Coombs
In hindsight, and I suppose foresight for others, Calafiori was a bad decision because he's just as injury prone as the players he was supposed to replace. However, people were not happy with Zinchenko nor Kiwior as a LB, so we needed to spend money there regardless.
Merino also provides insurance to Rice who is integral in providing physical presence in midfield, whose absence would be sorely missed. So I don't particularly think he was money poorly spent.
There was however a need to refresh the forward line, but for whatever reason we couldn't get someone over the line. Pedro Neto has also only scored 1 league goal all season. Savinho has scored 0. Doku has scored 2. Sancho has scored 2. Williams has 1 league goal this season. (Highlighting some of the players who have moved this season or we tried to sign). I can't help but think signing an attacker who isn't more of the same, and is a genuine upgrade on our existing options is going to be very difficult.
I would definitely look at Kvicha or Rafael.