Every Premier League Club's Biggest Transfer Need in the 2026 Winter Window
That slow rumbling thunder in the distance is the sound of 1,000 January transfer rumours being cranked into life.
Somehow, we're close to the vital point of the season when Premier League teams can invest in the improvements they desperately need to meet their goals.
Here's one position for every team that could make an instant difference.
Arsenal: Striker
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I'm of the opinion Viktor Gyokeres is doing well.
However, niggling injury concerns and Kai Havertz's extended stay on the treatment table suggest Arsenal still need a bit more up front. Mikel Arteta doesn't have a lightning-quick striker to call on.
Maybe Gabriel Jesus can finally get himself back to fitness, but honestly, it's been so long that it's difficult to even count him as part of the manager's plans. A younger, fitter option is needed for backup as Arsenal ramp up towards a title charge.
Aston Villa: Striker
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Unai Emery's Aston Villa are beginning to warm up, but the drop-off in Ollie Watkins is alarming.
One goal in 13 Premier League appearances is far from what we have come to expect from a man who was sending England to the Euro 2024 final not too long ago. Jhon Duran's exit means he's got no one pushing him, and he'll be on the team by default. The pair really gave Emery a headache that Villa needed to maintain standards.
It's now a question of who will bounce off Watkins and try to feed him, rather than who can keep him at the top level through the threat of being dropped. He's nearly 30, and those summer transfer rumours of a move to a bigger club seem a world away.
Bournemouth: A Versatile No. 10
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Fair play to Eli Junior Kroupi. He slotted in during Evanilson's absence excellently and has quashed any fears Bournemouth need to go into a difficult striker market for the time being.
However, Cherries manager Andoni Iraola may want to see things settle behind him.
Antoine Semenyo's electric start to the season is likely to see him sold in the summer, if not January. Players like Justin Kluivert, David Brooks, and Marcus Tavernier all offer something to the team. None feel nailed on or are contributing like Kluivert managed last season. Finding a top-quality No. 10 who can become a fixture in the team is the next evolution for this fun squad.
Brentford: Striker
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First things first: Igor Thiago is playing very well for Brentford. It's a testament to his hard work that, after missing 38 matches upon arrival, he's recovered from injury to score nine in 12 games.
However, the Bees will struggle if he gets injured again. They have no Bryan Mbeumo backup. Kevin Schade hasn't proved himself as a striker, and Fabio Carvalho is out for the season.
Manager Keith Andrews must find someone in the Eddie Nketiah mould at Crystal Palace; obviously second-best but can do a job.
Brighton & Hove Albion: A Central Midfielder
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It's very likely Brighton will have a Carlos Baleba-shaped hole soon.
Manchester United's interest isn't going away, even if Baleba's form has dipped this season after an unsettled summer. At 21, he's an excellent young midfielder whose wide array of qualities will suit a top Premier League side for many years to come.
Just like Moises Caicedo before him, Brighton soon face the challenge of unearthing another talent who can plug the gap in midfield for a couple of years before earning them a large sum.
Burnley: Centre-Back
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There's no doubt the promoted clubs are all better prepared than others have been in recent years. You feel there's a chance of at least one (Sunderland) or two staying up.
Burnley are just starting to slow down after a decent opening and now have three losses in a row. They need a true leader at the back.
Axel Tuanzebe, Maxime Esteve, Hjalmar Ekdal, and Joe Worrall aren't options that are going to keep many sides out, even though they're flanked by quality in Kyle Walker and Quilindschy Hartman. One of those central players, along with someone with more league experience, could serve them well.
Chelsea: Centre-Back
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It's hard to judge if Chelsea need to reinvest at striker, but right now, the constant switching up at centre-back feels like it requires a solution.
The Blues have a bunch of decent players to choose from, but Trevoh Chalobah is perhaps the only centre-back you'd be confident in building something around.
Great Chelsea teams were built on a rock-solid two, think John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho, and the soft centre continues to threaten Enzo Maresca's progress.
The Blues are in second but have conceded more than Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa below them. That's something they need to improve on to really take the next step.
Crystal Palace: Centre-Back
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Only Arsenal have conceded fewer goals than Crystal Palace this campaign.
