5 Premier League Clubs Still Need "THE" Signing That Could Make or Break Their Season

Every summer produces a handful of clubs sitting one deal away from either a brilliant season or a complete headache. With deadline day closing in, these five clubs have already done a bit of business; the jury is out on whether the business has been good or bad, but each still has a gap that could swing their entire campaign either way. Get it right, and any of these five could be having a very different conversation come May. Get it wrong, and it can end in catastrophe.

Liverpool

Liverpool have done the bare minimum this summer, but the one piece that would actually make everything else click still hasn't arrived. Right now, Ryan Gravenberch and Trey Nyoni are stuck holding down the no.6 role, doing a job that isn't their strength, instead of playing further forward, where they are genuinely much more comfortable and effective. Bringing in a proper defensive midfielder rearranges Liverpool's midfield in their favour.

With a specialist no.6 in place, Gravenberch can push into his preferred no.8 role. That in turn lets Alexis Mac Allister rotate between the 8 and the 10 alongside Florian Wirtz, giving Iraola two genuinely world-class creative options to manage across a long season instead of forcing one into a slot (no pun intended there!) that doesn't suit him.

There's a knock-on effect out wide too. With Bradley Barcola strongly linked and expected to arrive, buying another top-level winger becomes unrealistic, and Liverpool's other options on the right, Victor Muñoz and Rio Ngumoha, are both young and still raw. That's where Dominik Szoboszlai comes in. Freed from central midfield duties by a new no.6, he can operate as an emergency right winger. Given his engine, his delivery from wide areas, his passing range and his habit of drifting inside, that's far from a downgrade. It solves two problems with one signing.

Who could fill this gap: Two names fit the profile without breaking the bank compared to some of Liverpool's other business over the past couple of seasons. Angelo Stiller offers a more affordable, technically excellent option with real Bundesliga pedigree. Adam Wharton is the more expensive, higher-ceilinged alternative, a specialist ball-winner and progressor who's been strongly linked all summer. Either one solves Liverpool's actual problem.

Manchester United

Manchester United go into a season with Champions League football and four competitions to juggle, and their back four could genuinely be the same four names Erik ten Hag started with on the opening day of the 2022/23 season. Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martínez and Diogo Dalot remain the senior options, with Matthijs de Ligt as effectively the only established backup across the entire back line.

That's not a knock on continuity. A settled defence can be a strength. But this isn't a settled defence so much as an ageing, injury-prone one being asked to carry United through a genuinely demanding season without proper cover. Shaw and Martínez, in particular, have long fitness histories, and asking Michael Carrick to navigate a four-competition campaign without real depth at centre-back or left-back is a significant risk.

What makes the gap more obvious is how well United have actually recruited elsewhere. Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans have already strengthened the midfield, and Carlos Baleba's move from Brighton looks close to being finalised for a fee in the region of £60m to 65m million. United have shown they're willing to spend and spend well this summer. The defence is the one area that's been left to hope rather than plan.

Who could fill this gap: Carrick deserves real credit for getting United back into the Champions League with the squad he inherited. But a manager who's earned a proper platform to build on shouldn't be sent into a season with essentially zero margin for injury at the back. One more genuine defensive body, whether that's cover at centre back or a quality option at left back, is the difference between United managing four competitions and United being undone by them in October.

Aston Villa

Aston Villa are about to lose a defender who's been central to everything Unai Emery has built. Ezri Konsa's move to Arsenal, agreed at around £51 million, leaves a real hole in Villa's backline, which has quietly been one of the most efficient in the league and in Europe under Emery. Villa will move to replace him. How well they do it matters more than usual.

It's worth remembering the scale of what Emery has actually delivered. Villa have consistently punched above their transfer budget, competing for European places against clubs with considerably more spending power. That's not an accident. It's built on a defensive foundation that's been remarkably consistent, and Konsa has been a core part of that consistency.

The financial backdrop makes this signing riskier than a normal like-for-like replacement. With PSR restrictions shaping nearly every move Villa have made in recent windows, there's very little room to get this wrong. A single poor centre back signing can unravel a whole season's worth of careful planning and put European qualification itself at risk.

Who could fill this gap: The stakes are rising too. The fans' ambitions have shifted, and so have the club's. Emery is now building toward genuinely competing further up the table, beyond simply chasing a European place. That shift means the right calibre of centre back, not just a like-for-like body, is what keeps Villa building toward something bigger. Get it wrong, and a defence that's carried this project for three years could be the reason it stalls.

Villa, amazingly, have been linked with Southampton’s Taylor Harwood-Bellis. It can go either way, but with Emery at the helm, such signings are more likely to succeed than fail. 

Fulham

Fulham's summer has had a strange energy to it, and the unease starts right at the top. Alvaro Arbeloa arrives at Craven Cottage after a brief, turbulent spell in interim charge of Real Madrid, a job that landed on him through circumstance more than merit. At times he looked more like a safe pair of hands than a coach with a clear identity of his own, and that's a fair thing for Fulham fans to be nervous about before a ball's even been kicked.

That unease naturally extends to the squad Arbeloa is assembling. Fulham have leaned heavily on his Real Madrid connections this summer, bringing in Gonzalo García and César Palacios, both academy products from his time in charge of Real Madrid Castilla. Shea Charles arriving from Southampton looks like a smart, more conventional signing in the middle of the park. But there's a real gap still open further forward.

Harry Wilson's free transfer exit to Leeds took a significant creative outlet with him, and nobody at Craven Cottage has obviously replaced it. Josh King is promising, and Emile Smith Rowe has real quality, but neither has proven themselves as the kind of experienced No. 10 who can consistently create for Fulham's strikers over a full season. Without that, there's a genuine risk Fulham struggle to generate enough chances no matter who's leading the line.

Who could fill this gap: Someone with the invention and end product of a technically gifted creative midfielder in the mould of Christoph Baumgartner would give Arbeloa exactly what's currently missing. Whether Fulham actually go and get someone at that level says a lot about how seriously this new era is being taken. Another promising project player won't cut it.

Newcastle

Newcastle have plenty of holes to fill this summer, but one matters more than the rest. They need a genuine, dominant striker, and right now they don't have one.

William Osula showed real promise in a good run of form at the end of last season, and Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade both remain at the club. But none of the three looks like the long-term answer at centre forward for a club trying to rebuild its entire identity from the ground up. Newcastle need to make a decision and commit to it. Drifting into the season hoping one of their existing options simply clicks isn't a plan.

Newcastle are already replacing half their spine this summer, from the manager down to the captain, with Bruno Guimarães gone to Arsenal, Anthony Gordon sold to Barcelona and Sandro Tonali off to Tottenham. There's a concerted effort underway in midfield and defence, with reinforcements under new head coach Matthias Jaissle. A rebuild without a genuine focal point up front risks leaving all that other investment without a proper end product.

Who could fill this gap: What Newcastle actually need is someone who can become the next Isak for them: a genuine focal point who can lead the line alone. Christian Kofane's raw upside at Bayer Leverkusen makes him exactly the kind of profile worth chasing, and Joaquín Panichelli, now lighting up Ligue 1 at Strasbourg after his breakout year, fits the same mould of a young, hungry number nine who could grow into the role. Either represents the kind of statement signing that tells a rebuilding fanbase there's a plan.