A winger with end product. God, please.

Dembele.

I don't even know if we can afford players in January. Everything I'm hearing about our budget sounds grim. We'll probably need to offload a handful of players first, el neny being a good example

Ray wrote:

Dembele.

Seems to be working himself into Valverdes favour unfortunately. Not the first time I thought this though, we should throw a small loan fee of a million dollars their way

Gazza M wrote:

I don't even know if we can afford players in January. Everything I'm hearing about our budget sounds grim. We'll probably need to offload a handful of players first, el neny being a good example

Ozil and Mkhi ideally. That should finance a few incomings.

Yea, dembele looks to be getting incorporated in their team. Should've got in early and unsettled him. Think there was a window for that.

Malcolm would be sweet

I'd love a big forward signing but it's really in defence where we have bigger issues. Even though we shat the bed today going forward and after Pool putting four behind Bournemouth we still have scored the most in the league after City.

I was a big fan of the Sokratis signing from day one and I still think there's a class defender somewhere buried in Mustafi but what we need most urgently is a smart and ball playing defender, someone who can relieve pressure without having to boot it

The likes of De Ligt or Pavard or even Koulibaly are probably out of our price range already but there are plenty of other upcoming talents around. Eder Militao at Porto looks scary good for someone this young, Milenkovic at Fiorentina or Lenglet if Barcelona sign De Ligt would also be great and have us set for up to decade

Jeez how much football do people watch around here

After watching Iwobi today again I say we badly need a proper wide mid

Clrnc wrote:

After watching Iwobi today again I say we badly need a proper wide mid

I think we need a wide forward regardless. Iwobi has played a lot of football and is currently badly out of form. Needs a few games rest. Some of the loose touches he's been having recently are clear signs of fatigue.

That being said a defender has to be our priority this Jan. Especially so if we intend to play 3 at the back.

flobaba wrote:

Imperative that we are aggressive and decisive in the transfer window. Targets must have been identified already and once the window opens, deploy a full court press on them and their clubs immediately. There’s no disguising that we are desperate. Not the best bargaining position but it is what it is

In order for us to do so we firstly must determine and understand what our intended shape is going to be, so that we don't follow another of AW's transfer quirks = that of signing compromise style players that do not directly address or rectify the needs of the team balance or the tactic employed.

For example IMO the 3412 is probably the formation that best suits the squad now, and the temptation is to sign players to enable us to continue to utilise it in order to give ourselves our best chance to regain CL qualification.  
The counter argument is that if it is not intended to be the formation going forward, then we need to be mindful that any signings made now are not counter productive to that intent.   
The ideal scenario is that which enables us to build a squad capable of switching formations and still retaining effectiveness, However IMO we currently lack the core/spine to provide that capability, and the same can be said of some of our 'better' players. 

So you are solving for putting Aubameyang, Lacazette and Kolasinac on the field simultaneously in their preferred positions. Is this what is best for the club? Is Kolasinac in his preferred position even what is best for the club?

Kolasinac
Iwobi
Mkhitaryan
Ozil
Xhaka

All need either binning or a far less important role.

List is reasonable. I think we can survive the season with Xhaka, and Iwobi in small amounts. The rest need to go to Bundesliga

The intriguing thing is we have so much more scope for improvement than any of the teams were are competing against

The right incomings in January could take us up a level

Claudius wrote:

So you are solving for putting Aubameyang, Lacazette and Kolasinac on the field simultaneously in their preferred positions. Is this what is best for the club? Is Kolasinac in his preferred position even what is best for the club?

TBH I don't think we have the depth needed to do so - even without the current injuries.
I also expect to see a number of senior players depart simply because they either do not fit the needs or we can not use them in their best position/role without changing the team shape & roles to accommodate them, let alone in terms of wages or transfer revenues.  

We need two quality wingers, desperately.