Liverpool is the key, but January transfers from Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City, Chelsea, and Newcastle can all rekindle the title chase.
10. Kyle Walker to AC Milan
Even though your captain giving notice in the middle of the season sounds less than ideal, the wisest course of action is for Walker to get out of this problem as quickly as possible. One of Guardiola's most frustrating blind spots is a career slump that seemed to start as soon as he signed his most recent contract after being convinced to stay in September 2023. The manager is not going to fire one of his most dependable lieutenants on his own volition.
9. Mathys Tel to Chelsea
After a miserable run of two draws and losses apiece over the holiday season, it is safe to assume that Enzo Maresca was discounting Chelsea's title credentials when they looked like Liverpool's closest rivals.
However, despite a draw and first-leg loss in a cup semi-final, the Blues are still in fourth place and within striking distance of two of the teams above them.
Cole Palmer can only sustain himself for so long on chippy chips because the Nicolas Jackson well has dried up. In the end, Chelsea would always sell their joint-top scorer in order to acquire a young, goalless star from another club, thus their current lack of operational skill was merely a front.
The Conference League is a stat-padding platform that Christopher Nkunku has utilized, but Mathys Tel is new and shiny and will accept the 427-year amortization contract.
8. Abdukodir Khusanov to Manchester City
Guardiola has added two first-team players to his squad during January transfer windows in his nearly ten years as Manchester City's manager. The club has viewed the mid-season market with an opportunistic, long-term tilt since Gabriel Jesus and Aymeric Laporte came in consecutive campaigns. Julian Alvarez and Claudio Echeverri have been secured but will make their moves later.
When Jesus and Laporte were signed, Manchester City was supposedly not in the running for the championship, much like this season. After playing one more game than leaders Chelsea eight years prior, they were seven points ahead in 2017 and twelve points ahead a year later in their Centurions season. They are currently separated from Liverpool by the same distance.
Fixing the defense would undoubtedly help, even though closing that distance and catching the other four clubs in between sounds utterly impossible. Due to injuries that have shown the Etihad's extreme lack of depth, Everton is one of seven teams that have given up fewer Premier League goals this season.
7. Igor Jesus to Nottingham Forest
Nuno Espirito Santo has achieved such a perfect balance that it is impossible to speculate as to whether Nottingham Forest could have advanced any farther had Marmoush or fellow City Ground favorite Santiago Gimenez been signed in the summer.
In the end, both players lost because they refused to take notes on Chris Wood.
There is still a desire, nevertheless, to add another forward to this team. Despite the fact that Taiwo Awoniyi is unquestionably adored, his limitations will become uncomfortable the higher this Forest rocket soars, even though their position offers a limited cache and a special possibility.
Nottingham Forest has to unjinx itself for a Champions League campaign, and Wood needs cover. Although they share Arsenal's interest in Igor Jesus, Mikel Arteta's reluctance to sign strikers gives them an advantage, and Edu is defecting since it only takes a glance at Murillo to realize that Evangelos Marinakis has taken Brighton's South American scouting blueprint.
6. Douglas Luiz to Manchester City
The fact that Manchester "115 Charges" City and Nottingham "Points Deduction" Forest are directly vying for the services of Douglas Luiz, whom Aston Villa was compelled to sell in a PSR panic when planning their Champions League campaign, is simply amazing.
When starting the least inspiring winning streak in sports history, Luiz may be accused of a similar lack of forward planning since he didn't anticipate that Thiago Motta would deploy any central midfielder before him.
Luiz has choices for a return to sunnier climes after barely getting a game for the fifth-place team in Serie A. Perhaps the possibility to establish himself with his old team, Manchester City, would be the most alluring. A midfielder with useful legs would be greatly appreciated by Guardiola.
5. Bryan Mbeumo to Arsenal
Since Chris Mepham left the Championship's mid-table for Bournemouth in 2019, Brentford will understandably need some persuasion to approve their first winter sale of a first-team player. However, since their season is all but over, it would be egregious negligence if no club even tried to look into the possibility of signing Mbeumo before what should be a summer auction.
