5 good midfielders who could be affordable in January

I have been around football professionally for too long to be a proper supporter of any club anymore, but I still very much hope that Tottenham Hotspur win more of their games than anyone else. Probably my biggest source of frustration with Spurs this season has been their lack of a really good all-around midfielder.

James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski have been excellent final third playmakers, but the guys behind them have been seriously deficient in either defensive ability or ball progression. Similar things could be said about both Manchester clubs, and sometimes even Arsenal during their injury/suspension crises. There are a lot of teams who could really use a 6/8 tweener who just… doesn’t suck.

It’s usually pretty difficult to add one of those in January. Most clubs either have some ambition to qualify for Europe or some fear of relegation, and therefore have very little interest in selling good players mid-season. But for a club that’s clearly stuck in mid-table mediocrity, the January window is an excellent opportunity to cash in.

Being good at the transfer market isn’t just about buying good players at market rate or lower. It’s also about knowing when to sell. Choosing to sell in January when buying clubs have way fewer options could lead to you fetching a larger fee than you would in the summer, and if you’re stuck in the middle of the table, there might not be much of a penalty for doing so.

I’ve picked out 5 interesting midfielders — 1 from each of Europe’s top 5 leagues — who I think could be available for a reasonable fee this January. Besides filtering out guys who were clearly deficient or weird in some way, I also considered if I would be willing to sell if I ran their current club. And in the case of these guys, I think the time is right for their employers to negotiate if they get a reasonable opening bid.

Lewis Cook — Bournemouth

I apologize to all of the Bournemouth fans who just told me to piss off. Cook has been one of the best midfielders in the Premier League this season, advancing the ball and protecting his defense well.

Bournemouth have virtually zero shot at Europe or relegation, and are a great candidate to use the January window to make some extra money on guys they might be selling in 6 months anyway. They probably don’t want Cook to be one of those players, but he’s about to turn 28, and his window for being a player of interest to rich clubs is closing.

I’d ask for £60m to start and see if inquiring teams are immediately scared off or make a counter-offer.

Maxence Caqueret — Lyon

At this point, Caqueret has been linked to a move abroad every summer for 5 years, and has stayed at Lyon every time. He seems to like the place, and they seem to like him. But the club is now in serious financial crisis, and probably has to consider any reasonable offers for its players.

Caqueret is unspectacular, but he’s a solid all-around performer with no serious holes in his game.

He’s also probably the cheapest guy on this list, given his club’s circumstances. A lot of clubs could use a reliable all-rounder who simply doesn’t do anything stupid.

Angelo Stiller — Stuttgart

I was aware that Angelo Stiller was a good player having a great season before going through this exercise this week, but uhh, holy crap.

There are just not a lot of dudes out there with this combination of ball progression, ball retention, and ball winning. He’s raised his profile a bit since making his senior Germany debut in August, and given that he’ll have 2 years remaining on his contract this summer, suitors will be lining up bids.

But why not jump the queue and pay an extra €5-10m to get your man right now? OK, it’s easy to say that when it’s not my money, but I think Stiller’s the best all-around player on this list, and he’s probably still a year or two off his peak.

Adrian Bernabe — Parma

Any midfielder from Serie A was going to be stretching my self-imposed parameters for this given the insanity of the table in that league. Bologna is probably the only team in the entire league who has little reason to believe they can qualify for Europe or get relegated. Everyone else has very real reason to be thinking about one or the other.

I didn’t like any of their center mids, though. The closest I came was Parma, who appear too good to be sucked into a relegation fight, despite only being 4 points clear at the moment. And it might be a great time to cash in on Adrian Bernabe, who’s a bit more of an attack-minded player than the others on this list.

Like Stiller, he’s got 2.5 years left on his contract, and he signed it when Parma was still in Serie B. He’ll be looking for a move or a massive raise this summer. Parma might be able to take advantage of a January market with higher demand than supply and sell Bernabe for a big premium this winter.

Fran Beltran — Celta Vigo

I bet you expected Martín Zubimendi! Nah, that’s too easy. You already know about him. He also looks like he’ll be subject to a multi-club bidding war. Instead, here’s a more under the radar La Liga player.

Beltran is the most obvious sale candidate here, just given the presence of good young understudies on his team. He’s been a key player for Celta for 7 years now, and their fans might be even more insulted at this suggestion than Cherries supporters with Cook. He’s great at marshalling the midfield.

However, Celta have a group of talented youngsters who are having breakout seasons, and they’re probably ready for bigger roles. Academy products Damián Rodríguez and Hugo Sotelo have been excellent, while loanee Ilaix Moriba — who Celta have an option to buy — is looking like he’ll be worth a purchase. Celta should entertain bids for Beltran.

—KM

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