Best Six Crucial Moves Arsenal Must Make in the 2025 January Transfer Window to Save Their Season

With Arsenal trailing in the race for the Premier League, here are six essential transfer moves the Gunners should make in January 2025, from finding Bukayo Saka cover to trusting their academy talents.

Jan 2, 2025 - 00:45
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Best Six Crucial Moves Arsenal Must Make in the 2025 January Transfer Window to Save Their Season
Arsenal transfer window news

The 2024-25 season has been all ups and downs for Arsenal, with their title dreams really slowly starting to fizzle out of the window. Of course, being this much ahead of Liverpool, a good deal will be expected from the Gunners this time out. If they are to pip the topmost guns in the league come end of season, then they must go and be really aggressive in the transfer window this time round. The side of Mikel Arteta cannot afford to sleep on their oars and needs to make the signings necessary to give themselves a real chance of dethroning the Reds.

In the last couple of years, Arsenal has gathered momentum by finishing the league in the best places it has seen in over a decade. However, that ambition to finally lift the Premier League title once more seems to stutter as the team fails to keep up with the consistency. Following are six top moves that Arsenal should focus on during the January 2025 transfer window for the team to be more competitive and actually push through to some sort of silverware.

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1. Find Cover for Bukayo Saka

In the past couple of seasons, Bukayo Saka has been a shining star for Arsenal, and whenever he features, he makes the attack look more creative, converting goals, and maintaining stability. Then comes a body blow-an injury to the young star, a torn hamstring that may see him out for as many as three months, really putting a spanner in the works for Arteta. The injury to Saka takes much sting out of the Arsenal forward line, and his absence needs a quick resolution if Arsenal is to get any decent results.

Arteta has already hinted that the answers lie within, with Gabriel Martinelli popping up on the right. The Brazilian's natural flair and dribbling ability means he can adopt a more orthodox winger role, with his display in Arsenal's 5-1 demolition of Crystal Palace proof of that. Martinelli certainly has different weapons in his arsenal but brings a different attacking menace.

The dividends are, however, yet to be fully paid off consistently in this experiment. In the recent 1-0 win against Ipswich Town, a team adopting more of a defensive strategy, Arsenal found it at times hard to break them down. Thus, everything falls onto Arteta now-whether to bank on internal options or seek reinforcements from the outside.

Names that have cropped up include Bayern Munich's Leroy Sane and Kingsley Coman, but perhaps the most pragmatic transfer would be to go for an energetic winger who could replace Saka without disturbing the balance of the team in any way whatsoever.

2. Puns on Marcus Rashford

Probably the most talked-about rumor this window is how Marcus Rashford could leave Manchester United for Arsenal. In the last couple of months, the English international has not reached his best, failing to reach those high standards he had when he was at his best. In fact, there have been several occasions on which Rashford has been said to want away from Old Trafford, arguing he needs a new challenge.

It's a risk, but one that might pay dividends for Arsenal. Having fallen out of form, Rashford still happens to be one of the most talented and dynamic forwards in the Premier League. With pace, dribbling ability, and an eye for goal, he would inject much-needed fire into Arsenal's attack. More importantly, Rashford is not being targeted to replace Saka but rather to add an extra dimension to an attack that has occasionally struggled in front of goal.

Having built a good track record for the revival of underperforming players-as was seen in the likes of Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus-Arteta will face the unenviable task of trying to bring fire into Rashford's career. Arsenal is quite confident that Arteta can work his magic with Rashford like he did on Jesus. On loan for a short term, the Gunners may just find themselves in the enviable position of having Rashford rediscovered-a player capable of spearheading their title challenge.

3. Bring Forward New Striker Plans

With Arsenal's attack having been pretty in-and-out this season, Arteta might want to bring forward the plans for a new striker. The Spaniard does have a fine forward in Gabriel Jesus, but the Brazilian has proved injury-prone, and Arsenal's reliance on him could prove a problem-if Saka is absent too, that is.

