The summer transfer window is set to close on Premier League clubs at 2 pm ET on Monday, and it’s quite clear that a few teams still need to make another signing or two to address weaknesses in their squads.
RECAPS — Chelsea 2-0 Fulham | Man United 3-2 Burnley | Spurs 0-1 Bournemouth
Three of those sides were in action on Saturday, as Chelsea and Manchester United picked up victories and Tottenham Hotspur looked more like the Spurs of last season rather than Thomas Frank’s world-beaters from a week ago.
Manchester United transfer needs
Disclaimer: At this point, anyone that’s available and obtainable probably isn’t good enough to step right in and immediately restore Man United to one of the best sides in Europe. That tends to be how it works: The best players get to pick their new club first, and then it’s a domino effect for everyone else to get theirs, meaning nearly all of the best players that were available this summer have already been signed or made a final decision to remain at their current club. It works the same way for clubs by the way, which might just explain why United are left to overpay for whoever’s left at the very end of every window. We know United are still going to throw a bunch more money at the problem, so let’s speculate…
Defensive midfielder — If Bruno Fernandes is going to play deeper in midfield, Ruben Amorim needs another midfielder who can pass the ball in order to push Fernandes into the attack. Otherwise, United’s best player is going to spend all season dropping 80 yards from goal to receive the ball.
Goalkeeper — Andre Onana and Altay Bayindir aren’t The Guy, but sadly it seems Gianluigi Donnarumma has (smartly) decided on Man City instead of United.
Chelsea transfer needs
What do you get for the club that has already already bought itself everything it could ever need (and more)? Chelsea are unbeaten and went top of the Premier League table (for the time being) with their (rather fortuitous) victory over Fulham on Saturday, but they probably still need to add one more player to the squad.
Left-side center back — Anytime a left-footed, ball-playing center back goes down with a long-term injury, it’s going to be a big blow. Levi Colwill tore his ACL right before the season started and Chelsea have desperately missed his on-ball ability in their first three games this season. Tosin Adarabioyo and Trevoh Chalobah are highly capable PL defenders, but they aren’t going to play aggressive balls forward to spring a midfielder and a transition opportunity out of nothing, and Chelsea have to be able to do that otherwise they will struggle to create chances aside from counter-attacks and set pieces.
Striker…? — So, within the span of about 6 hours on Saturday, Chelsea sanctioned Nicolas Jackson’s departure to Bayern Munich (a record-breaking loan, no less) and Liam Delap picked up an injury that is going to keep him out 6-8 weeks, so Chelsea canceled Jackson’s loan despite the fact he was already on the ground in Germany. They clearly don’t want him to be at the club this season, but now they need him to be, unless they were able to make — gasp — another signing.
Tottenham Hotspur transfer needs
It’s been a transfer window of roundabouts and whoopsie-doos for Tottenham Hotspur, but they’ve pretty much ended up with everything they would have wanted at the start of the summer. If not for James Maddison tearing his ACL in preseason, Spurs would likely be done with their transfer business after officially unveiling Xavi Simons on Saturday. So, this one’s pretty simple…