Players who should move
With the January transfer window now in full swing, we've picked out 20 Premier League players who really need to move on before the market closes for business at the end of the month...
Andrew Surman (Bournemouth)
A loyal lieutenant who’s worked under Eddie Howe since Bournemouth’s mid-table finish in the Championship in 2013/14, Surman has drifted to the fringes of the Cherries’ squad in recent months.
The midfielder made 18 Premier League appearances last season but has only managed three – totalling 55 minutes – this. Now 33, the former Southampton man will surely be keen on more game time.
Cuco Martina (Everton)
Signed by Ronald Koeman in summer 2017, Martina hasn’t featured for Everton since the end of his debut campaign at Goodison Park.
The right-back spent part of last season on loan at Stoke but has been left kicking his heels back on Merseyside in 2019/20. Everton have plenty of options in Martina’s position and may choose to let him go now that he’s recovered from a knee injury.
Henri Saivet (Newcastle)
Saivet will celebrate his fourth anniversary as a Newcastle player on Saturday, but he has just eight appearances to show for his time at the club.
The midfielder has embarked on three different loan spells since moving to St James’ Park in 2016, but failed to secure a temporary switch away last summer. Under contract for 18 more months, Saivet should nevertheless push for a departure in the next few weeks.
Jack Colback (Newcastle)
Another forgotten man at Newcastle, Colback hasn’t played for his boyhood club since their promotion back to the Premier League two and a half years ago.
The midfielder wasn’t included in Steve Bruce’s 25-man Premier League squad last summer, and is unlikely to be added to the roster when updated versions are submitted later this month. The time has come for Colback to leave St James’ Park behind.
Jordon Ibe (Bournemouth)
Bournemouth spent £15m on Ibe in summer 2016 but the winger has failed to kick on since then. Even with David Brooks injured and Ryan Fraser out of form, the former Liverpool man has played just 48 minutes in the Premier League this season.
Recent reports suggest that clubs in China are keeping tabs on the 24-year-old, although remaining in Europe would probably be the best thing for his career.
Kevin Long (Burnley)
Burnley’s longest-serving player will mark 10 years at the club later this month, but Long’s career would be best served by departing before then – or soon after it.
The centre-back is still only 29, so has plenty of football left in his legs. Long has only ever played 48 league games for the Clarets and should do everything he can to seal a switch in January.
Leon Balogun (Brighton)
Signed by Brighton shortly before the 2018 World Cup, Balogun played every minute of Nigeria’s three games in Russia. Yet the centre-back struggled to break up Shane Duffy and Lewis Dunk’s partnership on the south coast, and hasn’t played a single game so far this season.
A string of injuries since arriving on the south coast certainly hasn’t helped his cause, but the 31-year-old would be wise to seek out new opportunities this month.
Leon Clarke (Sheffield United)
Having spent the majority of his career in the Championship, League One and League Two, Clarke must have felt he’d never get a shot at the Premier League after signing for third-tier Sheffield United in 2016.
The striker eventually made his top-flight debut aged 34 earlier this season, but opportunities have otherwise proved hard to come by. Playing more regularly should be Clarke’s priority at this stage of his career.
Marcos Rojo (Manchester United)
Rojo has played just 17 Premier League games in the last two and a half seasons, with Brandon Williams’ emergence this term pushing him further down the left-back pecking order.
The Argentinian, who can also play as a central defender, looks set to end his association with United this month. Fenerbahce are the latest club to be linked with a player who was brought to Old Trafford by Louis van Gaal in 2014.
Matej Vydra (Burnley)
The latest in a long line of strikers too good for the Championship but not quite good enough for the Premier League. Vydra scored 21 goals for Derby in his last season in the second tier in 2017/18, and should probably try and seal a return to the division in the coming weeks.
Vydra has made just five Premier League outings this campaign, all of which have come as a substitute. Finding new employers should be at the top of his New Year agenda.
