Ranking the 10 best players on the January 2025 transfer market

Open season has begun, and with teams now free to make their moves, let’s take a look at the best players on the January 2025 transfer market.

Young players angling for more playing time, failed transfers looking for a change in scenery, superstars struggling to gain a foothold (or looking for more money), and newly minted stars ready for the next step are all among the profiles of the notable names looking to secure a move in the upcoming winter transfer window.

There are a number of gems who could make a move either this month or on a pre-agreement for June, such as Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold, whereas there are others who are easy rumor mill fodder for the papers but less likely to leave (Mohamed Salah).

Looking at only those with a realistic shot at leaving this winter, here are the 10 best players on the January 2025 transfer market.

10. ST Joshua Zirkzee

Joshua Zirkzee just moved to Manchester United for a little more than his 40 million euro release clause at Bologna, where he played a pivotal role in Thiago Motta’s side completing a fairytale ride to the Champions League.

Actually, everyone thought that he would stay in Serie A and either end up with Motta at Juventus as Dusan Vlahovic’s much-needed sidekick (we’ll get to him later) or at AC Milan as Olivier Giroud’s replacement.

Instead, he and his agent chased the paper at Manchester United, where he was never a good fit. Man United still haven’t been able to get the well-rounded big man involved under Ruben Amorim, and a move back to Serie A appears likely with Juve interested in a loan.

9. AM Nico Paz

Nico Paz is another excellent playmaker from the Real Madrid system, and it has taken him no time to establish himself as one of the best playmakers in Serie A at the age of 20.

Thanks to Paz, Como should like their chances of promotion, as they are in 15th and 4 points above the stragglers in the drop zone. Patrick Cutrone has added goals at striker, and Gabriel Strefezza is still one of Serie A’s best wingers.

But Paz’s importance is huge, so it may not be the winter, but rather the summer, when Paz makes his big move. Still, if someone flashes enough cash at Como, I’d bet they’d have a hard time saying no.

8. DM Martin Zubimendi

To this point, Martin Zubimendi has been firmly against a transfer away from Real Sociedad, as he was heavily linked to the likes of Arsenal and even Barcelona in previous transfer windows.

However, Zubimendi is another case of, if a big club offers enough money, maybe he could go. La Real have come roaring back lately after a poor start to the season, with the win over Barcelona being a key turning point in their campaign.

Since they are seventh in the table and back in the Champions League race, a Zubimendi transfer in January is, as with Paz, not likely. But it is possible, especially with Liverpool remaining on the radar.

7. AM Arda Guler

Remember, the transfer market isn’t just about players who are sold permanently, because there are also plenty of great players who can move on loan, especially in winter.

Real Madrid have done this a couple of times with big name attackers, most namely in January 2021 when they sent Luka Jovic back to Eintracht Frankfurt (he flopped) and Martin Odegaard to Arsenal. Odegaard shined so brightly that he ended up moving to North London permanently, where he is now captain.

Perhaps Guler could be the second coming of Odegaard, but since he’s younger and even more productive, Real Madrid are probably not going to entertain a permanent transfer, unless it can land them Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen in the future.

Leverkusen are trying to pursue Guler on loan this January. Real Madrid already rebuffed summer loan interest from big clubs like Serie A title contenders Napoli, but with Guler struggling to fulfill the team’s needs as a utility player and falling behind Brahim Diaz in the all-around game, this may be the frustrated Turkish playmaker’s best shot at playing time.

Guler is an absolute gem and easily one of the best players on the January 2025 transfer market.

6. AM Dani Olmo

Barcelona have been unable to register Dani Olmo for the second half of the season, and while he started his maiden campaign in Catalunya brightly, his injury and lack of consistency or importance in recent weeks amidst the club’s slide out of first has, combined with the registration issues, made the summer transfer look as unwise as it did to everyone initially.

Olmo probably isn’t going to leave, and Barcelona have gotten out of registration pickles worse than this in the past. But because he’s technically not a part of the team right now and isn’t even worth axing anyone else to register, it’s not entirely out of the question for Olmo to jump teams with the January transfer window literally open as we speak.

5. ST Dusan Vlahovic

Beyond the brilliance of youngster Kenan Yildiz and the occasional shot of brilliance from winger prospect Samuel Mbangula, Dusan Vlahovic is all Juventus has from an attacking perspective.