Oliver Glasner is a smart manager who has drilled his team to be one of the best in the league. But, and it's a big but, Marc Guehi is destined to wave goodbye in the coming months. That's a bedrock of the team gone.
Palace's replacement will need to slot in with the same effort and quality. It could be an idea to find someone in January. Giving them time to settle, and even work with Guehi, should make the transition easier for all.
Everton: Striker
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Beto and Thierno Barry have a combined total of one goal in 22 appearances this season.
Defensive midfielder Idrissa Gueye and centre-back Michael Keane have two each. Iliman Ndiaye, by far the Toffees' best player, is leading the way with four from the wing. He needs help.
No team with Ndiaye and Jack Grealish down the flanks should be struggling for goals. It's more than that, though. Neither Beto nor Barry has shown enough in other parts of their play. A touch here or there to link things together isn't enough.
Everton manager David Moyes is continuing to flit between the two because neither has offered anywhere near enough consistency to fully get behind at this level.
Fulham: Winger
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It definitely feels like Fulham are approaching a point when quite a few things are going to change soon.
Manager Marco Silva keeps getting linked with other jobs. Strikers Raul Jimenez and Rodrigo Muniz also fill the rumour columns. Even so, the more immediate issue seems to be finding more creativity from wide areas.
Harry Wilson is capable of the spectacular but is often more impactful from the bench. He's holding down a starting berth more than we've seen in the Premier League, indicating there's little trust in Adama Traore. Kevin is still warming up in the division, but his potential is clear.
Fulham are a good side. They are meandering, though, and matching second-bottom Burnley's goalscoring output. It's important the club ensure they keep up with the pace of progress shown by other mid-table teams.
Leeds: Centre-Back
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There's no faulting Leeds United's commitment.
Daniel Farke's side is everything you'd expect from an Elland Road team: combative, passionate, and ready to put their body on the line. However, there are moments when a little more nous is needed.
Like Burnley, finding a centre-back who is battle-hardened at this level feels a necessary step to staying up.
There's nothing wrong with Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk, but there's just nothing especially impressive about them. They don't complement each other well, either.
Liverpool: Centre-Back
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A difficult question for Liverpool fans to consider: Would Arne Slot's side be doing better if Guehi was signed over Alexander Isak? The two were likely never mutually exclusive, but it's not a good sign that this question can be seriously considered.
The Reds have now lost six of their last seven league matches. That includes conceding three to Brentford and three to Nottingham Forest. Jeremie Frimpong has missed so much playing time through injury. Milos Kerkez is in poor form and keeps losing his place to Andy Robertson, the man he was meant to replace.
Most prominently, Ibrahima Konate's contract runs out at the end of the season, and there are suggestions he won't stay on. In all honesty, Virgil van Dijk needs a better reader of the game alongside him.
Guehi is the perfect pick. It should have happened by now.
Manchester City: Right-Back
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Calling a right-back a right-back is never quite correct with Pep Guardiola.
The Manchester City boss plucked Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolves in the summer. He's going through the typical City experience of recent times: a niggling injury and victim to Pep roulette when fit. He's a proven Premier League entity and will improve the team offensively when he can put together a run of games.
With that said, the balance in defence isn't quite right. City are missing prime Kyle Walker; someone with recovery pace in the middle and a key player for man-marking dangerous individuals.
This squad's transition started last January and is only going to get tougher as players such as John Stones and Bernardo Silva head towards their twilight years. Guardiola needs to fill in some of those defensive archetypes that have served him so well during City's best era, starting with the Walker type.
Manchester United: Central Midfielder
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Ruben Amorim desperately needs an athletic and mobile defensive midfielder to take on a huge workload at Manchester United.
Casemiro is much improved this season. At 33, his minutes are rightfully being managed. United drop off when he's not on the pitch, which, in truth, is also an issue when any of the starting XI have to come off. The squad depth just isn't there.
Amorim's tactics do elevate this, as he relies on his midfielders to do so much running when they're nearly always outnumbered. He sees Kobbie Mainoo more of a Bruno Fernandes type, which is curious considering how deep he's used the captain this campaign.
United are doing OK right now, thanks to some shrewd summer signings that bolstered the attack. The next step is to plug the gap that so many teams exploit through their soft centre. Whether that's Carlos Baleba or someone else, the club needs to act decisively and get it right this winter.
