Arsenal Transfers: 5 January Signings That Could Save Arsene Wenger's Job

Arsene Wenger is one of the most successful football managers in the history of the Premier League.

Since he arrived at Arsenal in 1996, he's won three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, and another four FA Community Shields. The things he's done for the Gunners are incredible—absolutely incredible.

Not only has he won 11 trophies, but he turned Arsenal from a mid-table club into one of the most elite clubs in Europe, having Arsenal playing Champions League football every year for over a decade.

He completed an entire Premier League season undefeated—something that's never been done before—and let's not forget his construction of the Emirates Stadium, now known as one of the most beautiful football grounds in the world.

Before Wenger arrived at Arsenal, the Gunners were one of the thugs of the Premier League. But through the Frenchman's faith in young players and his philosophy of how the game should be played beautifully, Arsenal are now playing the prettiest football in the top tier.

However, for the first time in his 15 years as the manager of Arsenal, Wenger's job is under pressure. The Gunners haven't won a trophy since the 2004-05 season, and fans are becoming increasingly impatient with the lack of silverware at the Emirates.

Last season, Arsenal came to close to ending their trophy drought, but in the end their shaky defense was at fault for providing the Gunners with yet another disappointing season. Arsene Wenger was highly criticized for not making the right transfers during the summer, as Arsenal have endured their worst start to a Premier League season in 58 years.

But the January transfer window will give Wenger a second chance. He can stabilize his injury-ridden squad with transfers that will bring fans back to his side and potentially turn the Gunners' season around.

Here are the five transfers Arsene Wenger should make in January that could possibly save "the Professor's" job.

Gary Cahill

Just about every single club has been linked to Gary Cahill—Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and now even Barcelona are in on it.

But I don't think any club has been more strongly linked to the defender than Arsenal. And that's because the Gunners are desperately in need of a man like Cahill to turn their shaky defense into a solid one.

The funny thing is, Arsenal preferred starting back four would be Gibbs, Vermaelen, Mertesacker and Sagna, which sounds like a sturdy defense. That's because, well, it is a sturdy defense.

But with Vermaelen injured half the time and Sagna out for three months, Arsenal need to add defenders to their squad to make sure that one injury doesn't ruin their entire season.

Cahill is just about perfect. He's very strong on set-pieces, both attacking and defending; he's a physically a strong player and can muscle attackers off the ball. Then to wrap it all up, he's used to playing a flowing game of football under Owen Coyle and has no trouble adjusting to "the Arsenal Way." Best of all, he's not injury-prone, and you can expect him to play a 30-plus game season.

We all know Cahill's price tag may be a bit hefty, with Bolton wanting at least 15 million pounds for the Englishman, but we also all know that Arsenal certainly have the money. I'm all for Arsene Wenger and his philosophies, but I think he should ignore his principles just this once and buy the player who would turn the Gunners back into serious title contenders.

Salomon Kalou

Salomon Kalou is currently in the final year of his contract at Chelsea, and it's not looking like he'll stay at Stamford Bridge.

With Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka and now Daniel Sturridge all ahead of Kalou in the Blues' depth chart, the Ivorian international just can't manage to fit his way into the starting 11.

Chelsea will be looking to sell Kalou in January to make sure they don't lose him for free this summer, opening up the perfect opportunity for Arsenal to add another solid forward to their ranks.

The Gunners currently have one of the best strikers in the world in Robin Van Persie, but his only back-ups at Arsenal are Marouane Chamakh and Park Chu-Young. Van Persie has been out of the physio room for a while now, but an injury could strike at any time as the Dutchman is notorious for his proneness to injury.

Kalou is actually an excellent forward, he just can't get off of a bench that's extremely stacked. His dribbling skills are brilliant, but more importantly he's a classic selfish striker, exactly what Arsenal need. The Gunners are currently lacking a hitman, a striker who's always waiting for the cross or through ball. Of course, Van Persie is a better player than Kalou, but he often drops back into midfield and isn't the type of forward to wait for the perfect ball.

On top of all this, Kalou shouldn't take much time to gel with the rest of the Arsenal squad as he's from the Ivory Coast—a French-speaking African country.

