What do Liverpool need in the January transfer window?

The January shopping season has arrived and football certainly isn't immune to the almost obsessive search for a bargain. Ever since its advent in 2002, the January transfer window has seen massive transfers take place for big money. Take last January for example, when a whopping £107 million changed hands in the space of 24 hours, as Fernando Torres was replaced with Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll on deadline day.

Others, though, take a rather more cautious approach to the January transfer window arguing, with some justification, that it is notoriously difficult to find top quality players willing to leave their clubs at that point in the season and, if you can, the price is normally hugely inflated, as evidenced by the massive fee of £35 million spent to secure the services of Andy Carroll from Newcastle United last January.

This January, Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish looks to be adopting the latter approach, with little talk of overhauling the squad compared to the summer, when the legendary Scot made substantial and necessary changes, as numerous players left and arrived at Anfield. Nevertheless, Dalglish has demonstrated that he is willing and able to spend money when required and appears likely to dabble in the transfer market to make slight improvements to his squad.

His priority surely must be signing another goalscorer. After deciding against appealing Luis Suarez's eight game ban for racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra, King Kenny is left with only two other striking options; Andy Carroll and Dirk Kuyt.

The former has been burdened with a massive price tag and has subsequently felt the full force of the pressure that is involved in playing for Liverpool FC. He has also struggled to adapt to the Reds' style of play, which is understandable considering the amount of time he has spent warming the substitutes' bench. As a result, he has netted a paltry total of two goals in the Premier League. The latter, meanwhile, has faced pressure for his position on the right wing from Jordan Henderson and has only occasionally appeared up front. Following years of sterling service and a guaranteed place in the starting eleven, Kuyt is no longer one of the first names on the team sheet and Dalglish appears to be attempting to slowly replace 31-year old Kuyt with younger blood.

Liverpool's main problem so far this season has been a lack of goals. At the back we are rarely conceding, with the Reds claiming the second stingiest defence in the League behind title favourites Manchester City, but up front we are regularly creating countless chances but finding converting them much more difficult. We appear to need, therefore, another striker both to cover for Suarez in the short-term and also to provide added firepower to our attack in the long-term.

Transfer speculation has suggested that Aston Villa's Darren Bent could be the subject of a January bid from Liverpool. Bent has a deserved reputation for prolific goalscoring. Upon his arrival in the Midlands in January 2011, he secured the winner on his debut against Manchester City, before going on to bag a further nine goals in 16 League appearances. During previous spells at Tottenham and Sunderland he achieved 17 and 25 goals in a season respectively, illustrating his credentials as a goalscoring centre forward.

Bent is also English and has extensive experience of the Premier League, which fits in with the type of player that the club purchased in the summer and are looking to build the squad around.

Unfortunately, though, Bent won't come cheap. Aston Villa paid Sunderland a club record fee of £18 million, with the potential for that fee to increase to £24 million if he makes a certain number of appearances, which means that they are unlikely to accept anything less than £20 million for Bent's services. On the flip side, of course, Villa could be willing to offload their number nine now if the price is right so that they avoid paying an additional £6 million to Martin O'Neil's new club.

There has also been talk of Fernando Torres returning to the club only a year after he left for a record breaking £50 million. Since moving to Stamford Bridge the Spanish striker has seriously struggled to find any semblance of form and has completely lost his confidence in front of goal. There have been tentative moments where it was thought the Torres of old might emerge again, however those Blue dreams have been promptly distinguished. This was epitomised in Chelsea's 4-1 victory over Swansea at the end of September, when Torres scored but was later sent off for a rash two-footed tackle. Manager Andre Villas-Boas has also began selecting 22-year old Daniel Sturridge, who was on-loan at Bolton Wanderers last season, ahead of Torres, demonstrating his fall from grace. It therefore appears that Liverpool sold Torres at his peak value in what is now deemed an amazing deal for the Merseysiders and a stupid waste of Roman's Russian roubles for the London side.

Torres' return to Anfield remains incredibly unlikely due to the controversial manner in which he left and the fact that he broke several promises he made to the fans and therefore lost all trust and support he had previously received from them in abundance. Nonetheless, it must be remembered that he was at his best when combining with Steven Gerrard and, if the pair could re-ignite their relationship and also link up with Luis Suarez, an explosive attacking combination could be created. For me, to be accepted back at the club Torres would have to issue a full and frank apology to the fans and Chelsea would have to accept a price of lower than £20 million because he clearly is worth nowhere near as much as they paid for him.

Liverpool also need to buy a genuine right winger. Up to this stage of the campaign, Dalglish has mainly selected Jordan Henderson or Maxi Rodriguez on the right hand side of midfield. This strategy has borne little fruit, as the former is clearly much better in the middle of the park, while the latter is useful as an impact player and is acquainted with the back of the net but lacks the crossing ability needed to fully utilise the height of Andy Carroll.

Stewart Downing has provided width and crossing ability on the left but, while it's always better to have one rather than none, the Reds must be looking for another decent winger in the transfer window. Admittedly they are rare these days and FSG may have to shell out a fair bit of cash to sign one, but, nonetheless, another winger would add another dimension to Liverpool's attack and provide competition for Downing who, despite impressing, has failed to find the back of the net so far.

The Reds could arguably profit from signing another central midfielder as well, considering Gerrard's niggling injuries and Lucas' absence for the foreseeable future. However, with Adam, Henderson, Shelvey and Spearing sufficient cover already exists and they should be given the opportunity to prove their worth and cement a place in the side.

Overall, relatively little work needs to be done in the transfer market, with a few sensible additions in certain departments required, rather than a radical overhaul of the squad. That fact just goes to show how well Comolli and co. did in the summer in securing several impressive signings and demonstrates how far Liverpool have come since the dark days of Roy Hodgson's reign, when massive investment in the squad was desperately needed.

YNWA