Of course, there are two strikers that consistently come up: Newcastle United's Alexander Isak and Sporting CP's Viktor Gyokeres. Not that he is poor quality himself, but Isak does indeed come with a high price-tag, one that sees reports of up to £150 million suggested by Newcastle for the Swede. Certainly, on a player that does have a history of injury problems, this does feel a tad steep, hence, Isak represents a riskier investment.

Meanwhile, the 27-year-old has promised for Sporting until 2025 and never for any of the top five leagues in Europe. But he will be a far cheaper option for Arsenal and give a great value for money if he adapted well to the rigors of the Premier League without fuss.

While Arsenal would want to look at both, as the saying goes, an eye should be on future targets, too. With the market surely going to get very competitive this coming summer, securing a deal for a striker now could prove a big boost in giving them the edge in the race for goals.

4. Get Raheem Sterling Back to His Best

There were eyebrows raised the moment Raheem Sterling completed his loan move to Arsenal from Chelsea, simply because everyone asked if the England international had what it takes anymore to be among the most dangerous wingers in the Premier League. Considering how limited his minutes were, besides the modest return of one goal and two assists, Sterling's potential cannot be shunned.

Having worked with Sterling at Manchester City, Arteta knows his strengths better than most. That the Arsenal boss will keen to rekindle that form in the winger goes without saying. Finishing and off-the-ball movement have been honed in Sterling under Arteta. The success of Sterling at Arsenal now depends on how he gets back to form after suffering from an injury and could rediscover that edge once again in front of goal. He is the difference Arsenal need once Sterling finds his rhythm in this second half of the season that is going to be hectic.

Naturally, Sterling needs continued work from Arteta in terms of readiness when those chances arise, which they most definitely will as the months unfold. But be it from a starting berth or off the bench as an impact player, Sterling's experience and sheer talent might just become all the difference-maker needed during this title chase.

5. Don't Forget About Fabio Vieira

Since his £35m transfer from Porto back in 2022, Arsenal have been left underwhelmed. Following a couple of lackluster seasons for the midfielder, he had headed back to Porto for the 2024-25 season on loan. A number of people seem to have suggested the Gunners may recall him with a view to alleviating injury troubles, but not as related to Saka's issue in the slightest. That'd be misguided, though.

The Vieira saga at Arsenal had been chronicled, but aside from flashes of promise, he failed to find consistency in such a highly demanding system from the attacking players. More recently, Porto coach Vitor Bruno had overlooked any possibility of his recall, oozing confidence in the player's future on the books.

Letting Vieira continue his development rather than causing tension on the pitch is the way to go, and Arsenal should be so glad. With players such as Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly emerging through the youth as true first-team options, this pathway of gradual development which works long-term at Arsenal has to be adhered to rather than hastening Vieira's return to action.

6. Back your Academy

The Academy is bound to bring out top talents, and this crop of children has their characteristics, too. In Ethan Nwaneri, the youngest player to have graced the English Premier League, attack dynamism will be there-sure goals with vision. Young but capable of unlocking defense, which could be just good enough for him to prove an influential factor in the Gunners' aspirations of the second half of the current campaign with Saka sidelines.

Another promising talent, Myles Lewis-Skelly, impresses a lot in strength, composure, and talking technically before he is even 18 years into his life. For sure, the future can only look bright with this Arsenal midfield, and by then, Arteta surely must be in a good position in the hope of extending more opportunities for these youngsters when first-team players keep getting injured.

A lack of depth in certain areas of the squad means that faith in the academy could well prove a savvy option. With both short and long-term value on the table, extra first-team minutes for some of the youngsters could pay dividends in terms of general development of the club.

Conclusion

Far from over is Arsenal's quest to regain the Premier League title in the 2024-25 season, and for that, some serious decisions need to be taken in the January transfer window: finding cover for Bukayo Saka, having a different striker come into play, and giving more opportunities to academy talents-this is what Mikel Arteta should be focusing on as he goes full throttle with this team. Some of the potential signings, though-people like Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling-may raise question marks over fit but may well give them that much-needed spark for the latter part of the campaign. Equipped with that more balanced approach-both in terms of short-term fixes and long-term investment-Gunners can finally make those long-held dreams come through and end the two-decade wait for a league crown.