English Premier League: Choosing 1 Signing for Each of the Big 6

As we approach the 10-game run-in towards the end of the Premier League season, the title race is down to the wire, and the race for a Top Four finish is ever tenser.

Fourth-placed Arsenal have found a rich vein of recent form and are suddenly breathing down Tottenham’s necks, while Chelsea are in danger of dropping out of the Champions League qualification for the first time under Roman Abramovich’s ownership.

With seventh-placed Liverpool having secured Europa League football due to their Carling Cup, Newcastle having gatecrashed the Big Six party, the fight to finish in the Top Six won’t be easy either.

But let’s take a slight breather and look towards the future: Who can these clubs sign this summer that would take them to the next level? Who would provide that X-factor to push them to greater heights?

In this article, I choose one, and only one, signing for each of the Premier League’s Big Six—Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool—and feel free to discuss away in the comments below.

Liverpool: Karim Benzema

Let’s start with seventh-placed Liverpool.

Given their expensive transfer outlay last summer, Liverpool have endured an underwhelming season, which has been made all the more frustrating because of what could have been—they could well have found themselves right near the top of the table if not for their league-worst conversion ratio.

With the second best defensive record in the league and strength in numbers in the middle—even though midfield signings Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam have failed so far to justify their price tags—Kenny Dalglish more than recognizes the need to strengthen his forward ranks.

The harsh lesson presented to the Reds time and again this season has been that profligacy pays big time. A world-class striker would go some ways in solving their goal problems.

Step forward Karim Benzema.

For all of Benzema’s fantastic forward play for Real Madrid, the battle for a starting berth against Gonzalo Higuain refuses to end. Likewise speculation linking either striker with a move away.

Quick, powerful and good at finishing, Benzema also contributes to team play with his technique and awareness.

In a team that espouses pass-and-move football and also in desperate need for goals, Karim Benzema would prove a huge addition—and his first-team status at the Santiago Bernabeu makes him a more realistic capture than the likes of dream signings Edinson Cavani and Falcao.

Chelsea: Eden Hazard

Chelsea’s last major transfer success was Juan Mata, who was brought to Stamford Bridge to usher in a new era for the Blues.

With Andre Villas-Boas losing his job earlier this month and Fernando Torres’ spectacular failings in front of goal capturing the headlines, it’s safe to say that the new era hasn’t fully arrived yet.

Chelsea fans have seen the old guard—predominantly Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba—hang on to their usual important roles in the first team to the possible detriment of the club’s future. Their evergreen endurance and performance levels, while obviously on the wane, still render them indispensable.

And with owner Roman Abramovich’s strong preference for attractive attacking football, changing the team’s DNA is a hugely challenging task for the successor to the Blues hot seat.

But Eden Hazard would be quite the player to take Chelsea forward.

Having been linked with Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool in recent months, Hazard has gone on record saying he will be on the move this summer.

Aged 21, Hazard has the whole package—pace, dribbling, creativity, flair, finishing—and provides a whole new unpredictability factor to Chelsea’s attack that would generate real excitement.

Capable of filling into Lampard’s shoes in terms of assists and goals, he also brings an explosive turn of pace that would create space for his colleagues.

A front three of Hazard, Mata and an in-form Torres would strike fear into any European defence—if the latter is still at Stamford Bridge in September, that is.

Arsenal: Jan Vertonghen

The sole star of Arsenal’s strange, up-and-down season has been Robin van Persie, and if rumors are to be believed, he is about to be joined up front by German star Lukas Podolski.

Assuming that van Persie remains at the Emirates and Podolski does sign, Arsenal’s would be quite a forward line. With Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain rapidly maturing into the star that Theo Walcott hasn’t become, this would be an Arsenal attack coming into its prime.

The midfield, with the ever-accomplished Alex Song as its anchor, has a healthy mix of youth and experience as well.

It’s no surprise that the area Arsene Wenger most needs to strengthen is his defence. Per Mertesacker has proved a liability at times, while Johan Djourou’s clumsiness and Laurent Koscielny’s inconsistency have left Thomas Vermaelen short of a regular top-class center-back partner.

His old partner-in-crime at Ajax, Jan Vertonghen, would do quite nicely.

