and LB.

These are the key positions where we need to find some recent options over the next two windows

[funky chicken]

One thing to bare in mind with Lingard is does he want to move down South? Yes, obviously he was happy to for us last season. But doing so for 4-5 months is different to doing so for 2-4 years.

On top of that, unless Man Utd have no choice I can’t imagine them wanting to sell to a possible rival. They’d probably rather lose him to us for nothing next summer. As the money they’d lose for Lingard is nothing compared to missing out on a Champions League place.

I can definitely see Newcastle coming in for Lingard. But my dark horses are Everton. I have a feeling they may come in for him.

[YorksHammer]

Might be one of the first January windows where we go in without thinking we need one or two players to pull us up a bit - assuming form sticks and fatigue doesn't kick in in the next couple of months, I guess.

Feels like a conversation we've had endlessly on here, especially over the summer, but I would try for Hlozek over Lingard. Younger, can play as the lone striker as well as in the attacking midfield spots, and still showing their form from the previous season(s) in the Czech Republic.

But it's more of a future thinking signing. Heck, we could even sign Hlozek in January but let him stay at Sparta on loan through the rest of the season, I don't think that would hurt his development or us. He'd come in for Yarmolenko come the end of his contract.

There's a few interesting contract situations coming up which expire next summer where we have maybe been linked in the past - Belotti, Boubacar Kamara, Zakaria, Tarkowski. Might see a few of those linked.

[EastleighHammer16]

Belotti is out of contract in the summer. Offer them some money in January and we could get him in.

[steveyrockstar]

We're being linked with the Fulham kid Fabio Carvalho again, who's rejecting a new contract at Fulham. He is a very, very exciting prospect. Leeds and Real Madrid also credited with interest.

[HammerAl]

I'd be looking at a few youngsters:

- Josh Doig
- Fabio Carvalho (out of contract in summer)
- Adam Hlozek

I can't see Moyes wanting to bring in too many players - he won't want to work with a big squad or upset the applecart - but the above would set us up nicely for the future.

[steveyrockstar]

If we're still competing for Europa, top 4/6, FA Cup and even League Cup in Jan, then we're definitely going to need 1 or 2 new players who can come in and make an impact straight away. Injuries, fatigue, form and AFCON are all likely to start impacting us in the new year. If we hadn't signed Lingard on loan last Jan, we'd never had held out for top 6 (imo), although our squad is stronger this season.

We will at least need another striker/forward for sure.

Let's not blow what we can achieve this season. We don't want to upset the apple cart, but a bit more quality strength in depth, and we can do something.

[Denzil]

I think Lingard is essential and the reasons are three-fold. A) He improves us. B) We lose Benrahama in a key part of the season and Vlasic is still unproven C) he'll go to a rival and strengthen them if we do not sign him (Spurs?).

[S-H]

I think Lingard is essential and the reasons are three-fold. A) He improves us. B) We lose Benrahama in a key part of the season and Vlasic is still unproven C) he'll go to a rival and strengthen them if we do not sign him (Spurs?).

Yep.
Yep.
Yep.

[YorksHammer]

I think Lingard is essential and the reasons are three-fold. A) He improves us. B) We lose Benrahama in a key part of the season and Vlasic is still unproven C) he'll go to a rival and strengthen them if we do not sign him (Spurs?).

We'll only definitely lose Benrahma for three games - the FA Cup third round tie, in which he might not even play if he were here, Leeds at home, and Man United away. Potentially also Watford at home, but that fixture is after the end of the tournament and if Algeria don't reach the semi-final (they won in 2019, so I guess it's fully possible) then he should be back well in advance of that game.

Frankly, if between Vlasic, Yarmolenko, and Lanzini we can't fill those 270-360 minutes of football sufficiently and have to go and sign Lingard for more money and wages, I'm not sure why we've bothered spending money last summer on the former, and why we haven't already cut our losses on the other two.

I'd rather we gave Vlasic 3/4 starts in that period than go out and spend on someone new.

[Croydon]

I'm not sure we will go in for a CF as Moyes will probably want to go for El Nesyri again in the summer.