On paper, Vlahovic is off to his best start in Black and White with 12 goals in all competitions, but a return of 7 goals and 1 assists in 16 Serie A starts is a very poor return and simply brings up the refrain that he has not been worth the money.

Vlahovic has never fully settled in to Turin despite every effort on his part, and with the goals still slow to come under Thiago Motta, Juve may be better off cashing out – and Vlahovic may be better off without a stagnating, fallen giant of Italian football.

If Juve get a big offer from abroad with, say, Arsenal renewing their interest in the Serbian No. 9, Vlahovic’s escape out of the Allianz may come a few months sooner than expected in January.

4. LW Jack Grealish

Manchester City are a club in transition, and after a woeful summer in which they somehow got even older and more plodding in midfield with the addition of Barcelona’s unwanted man Ilkay Gundogan – somehow, Dani Olmo has actually been a big upgrade – they are well and truly out of the Premier League title race.

As Man City ride their remaining piece in defense and attack, such as young guns Erling Haaland and Savinho, to hold onto a top-four finish, they have to look at the rest of their roster and slowly pick away at unwanted pieces so they can replace them with true stars in the summer.

Jack Grealish is one of those guys who has fallen off badly at the Etihad, and Pep Guardiola no longer has a use for the English dynamo he turned into an auxiliary workhorse.

Granted, Grealish won a Champions League title under Guardiola, but there’s a general sense that he’s had to sacrifice too many of his gifts in order to appease the pragmatic Spaniard.

Grealish could get a last shot to shine somewhere else as a centerpiece, while a Man City side clearly moving towards more youthful dynamism with explosive wingers Savinho and Jeremy Doku can cash in to rebuild their ailing squad.

3. LB Alphonso Davies

Real Madrid probably could have signed Alphonso Davies last summer, but they are angling to sign the world’s best players for free and use the allure of their club to convince stars like Davies to run down their contracts.

It didn’t quite work out with teenage sensation Leny Yoro, but Davies is a whole lot wiser and seems to have a better agent on his side. Bayern Munich keep playing this silly game of chicken with Davies instead of giving him the money he wants, but since Real Madrid are playing coy with Davies and pretending like Ferland Mendy is somehow good enough to start for the reigning Champions League winners, we’re still at an impasse.

Davies is actually the most likely of the big names to leave this winter, and even though there isn’t much competition with clubs like Manchester United looking more like a smokescreen than anything else, you get the feeling that the longer this drags out, the closer the Canadian is to joining David Alaba and Vinicius Junior in Madrid.

2. FW Christopher Nkunku

Christopher Nkunku was a legitimate Ballon d’Or candidate in the 2021/22 season before moving to Chelsea two seasons later, where an immediate injury derailed his debut and, really, his entire career at Stamford Bridge to this point.

When he plays, Nkunku is one of the Blues’ best players, but with Cole Palmer taking the limelight in the middle, Nkunku has been cast to the wayside, especially after Chelsea brought in three big names on the wings this summer in Joao Felix, Pedro Neto, and Jadon Sancho

Nkunku is one of the best players on the January 2025 transfer market by virtue of the fact that 1) Enzo Maresca has no use for him and 2) he was so good at RB Leipzig that he carried them to their first trophy (the DFB Pokal in 2022) and elevated Timo Werner to a career year that led to his own move to Stamford Bridge.

If Nkunku can be healthy for whoever signs him next, assuming he does go this winter, then he could prove to be a brilliant transfer. Imagine him back in the Bundesliga, saving a sagging Dortmund from their own embarrassment.

1. RB Trent Alexander-Arnold

Trent Alexander-Arnold is a homegrown generational talent at the right back position and the best player in his role in the Premier League, so the chances of him actually leaving Liverpool for free in June are extremely slim.

And the chances of Liverpool agreeing to accept a small fee in order to allow him to leave a Champions League rival in Real Madrid, whom they just beat, for the remainder of the season are even slimmer.

But between Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah, TAA is the only one who can legitimately be called a player “on the transfer market”, given Madrid’s interest, Salah’s Ballon d’Or-level season, and the fact that there is actual smoke around TAA’s future with the Jude Bellingham links and allure of Madrid.

He is a one-of-a-kind superstar at right back with his playmaking ability, and he gets way too much hate defensively. I don’t see Alexander-Arnold betraying Liverpool, but, as with Davies, the fact that he hasn’t accepted a contract with the Reds yet speaks volumes about the possibility of a transfer out.