January window transfer rumors

The January transfer window is usually a bit strange since it is in the middle of the European season, and that sometimes leads clubs to not want to make such important investments or drastic changes in their squads. However, this market is different since it is after the FIFA World Cup. We also have clubs like Chelsea, who are determined to strengthen themselves, and FC Barcelona, whose economic situation is rather peculiar. Here we will briefly review the main transfer rumors happening this month.

Precisely, FC Barcelona needs to sell some players in order to improve its economic situation and be able to sign new players. In this sense, it is being seen that Memphis Depay could leave and, given the departure of Joao Felix to Chelsea, Atletico Madrid could try to bring in the Dutchman. Leaving aside Dembele and Lewandowski, it seems that no attacker from the Catalan club is untransferable, so the rumors are that a possible return of Raphinha to the Premier League is mainly to recover the investment made in the summer.

After the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United has probed the market looking for a striker and the first option was Cody Gakpo, but the Dutchman signed for Liverpool and leave the Red Devils looking for alternatives. Despite the fact that the ultimate goal seems to be Harry Kane, United signed Wout Weghorst, just a few days ago. The Dutchman was on loan to Besiktas from Burnley.

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Returning to FC Barcelona, there is strong interest from the club’s presidency in bringing in Ruben Neves from Wolverhampton, as a replacement for Busquets, who is soon to leave the Catalan institution. Although the coach Xavi Hernández has shown his intention to bring Martín Zubimendi, a Real Sociedad player, there are some internal differences at the time to find a possible replacement for Busquets.

Since his contractual separation from Everton in England, there have been many rumors about the possible signing of Rondón by various clubs, and the last one and who seems to be in the best position at the moment is River Plate due to the good relationship that the Venezuelan maintains with the new coach of the Argentine club, Martin Demichelis, who shared the dressing room with Rondón at Malaga. Another South American striker who could return from Europe is Radamel Falcao, who is the alternative that Cruz Azul from Mexico has after Luis Suarez decided to go to Gremio de Porto Alegre.

A name that has sounded a lot in the English press is that of the Spanish Pedro Porro, full-back for Sporting Lisbon who was already at Manchester City where he did not participate with the first team. Tottenham was the main interested party. However, Chelsea’s sporting situation is leading the blue club to seek reinforcements and meddled in Porro’s signing.

Continuing on British soil, Scottish side Glasgow Rangers have made an offer of 10 million pounds to sign Todd Cantwell, a Norwich City midfielder who currently plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. That first offer was rejected, although the interest from the Scottish club is quite strong. On the opposite sidewalk, they are also looking to bring in new faces and that is why Celtic, who have already bet heavily on the Asian market (they have six Japanese on the team and they hired their coach from Yokohama Marinos), want to sign Gue- Sung Cho, the South Korean striker who stood out in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

One who could return to England (he already played for Nottingham Forest) is the Dutchman from Villarreal, Arnaut Danjuma, who could arrive on loan with a purchase option to Everton, who is in a delicate situation in the Premier League, occupying 18th place in the board.

On the other hand, the Spanish left-winger Alex Moreno of Real Betis joined Aston Villa for 12.5 million pounds and already made his debut 2 days after he arrived.

Very happy for my debut, amazing Villa Park fans, great victory, 3 points! ✨🦁❤️ pic.twitter.com/gddXjlYzNB

— Álex Moreno (@AlexMoreno) January 13, 2023

After many rumors, it seems that Enzo Fernández stays at Benfica, at least for the next six months if an offer does not come up to the price that the Portuguese club has for the player, something that seemed like Chelsea was going to do but that finally did not finish concretizing.

Moving on to the German market, more specifically to Borussia Dortmund, Marco Reus could look to change teams at the end of his contract with the German club in June and could pack his bags for the currently fashionable team, Al-Nassr. On the other hand, Youssoufa Moukoko, one of Dortmund’s young promises, is also ending his contract at the end of this season and there is talk of interest from FC Barcelona in signing him as a free agent for next season, as well as from Newcastle United, with the English starting with an advantage because they could meet Moukoko’s salary demands.

Manuel Neuer’s injury, while skiing in December, which led to a break in his right leg, has become a headache for Bayern as they must go out to look for a possible replacement where several candidates have been mentioned, including Yann Sommer (Borussia Monchengladbach), Dominik Livakovic (Dinamo Zagreb) and the possible return of Alex Nubel, who is on loan at Monaco.

The FIFA World Cup left several national teams without a head coach, and that has unleashed rumors of possible new destinations for several coaches, such as Roberto Martínez, who left his position with the Belgium national team and has already become the replacement for Fernando Santos in Portugal. Likewise, Herve Renard, a Frenchman who coaches the Saudi Arabia national team, sounded like a replacement for the Spaniard in Belgium, but he recently said this was not true.

The news suggesting I presented a proposal to coach the Belgium National team is totally false.

— Hervé Renard (@Herve_Renard_HR) January 11, 2023

Finally, Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), an investment group that owns Paris Saint-Germain as well as other sports-related properties, would be interested in joining the Premier League, with Tottenham being one of the possible options, although there are also options for Liverpool and Manchester United, both for sale.