Newcastle United: A No. 10
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I did not rate Newcastle's decision to spend £55 million on Anthony Elanga in the summer. He may come good, but right now, he's sitting on zero goals and assists in 18 appearances across all competitions.
Increased expectations at the club ensure this type of signing is going to be judged quickly. For me, the money could have been better spent on a No. 10.
Eddie Howe is lucky enough to have a good array of wingers to choose from and one of the best midfields in the league. Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, and Sandro Tonali are a difficult trio to outfight. Even so, there's sometimes too big a gap between the midfield and the forward line.
Maybe Nick Woltemade will drop back slightly when Yoane Wissa is fit to slot into the hole. Howe would be brave to change his role after such a great goalscoring start, and it may be better to find a creative player who naturally buzzes around that part of the pitch.
Rayan Cherki was linked in the summer and would have been perfect.
Nottingham Forest: Full-Back
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Ola Aina's injury compounded a difficult start for Nottingham Forest, who are onto their third manager already this season.
Sean Dyche is already undoing the winless tenure of Ange Postecoglou, proving that balance and doing the simple things well are enough to improve a talented group of players.
It's not sexy, but Dyche needs more cover in the full-back positions. Neco Williams is working overtime due to his ability to play on either side. Nicolo Savona had a memorable game against Liverpool and popped up with the second goal.
However, this is a long season, and the squad also has Europe to contend with. A specialist left-back who can fill in elsewhere would just ease things.
Sunderland: Winger
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There's zero faulting Sunderland this season. They had a terrific summer. It's not often a promoted team makes so many signings and immediately gels.
Everyone at the club should be proud of a 12-game start that has them a point ahead of defending champions Liverpool.
Manager Regis Le Bris is getting so much from his players. It feels like nitpicking to say Simon Adingra is arguably the only incoming player whose performances leave something to be desired. We've seen what he can do with Brighton and on the international stage. He's currently not at that level.
There are moments when a little more cutting edge from wide could help solidify all the great performances that have already seen Sunderland beat Chelsea, plus draw with Arsenal and Palace.
Tottenham Hotspur: Winger
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Dejan Kulusevski's return may actually solve this. Thomas Frank's wingers did so much work for him at Brentford, and it's not filtering through at Spurs.
Brennan Johnson's output has slowed, and Mohammed Kudus is playing well but needs to score more goals. Richarlison and Mathys Tel toe the line of being strikers who might need to play on the wing and wingers who could play in the middle. Their roles don't seem to be locked.
Kulusevski's energy and movement are a huge loss to this squad, particularly at a time when they're still looking to replace Son Heung-Min. The Swede naturally moves centrally and helps Spurs overload the opposition defence. This could, in turn, unlock Xavi Simons, who is isolated and struggling to find his teammates.
West Ham United: Goalkeeper
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Writing this on the weekend, Alphonse Areola matched Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak's seasonal output with an assist, which could seem harsh. Saturday aside, West Ham United's goalkeepers have provided constant worry that a mistake is just around the corner this season.
In fact, Mads Hermansen should be considered a candidate for worst signing of the summer. Constantly flapping and conceding from corners, he's out of the team and unlikely to come back.
Hammers boss Nuno Espirito Santo has managed to tighten things up since replacing Graham Potter, yet there's always the sense he will be let down by whoever he chooses in goal.
West Ham have many ongoing issues (will the club ever sign a striker who is capable of scoring?), but their vulnerability at the back is the biggest threat to their stay in the Premier League.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Versatile Forward
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A few stats to sum up Wolves' misery this season: They are bottom of the division with zero wins and two points from 12 matches. They have both conceded the most goals and scored the fewest, resulting in the worst goal difference of -27. Nobody in the squad has more than one goal in the Premier League.
Look back at the summer, and Jorgen Strand Larsen was constantly followed by rumours he could join Newcastle. He scored 14 in his debut season, an excellent output. At the current rate, he'll end this year with four at best.
Tolu Arokodare was brought in to ease the load and is suffering the fate of so many who are successful in other countries: being eaten up by a much tougher standard.
The cynic in me suggests Wolves' signings and decision to bring in Rob Edwards as manager may point towards setting up for the Championship. They need a positive, quicker forward to play with their two big boys if they're to escape any other fate. Someone who lifts the team with their energy and desire to get on the ball.
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