Matt Macey (Arsenal)
At 25 Macey is still relatively young for a goalkeeper, but that doesn’t mean he should be content with his current position as Arsenal’s third-choice custodian.
Macey spent last season on loan at Plymouth, and should seek a similar arrangement this month ahead of a permanent departure in the summer. The Bath-born shot-stopper needs to get more first-team minutes under his belt.
Matty James (Leicester)
Leicester’s longest-serving midfielder has had a torrid time with injuries in recent years and has played just 14 times in the Premier League since the 2014/15 campaign.
Having spent a large chunk of his career on the treatment table, James should drop down a division in search of regular action. Omitted from Brendan Rodgers’ 25-man Premier League squad in the summer, the 28-year-old doesn’t seem to have much of a future at the King Power Stadium.
Olivier Giroud (Chelsea)
Chelsea wasted little time in submitting a bid for Moussa Dembele at the start of January, with Frank Lampard keen to bolster his attacking options despite Tammy Abraham's brilliant form.
Michy Batshuayi and Giroud are currently serving as Abraham's deputies, but Lampard doesn't appear to have too much faith in either frontman. With the European Championship coming up this summer, the 33-year-old Giroud will be desperate for more regular action in the second half of 2019/20.
Sebastian Prodl (Watford)
Prodl won Watford's Player of the Year award in 2016/17 but has had a tough time of it at Vicarage Road ever since. The centre-half played 21 times in the Premier League the following season, but managed just one appearance in 2018/19 and is stuck on the same number this term.
Prodl fell out of favour under Javi Gracia but has yet to return to the fold four months on from the Spanaird's exit. Now 32, the Austrian should call time on his four-and-a-half-year stay in Hertfordshire.
Shkodran Mustafi (Arsenal)
Mustafi was linked with a move away from Arsenal throughout the summer but nothing came about – much to the frustration of the club’s supporters.
The German would no doubt benefit from a change of scenery having failed to live up to his £35m price tag at the Emirates. The centre-back recently changed his agent in a bid to find new employers this month.
Victor Camarasa (Crystal Palace)
After excelling for relegated Cardiff last season, Camarasa looked to be a terrific loan signing for Palace last summer. Roy Hodgson’s midfield was more functional than creative last season, and the Spaniard was brought in to add more invention to the ranks.
Things haven’t gone to plan, however: Camarasa has played just five Premier League minutes and now looks set to cut short his stay at Selhurst Park. Also out of favour at Real Betis, the 25-year-old should look for a new club altogether this month.
Victor Wanyama (Tottenham)
Wanyama came close to leaving Spurs in the summer, only for a proposed switch to Club Brugge to fall through late in the window. The Kenyan’s position at Tottenham hasn’t changed since then, fuelling rumours that he will move on in the next few months.
A recent injury to Moussa Sissoko could alter Spurs’ thinking, particularly with Tanguy Ndombele having endured a stop-start few months in north London. From Wanyama’s perspective, though, a move away from Tottenham would be the best outcome this window.
Domingos Quina (Watford)
Quina has only made four Premier League appearances for a resurgent Watford this season, but the 20-year-old's longest stretch on a pitch in the top flight has amounted to seven minutes against Leicester in December. He's lucky if he makes it off the bench these days, and would surely be best served finding minutes elsewhere.
Angel Gomes (Manchester United)
Sometimes, you just have to accept when it's not working out for you. Gomes was the Premier League's first 2000-born player to appear in the Premier League, aged 16, but that was back in May 2017. Since then he's turned out in only four more league games for Manchester United, two of which have come this term.
Oumar Niasse (Everton)
Niasse has featured in lists like this for years – he's never quite fitted in at Everton, but his high wages and seeming lack of interest engineering a move away from Goodison Park have kept him on Merseyside. Loans at Hull (2017) and Cardiff (2019) have been and gone – and though he's featured off the bench in Everton's last two matches, does he not want more?
