Transfer window could be make or break for Champions League hopefuls

The January transfer window could mark the difference between abject failure and palpable relief.

Norwich City will doubtless come under pressure to sell midfielder Todd Cantwell, right, but can they afford to let him go? Picture: Getty Images

The January transfer window is rarely a barrel of laughs, nor full of thrills and spills, but this time around it could mark the difference between abject failure and palpable relief.

The race for the Champions League places has never been as tense as it is right now. Three clubs who have come to believe they have a divine right to a top-four finish – Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Arsenal – presently sit on the wrong side of the dotted line. Another, Everton, have appointed Carlo Ancelotti, a manager who belongs among Europe’s elite yet finds his new team in 11th place. Even the most miserly owners will look at the Premier League table and spy a possible route to salvation through buying the right talent.

At the other end of the table sit clubs who know they have to not only contemplate spending money but to expend energy holding on to their best players. Even the poorest-performing teams have highly coveted players in their ranks. It is all very well for Daniel Farke at Norwich City to be equivocal about not having a pot of gold to dip into but the chances of his club contriving a great escape will diminish if they succumb to offers for players such as Max Aarons, 20, their impressive right back, or Todd Cantwell, 21, their creative and energetic midfielder.

This is the most nuanced winter window in Premier League history. Reputations could be harmed by inaction or the wrong action. Managers will be lauded for the clever deal that helps to propel their teams into Europe. There are balancing acts galore, most notably at Stamford Bridge, where Frank Lampard is beloved for the very thing that could spell his downfall. The Chelsea legend has promoted youth, giving academy products a chance in the first team. In 1999, the west London club became the first in Premier League history to field a side comprising entirely foreign players but under Lampard they have become the place to watch young English stars blossom.

The fans love it and yet the team look far from cemented in the top four. Chelsea are inconsistent mainly because they lack a bullying, pragmatic goalscorer. Last season, Eden Hazard rescued the team with wizardry but it will be tricky to find a direct replacement for the Belgian this month, and Lampard will instead hope to find a more prosaic solution.

In some respects, the Chelsea head coach has no choice but to buy someone to help Tammy Abraham up front. While he was operating under a transfer embargo, Lampard was immune to criticism whenever Chelsea failed to score. Most of what he did could be couched in terms of bravery in necessity. Now that he can finetune the squad, with the club prepared to give him a generous budget, to persist with the present line-up would appear perverse. Chelsea really need to get it right before the end of the month.

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Only Liverpool, on a clear course to winning the title, can afford the luxury of signing players, such as Takumi Minamino – who has already joined from RB Salzburg – with a long-term view. Everyone else hopes a new face will tip the scales in the short term, the exception being Manchester City, who are so blessed with stars that it is hard to differentiate between what could be considered their A and B teams.

Leicester City are riding high enough, surely, to hold on to their most coveted players, although a feeling persists that they may begin to fall away, which could result in at least one among the squad being tempted by a more traditional powerhouse.

Manchester United have a long wish list but, then again, when do they not? Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team, five points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, need bolstering and revitalising. United are liable to be the daisy chain of the window, linked to practically every decent player considered transferable.

The needs of some clubs are obvious. Arsenal are light in defence and midfield, to the extent that far from it being likely that they will move up towards fourth, they could, without fresh blood, descend towards 14th. Mikel Arteta’s lack of experience has been questioned, so a transfer coup or two would help him to assert his credentials.

Crystal Palace are ninth, a point ahead of Arsenal, yet Roy Hodgson’s side need to assess the window in terms of ensuring league safety, amid an injury crisis and the possibility of losing Wilfried Zaha.

Ancelotti may not have enough of a kitty to engineer Everton’s path towards European qualification and has said that he will need to rely on the club’s academy for back-up.

Which brings us to Jose Mourinho, a head coach with a track record of buying to fill perceived gaps and yet who, in this instance, may have to expend more energy on how to handle Christian Eriksen, who is out of contract in the summer. It could prove a nuance too far for the Spurs manager.

THE TIMES