Who might move in January 2022: Premier League transfer targets

The English Premier League January 2022 transfer window was set to open on the 1st of January and close on Monday, the 31st of January. With the winter window approaching, here is a look at what might happen.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Ligue 1 and Bundesliga winter windows were also due to open on the 1st of January, while Serie A and La Liga clubs could start trading on the 3rd of January. As always, Premier League clubs had thirty-one days in January to buy and sell players and complete loan deals.

This winter window promised to be extremely busy, especially for Newcastle, whose new owners were ready to splash out on new players. It was also an important window for Manchester United, where Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had been replaced by Ralf Rangnick.

Ralf Rangnick was expected to make some changes to the squad, even though Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo had only recently joined.

Manchester City might also make changes. At the start of the season the club had invested over £100 million in Jack Grealish, and many fans believed City were looking for a new striker; Guardiola had been interested in bringing in Harry Kane. The January window looked set to be very interesting, as many high-profile players were looking for new clubs with their contracts due to expire within months.

Pogba’s contract with Manchester United was due to expire the following summer, while Rudiger could leave Stamford Bridge at the end of his deal. Jesse Lingard might also leave Manchester United, possibly for West Ham, where he had previously played on loan.

Other players who might move during the January window included Nicolas Pepe, Trézéguet, Marcus Forss, Alexis Mac Allister, Jay Rodriguez, Saúl Ñíguez, Jairo Riedewald, Cenk Tosun, Joe Gelhardt, Hamza Choudhury, Nat Phillips, Cole Palmer, Jamal Lewis, Todd Cantwell, Moussa Djenepo, Dele Alli, Ken Sema, Manuel Lanzini and Willy Boly.

Newcastle United Potential Transfers

Newcastle United had been bought for over £300 million by a group backed by the Saudi Arabian government. The takeover made Newcastle the richest club in the Premier League, and the new owners were ready to invest in new players in the winter window.

Eddie Howe had already revealed three players he wanted to bring in. At that point Newcastle were nineteenth with only ten points from two wins, four draws and nine defeats.

In their fight to stay in the Premier League, Newcastle hoped to sign Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele. Manchester United had also joined the race for the Barcelona forward, but most experts considered Dembele more likely to join Newcastle than United.

Newcastle also wanted to sign Romain Faivre from Stade Brestois, and the club was reportedly targeting Lorenzo Insigne. Newcastle were also said to want Florian Grillitsch in the winter window, and they were one of many clubs hoping to sign Benfica’s Darwin Nunez.

According to club icon Rob Lee, Newcastle wanted to sign six players in January, most likely prioritising Kieran Trippier, James Tarkowski and Jesse Lingard. Under Eddie Howe, Newcastle had just recorded a long-awaited victory over Burnley.

Their next matches were against Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool, and it promised to be interesting to see what Allan Saint-Maximin, Joe Willock, Callum Wilson, Miguel Almiron and the rest of Howe’s squad could do to stay in the Premier League.

Manchester United Potential Transfers

Ralf Rangnick reportedly wanted to strengthen the Red Devils with Ousmane Dembele and Frenkie de Jong. If Paul Pogba left, Rangnick was keen to replace him with the Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong.

Pogba’s contract ran until the summer of 2022. He had asked the club for a pay rise, but no agreement had been reached. Like Newcastle, Manchester United were also interested in Ousmane Dembele.

Dembele had been offered a higher salary to stay at the Camp Nou, but he seemed ready to explore other options. Rangnick was also reportedly ready to give Timo Werner another chance in the Premier League at Old Trafford if he left Chelsea.

Manchester United might also sign Philippe Coutinho, who wanted to return to England. United were reportedly interested in Jules Kounde for the following summer window as well, and Rangnick was also keen on Franck Kessie for that window. In January, Aurelien Tchouameni could join the Red Devils if Paul Pogba left.