Premier League - Transfer Special Part 2 - The Fight for the Top Four
8th - Sheffield United - 33 points:
Sheffield United have surprised a lot of people this season but this has been far from a fluke from Chris Wilder’s team. They are well organised, they fight for every ball in every game and their tactics are both intricate and very modern.
The concept of having overlapping centre backs is undoubtedly unconventional but it works, and you can see Chris Wilder’s concept being the start of a trend that is copied in this ever-changing modern game.
Sheffield United have excelled in this underwhelming Premier League season and because of how poor Chelsea have been in recent weeks, they still have an outside chance of getting in the top four this season.
I personally don’t think Wilder should touch this tightly knit group of players who he trusts individually to do a job for him. They have good squad depth, relatively few injury worries and Wilder doesn’t seem the sort of man to make irrational moves late in the January transfer window.
The best thing Sheffield United can do is to keep what they have and hold onto the managerial brilliance of Chris Wilder to dear life because he’s the glue that holds everything together at this club.
Chris Wilder is guiding Sheffield United to a fantastic campaign, in their first season back in the top flight.
7th - Wolves - 34 points:
If Wolves didn’t have such a slow start to the season, they would be knocking on Chelsea’s door for that top four spot but after their impressive performance against run away leaders Liverpool on Thursday, they still can’t be ruled out.
Since their promotion to the Premier League last season, Wolves have been the masters of giant killings. They have had a great record against the ‘big six’ and no club has suffered more to the Premier League new boys than Manchester United. With the two sides meeting next weekend, it feels as if whoever wins has a chance to go on and push Chelsea for the top four.
Wolves will be quietly confident though. They looked a lot more threatening against Liverpool than United did the weekend before and United have failed to beat Wolves in three separate Premier League meetings since Wolves’ promotion.
In terms of transfers, Patrick Cutrone returning to Italy on loan at Fiorentina means that Wolves are light for options up top besides Jimenez. Pedro Neto is more of a left sided forward and works well in a front three but I’m not sure he’d work up top on his own if Jimenez got injured or if Nuno wanted to rotate from time to time.
Despite a forward arguably being a bigger priority, Wolves are closing on the signing of Olympiakos winger Daniel Podence for £19 million. At this point, I don’t doubt Wolves scouts, just consider the brilliant signings of players like Jota, Dendoncker, Saiss and Neto who were all relatively unknown before their move to the Midlands club.
Therefore, Podence could again prove to be a masterstroke by Wolves and with Jota having occasionally played up front as well, they might not feel it to be a concern - the apparent lack of centre forwards in their squad.
Things haven’t quite gone to plan in Cutrone’s debut Premier League season, as he finds himself shipped out to Fiorentina in the Serie A.
6th - Tottenham - 34 points:
Since Jose Mourinho was appointed Spurs’ manager, the club haven’t really moved forward in the way many expected. The sacking of Pochettino was a surprising one and I personally didn’t think it was the right decision. I also don’t think Jose is the right man to bring the club forward, in the long term anyway.
In his time as manager of Tottenham so far, it’s been hard to see his traditional style being implemented in any meaningful way. Mourinho is known for his defensive managerial style, a style which has worked so well for him in the past, Inter Milan and Chelsea being the standout examples.
One thing that has clearly been a priority from Jose is Alli’s return to form and he at least looks like a different player than he had been in the early months of the season. He is starting to reach the heights of his early days at Spurs and he’s the perfect type of player for Mourinho.
However, the injury to Kane which sees him out until at least April, means that Spurs find themselves very low on options in attack and their form hasn’t been good enough. They are yet to sign a striker to replace Kane in the short-term and so they might rely on Son Heung-min to fill that void until he returns.
Spurs have been busy in the transfer window though, Gedson Fernandes has signed on an 18 month loan from Benfica and just today another exciting young prospect, Steven Bergwijn, has signed for £27 million from PSV.
In terms of departures, a big one is the sale of Christian Eriksen to Inter Milan yesterday.
He has been one of the more talented and (at times) brilliant players to grace the Premier League in recent years, but his dip in form and a sense that his head has been elsewhere has resulted in his departure not being as detrimental as it would have been a couple of years ago.
What further softened the blow, was the announcement that Lo Celso has joined the club permanently from Real Betis - a player who has really started to excel in Spurs’ midfield.
Ideally, Spurs will bring in a striker to complete a successful and busy window. Cavani on loan would be the ideal choice, but he’s expected to favour a move to Atletico Madrid.
What is more likely, is another loan signing for AC Milan forward Krzysztof Piatek. He’s a player who is currently out of favour and searching for game time, something Spurs can guarantee him until Kane’s return.
Subject to a hamstring injury, Harry Kane will be out until April - leaving Spurs short of attacking options.
5th - Manchester United - 34 points
Manchester United have been wildly unpredictable and inconsistent this season under Solskjaer, but injuries have certainly not helped their cause.
Rashford has been the latest casualty to add to a list that at different points has included Martial, Pogba, McTominay, Bailly, Dalot, Shaw and Matic.
The reason why this has been such a big issue is because United failed to bring in much needed squad depth in midfield and attack in the summer. Therefore, this has led to players being overplayed and having too much reliance on them.
January has also been a frustrating month. It’s been clear that the team is short on attackers even before Rashford’s injury, but it has taken until the third week of the window being open for them to be linked with any forwards. That’s before you even get into the Bruno Fernandes saga which is finally set to be completed today.
He should have been signed on January 1st and played in the important league games against Liverpool and Burnley, that United lost, and tonight’s game in the Carabao Cup Semi-final against Manchester City.
Instead the club decided to be stubborn, unwilling to pay Sporting’s very reasonable asking price. It took a bid from Barcelona for the club to finally up their offer and find some middle ground.
I do think that a striker is still essential though before Friday’s 11pm deadline and Cavani would be an ideal fit for the short-term. The issue is, if it took this long to complete one deal, is there realistically time to make another signing in the couple of days that are left, particularly as all their time and effort is currently still on completing this Bruno Fernandes deal?
Manchester United have just a small chance of making top four this season - but if they can complete the signing of Fernandes and bring in a quality forward, then at least the club would have done their part in helping an inexperienced manager in desperate need of support.
Bruno Fernandes looks set to join Manchester United, after The Red Devils finally came to an agreement with Sporting Lisbon.
4th - Chelsea - 40 points
It hasn’t been a perfect season by any means by Lampard’s young and inexperienced Chelsea side, but it has felt like they have been learning from their mistakes collectively.
Just like the young players, Lampard is learning on the job all the time as he himself is young and inexperienced in the context of management. Their form has dipped recently in correlation with the start of the season when they were looking like potential title challengers.
Lampard’s side also has injury worries of their own and nothing has hit them harder than the injury to Tammy Abraham, whose had such an impressive breakthrough season. That has resulted in another Premier League club on the search for the very few available strikers in this window. They, like Spurs and Manchester United, have been linked with PSG’s Edinson Cavani and he would fit their style well in my opinion.
He has all the attributes that make up a good centre forward and he would be the ideal receiver of pin-point crosses coming in from Pulisic, Willian and Hudson-Odoi. Chelsea have been short on goals recently, but they need someone of Cavani’s experience and quality to join for that to change in the short-term.
If he does indeed snub the Premier League for La Liga, then Chelsea may decide to look elsewhere. However, considering they do have an option in Batshuayi, I don’t see the club desperately trying to get someone in on deadline day.
I’d say if they can’t tempt Cavani to join, then they should give Batshuayi a chance as it’s expected Abraham will be back soon anyway.
Edinson Cavani could prove to be valuable for Chelsea, should he choose to join The Blues