A strong, cultured defender, Vertonghen is a rising star and has been linked with a move to the Premier League. His experience working with Vermaelen previously and his leadership and temperament would make him instantly at home in the heart of the Arsenal defence.

His presence would shore up the leaky Gunners backline—and add a goal threat as well. What’s there not to like about this transfer?

Tottenham: Fernando Llorente

Currently placed third in the Premier League and a strong bet to finish within the Champions League qualification places regardless of Arsenal’s resurgence, Tottenham have been a revelation this season.

Making up for an at-times ponderous defence with a phenomenal attack capable of blitzing past the best defences, Harry Redknapp’s side have carved out a reputation as a fearless and confident unit.

With a world-class midfield behind a substantial strikeforce, one would think that their defence might need the heaviest fixing.

But it’s another rising star striker that could truly enable Tottenham to go to the next level.

Athletic Bilbao’s Fernando Llorente has been around the block for some time, but he’s made a significant impact on both the European and international level in recent years.

Stepping in for the injured and off-form Fernando Torres for the Spanish national team, he has shown pace and finishing as a powerful target man, and his contribution towards Bilbao’s scintillating dismantling of Manchester United in the Europa League last week only served to enhance his reputation.

The rumors linking Llorente with a move to Tottenham have been around for a while, but this time they might just come to fruition.

And if it does, he would add a world-class aerial threat to Tottenham’s frontline.

With crosses and passes from Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart to look forward to, Llorente would be spearheading a truly scary attack.

Manchester City: Thiago Silva

Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli, Edin Dzeko, Carlos Tevez; Yaya Toure, David Silva, Samir Nasri, Adam Johnson, Nigel de Jong, Gareth Barry, James Milner.

Need I elaborate more on Manchester City’s attack and midfield?

City’s results speak for themselves, and it’s the wonderful permutations that Roberto Mancini has at his disposal that have yielded some magnificent results this season.

In defence, right-back Micah Richards has come on leaps and bounds this season, while the left side is well stocked with quality in Aleksandr Kolarov and Gael Clichy.

But it’s through the center that they remain prone to a high-level defensive lapse from time to time, and it has proven costly at times.

With Stefan Savic proving his inexperience as first-choice cover for the City’s regular center-backs, Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott, City are in clear need of a top-class defender to provide the steel and assurance that Mancini has made a hallmark of his sides.

And who better to do that than Thiago Silva?

The AC Milan defender has become known as one of the world’s best defenders, and with good reason. His pace, strength and aerial ability have made him a mainstay in both Milan’s first team and the Brazilian national team.

Not to mention that the prestige linked with his signing would be a huge statement of City’s intent to compete at the highest echelons of European football.

Manchester United: Bastian Schweinsteiger

And now we arrive at the champions.

Manchester United might be facing an early exit from the Europa League, but there’s no denying the resilience and mental toughness of a Sir Alex Ferguson side.

Even while this team has been described as United’s weakest in many seasons, they have climbed back to the top of the Premier League table at the expense of several arguably more star-studded sides.

While a discussion on just how they do it is not for this article, the question is how they can build on a young exciting core for future seasons.

With all the hype surrounding Paul Scholes’ return to the United midfield, highlighting their troubles in replacing a true midfield maestro, this would be the key position for Ferguson to strengthen.

Wesley Sneijder has been linked, but there is no better choice than Bayern star Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Having started out his career as a winger, Schweinsteiger has reinvented himself as a classy midfield general, capable of both playmaking and scoring.

Now considered one of the premier midfielders in European football, Schweinsteiger would be a big-name capture for the Premier League champions, and one that might just reassert their powers on the biggest stage of all—the Champions League.

A Penny for Your Thoughts

Benzema, Hazard, Vertonghen, Llorente, Silva and Schweinsteiger.

Not only would these players make a more formidable Top Six, but they would increase the spectacle of the Premier League altogether.

I’ve made my picks. What about yours? Do you agree with my suggestions, or would you like to see other signings for these clubs?

A penny for your thoughts in the comments below.

If you liked this article, you might also be interested in 10 EPL Stars You Didn’t Know Were Still Playing. Please also check out my writer’s profile, where you can find more of my work, and my blog, The Red Armchair, for Liverpool match reactions and opinions.