For a long time, the Cameroon international has resembled the exact kind of industrious, Premier League-tested, straightforward, hyphen-friendly forward that Liverpool used to desired at their best. He possesses a scalable skill set that is poised to explode at a greater level. Mbeumo is the only player in Europe's top five leagues with more goals and assists than eight other players combined this season, while he plays for a team that is lower than sixth.
With Brentford eight points clear of the bottom three and already eliminated from both domestic competitions, Thomas Frank will be annoyed by every aspect of a normally Big Six-biased conversation, but Brentford is All But Safe from relegation. Even though Arsenal would have to spend more, it would be worthwhile to address a number of offensive issues.
4. Milos Kerkez to Liverpool
However, Liverpool ultimately has the initiative and a six-point advantage with one game remaining.
The Premier League title is theirs if they behave well enough during the winter; if not, the most likely scenario is still an Anfield trophy parade. As if Liverpool weren't already at the top of two standings during the least convincing of summer transfer windows, the ire in the PSG fan base over Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's free pass and the lack of interest in Antoine Semenyo is astounding.
But with the kind of brutally effective addition Liverpool hasn't had in a long time, any kind of drift may be checked. Andy Robertson and Bournemouth would both have a lot to say about the situation, but the Reds might quickly render any changes their opponents make obsolete.
3. Nico Williams to Arsenal
Arteta is a huge fan of Nico Williams. It's a sustained admiration. It would have pleased him to have signed him earlier. With all the solemnity of an overly articulate and particular parent, David Ornstein stated, "He would really like to sign him during this January transfer window, but we all want things in life that we can't have, and there is a good chance that he can't have Nico Williams because of the finances involved."
It's January and Arsenal, so it's time to make a lot of noise about their top transfer target before they either sign no one or a random cast-off from their Plan B. They are aware that Williams would cost around £50 million. They are aware that the payment will only be made once. They are aware that his pay would be extremely high.
However, there is something genuinely lovely about Arteta scouting this team, identifying a weakness in terms of creating open-play opportunities and scoring goals, and then putting all of his effort into a guy who has contributed two goals and five assists for Athletic Bilbao this season. Williams needs to be very good at taking corners or removing the gloves of the goalie.
2. Omar Marmoush to Manchester City
I apologize for giving Manchester City so much weight, but even without the Walker subplot, their window was the most intriguing. Through the horrors of a recent run that exposed both offensive and defensive flaws, a couple of years of ridiculous transfer errors were exposed in retrospect.
For the first time in his Premier League career, Erling Haaland does not currently fit the Golden Boot, and Brentford is one of the five teams with more goals this season. Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic rank second and third in their top scoring stakes, respectively, which does not exactly scream "coherent attacking plan."
During the summer, the club considered doing so, but I told them that I didn't want to add any players. I want to stick around because I rely on the team. The Spaniard recently acknowledged his error when Guardiola remarked, "Just Savinho came – and Gundo back I wasn't expecting." Omar Marmoush, a target for Nottingham Forest, has at least gained attention as a result of this. He has played 25 games for Frankfurt and has 19 goals and 12 assists, making him the ideal Alvarez substitute.
1. Tyler Dibling to Newcastle
The only plausible explanation for Newcastle's 4-2 loss to Brentford in early December was that they were on the verge of an eight-game winning streak that would put them in a Champions League qualifying spot and on the verge of a cup final after defeating the titans of Manchester United, Tottenham, Arsenal, and Bromley in back-to-back games.
To mitigate the inevitable impact of a PSR points deduction threat, which would compel them to sell Jason Tindall to the highest bidder, Eddie Howe has orchestrated an incredible comeback.
Talk about the latent urge to get rid of a key player is hilariously persistent at St. James' Park, but it seems a little disconnected from the global dominance strategy that was developed following the Saudi takeover. The time has come to save Dibling from the ruins of Southampton before he too is Derby 2007/08'd, as Odysseas Vlachodimos is their most costly new addition this season.
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