5 Players Premier League Clubs Should Sign in January.

Including Man Utd, Newcastle and Everton's Ideal Transfers.

Signing Suggestions for:

• Crystal Palace

•⁠ Bournemouth

• Newcastle

• Everton

• Man United

Santiago Mourino For Crystal Palace.

23yo Villareal Centre-Half

The way Santiago Mourino has scaled to the top of La Liga is almost unheard of, but what can you expect from a player who has traversed from Uruguay, to the bottom half of La Liga 2, to a 15th-place finish with Alavés in Spain’s top flight and now the Champions League in four seasons? The Uruguayan manages to combine the epitome of the modern defender. He has the third-most passes into the final third from full-backs under-23 in the top five leagues — with the battling, combative nature of a classic South American defender. Nominally a centre-half, the 23-year-old has spent the majority of his minutes at Villarreal as a right-back.

As the above graphic displays, he’s very much a defender playing at full-back and is more comfortable in his own half rather than the attacking third. Thus, from my perspective, he ideally slots into Oliver Glasner’s back three at Crystal Palace. No disrespect to USMNT international Chris Richards, who has been a great servant to the south London club, but I believe that it’s an upgradeable position.

So, what’s he good at? Unusually, his mental fundamentals stand out the most to me; his aggressive nature, bravery and confidence all lead to a defensive monster. An average of three tackles per 90 places him in the 99th percentile across the top eight leagues. These qualities, combined with physical traits such as pace, agility and strength, create an ideal wide centre-half specifically for Crystal Palace. On the ball, he’s a strong carrier and is comfortable taking the ball in his stride. His short passing is often neglected — this is probably a combination of his tactical role, upbringing and ability. He doesn’t often look to play into the block to find central midfielders on the half-turn. He prefers to carry and play wide or hit a well-struck ball across the pitch to his opposite winger, something Palace often do.

With the potential departure of Guehi, spending £35m on a potentially top-level centre-half doesn’t seem like a bad idea.

Paid subscribers can read our other four transfer suggestions. 👇