I doubt Chelsea would demand more than 10 million pounds for their out-of-favour striker, so Wenger shouldn't pass up the opportunity to add a solid forward to his depth chart.

Yann M'Vila

If you watched Arsenal versus Spurs, you probably noticed how easy it was for Tottenham to get through Arsenal's midfield on counter attacks.

Sure, Alex Song is usually there to make a strong tackle and has probably been the Gunners' best player so far this season. But when he ventures into the attacking third, which he does often and is actually pretty good at, there's no defensive midfielder to prevent a counter attack unless Song sprints back and has enough energy to get the ball back.

So that's why Arsenal need a strictly defensive midfielder, and Yann M'Vila is the perfect man for the job. He's strong, he's an excellent tackler, and he rarely loses the ball. In fact, in his most recent match for France against Luxembourg M'Vila completed 92.5 percent of his passes, the best for any France player in an international match since 2006.

Arsenal seem to be the only club currently targeting the Stade Rennes midfielder, so they could grab him for a reasonable price in January.

For some reason, I just see Yann M'Vila coming to Arsenal sooner or later. He seems like the classic Arsene Wenger transfer, being both young (21 years old) and French.

M'Vila is a player Arsenal could really use to stabilize their midfield, so it seems like a matter of time before Wenger picks up the young Frenchman.

Eden Hazard

What a transfer this would be...

During the summer, Arsenal lost both Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, two players who were the creative engines of the Arsenal midfield. 

It wasn't until the last day of the summer transfer window that Wenger picked up Mikel Arteta from Everton in an attempt to add some creativity to Arsenal's depleted midfield. The Spaniard is in the peak of his career, but at 29 years old, he's certainly not a long term replacement for Fabregas. By the time his four-year contract at Arsenal is over, he'll be 33 years old and won't really have any resale value.

So Eden Hazard is the player Arsenal fans are crying out for Wenger to buy as a long term replacement for Cesc Fabregas. At only 20 years old, he's already made 118 appearances for French outfit Lille with 20 goals to his name. 

But Eden Hazard's brilliance can't be shown through statistics—you've got to watch him play. Now, I'm not saying that I've flown to France to watch the boy play, but there's only 10 pages of videos on YouTube where you can see the Belgian wonderkid dribbling and passing his way around Ligue 1 defenders.

If Arsenal need creativity, then Hazard will give them just that. He's just about the most creative player you'll ever watch, with cheeky no-look passes and brilliant through balls.

A new rumour has arisen that Arsene Wenger is contemplating offering Lille Maraouane Chamakh plus Sebastien Squillaci plus a large sum of cash in order to seal Hazard's signature. That offer sounds reasonable, but in the end Wenger's going to have to cough up a lot of cash for Hazard, whether there's other players involved or not. 

In the end, the 25-30 million pounds Wenger will have to pay for Hazard will be worth it. The move would certainly break Arsenal's transfer record, and "the Professor" would surely win back fans by bringing Hazard to the Emirates.

Steve Bould and Martin Keown

"I knew Arsenal had a defensive crisis, but I didn't think it was so bad that we'd bring back a 45-year-old and a 48-year-old!"

That's probably what you're thinking, but don't worry, I'm not proposing that Arsenal bring back two geezers (in football terms) even if they were two of the Gunners' finest defenders.

No, Bould and Keown wouldn't come back as players—they'd come back as coaches. Steve Bould is currently the head coach of the Arsenal reserves, while Martin Keown is a part-time scout and coach for his former coach.

But it was recently speculated that the two could return to north London as full-time first team coaches, teaching Arsenal's frail defense how to properly mark a man and organize themselves on set-pieces and crosses. Arsene Wenger immediately refused this proposal, but if I were him I'd seriously consider bringing back these two legends.

It's possible that all Arsenal need are a couple of coaches who have experience of being brilliant Premier League defenders.

It may not be a transfer exclusive to the January transfer window, or even a transfer at all, but bringing Keown and Bould back to the Arsenal first team could ultimately be Wenger's best move this season.