Following Wilfried Bony’s £28m move to Manchester City, Swansea City have cash to burn. While £5m of that is reportedly going towards securing the signature of Kyle Naughton from Tottenham, the Swans would be wise to invest further forward. Manager Garry Monk has claimed the south Wales side will not look to replace Bony this month, but instead give the unsettled Bafetimbi Gomis the chance to stake a claim for a regular starting spot. However, the Frenchman is supposedly keen to depart for pastures new and whether or not the 29-year-old secures a January move away from the club, there is an argument to say attacking reinforcements are needed.
Nélson Oliveira has joined on loan from Benfica for the remainder of the season, but a frontman accustomed to English football would surely benefit Swansea. One of those supposedly on their shortlist is Blackburn frontman Jordan Rhodes. The highly rated Scot has directly contributed to 12 of Rovers’ 36 league goals this season. The goals may not be flowing as freely as last term - Rhodes is netting 1 league goal every 229.8 minutes, a drop from 1 every 161 minutes last season - but 34 goals in his 72 league appearances in the last 18 months may have been enough to convince Swansea he is the right man to lead their attack.
Rhodes has developed a statistically calculated WhoScored strength of ‘finishing’, which will benefit a Swansea side who boast a strength themselves of ‘creating chances using through balls’. The striker thrives on hanging on the shoulder of the last defender, so if the creative personnel in the Swansea ranks - Gylfi Sigurdsson, in particular - can time their pass to match his run, Rhodes could excel for Swansea. With a strength of ‘holding on to the ball’, the burly attacker is also able to bring teammates into play, which can then be exploited by runners from deep.
It goes without saying that QPR require a goalscorer to ease the burden on Charlie Austin. The Englisman has scored a greater proportion of his team’s goals (56.5%) than any other player in Europe’s top 5 leagues this season, with Leroy Fer (3) his closest competitor at QPR for league goals scored (Austin has 13 to his name thus far). The R’s have already secured the loan signing of Mauro Zárate from West Ham, but there are reports that they are keen on strengthening further in attack with the acquisition of Dani Osvaldo.
The fiery Italian has fallen out of favour at Inter following an on-pitch spat with Mauro Icardi and his since gone AWOL, resulting in his suspension from the club. As a result, Inter are looking to cancel his loan contract and with parent side Southampton unlikely to welcome him back, Osvaldo could be available on the cheap this month. While he failed to settle in the Premier League during his initial stint with the south coast club, the experienced frontman could still offer a vital goalscoring threat for QPR.
With 5 league goals to his name, Osvaldo netted every 114.6 minutes on average in Serie A this season, a better rate than every QPR player in the Premier League. The west London side have developed a statistically calculated WhoScored weakness of ‘finishing scoring chances, though boast a strength of ‘creating scoring chances’. Osvaldo, meanwhile, has developed a strength of ‘finishing’ and his goal-getting ability would aid QPR. He may be hot-headed, but if he can fire Harry Redknapp’s side to safety, Osvaldo could be a gamble worth taking this month.
When Aaron Cresswell was sold to West Ham in the summer, Ipswich Town's management needn’t have worried as they had a ready-made replacement at left-back. Tyrone Mings has enjoyed quite the rise to prominence following his move to Portman Road. His displays for the Tractor Boys have seen a number of Premier League teams keep a watchful eye on his progress and they will have been impressed with what they have witnessed from the 21-year-old this season.
Only 3 Ipswich players have earned a better Whoscored rating than Mings (7.21) in the Championship this season, with the young defender churning out performances beyond his tender years. Only Fulham’s Konstantinos Stafylidis (137) has made more tackles and interceptions combined than Mings (112) of all players aged 21 or under in England’s second tier this term. An average of 2.5 interceptions per game has seen the Ipswich youngster gain a WhoScored strength of ‘ball interception’, with his reading of the game mirroring that of a more experienced player
At the time of writing, clubs would be acquiring Mings for his potential rather than his current ability, with a number of weaknesses still to be ironed out. A statistical weakness of ‘concentration’ suggests the mental side of his game is still a work in progress, though that will improve in time. With Newcastle said to have joined Arsenal in the race to secure the signature of the England hopeful, any team that convinces Mings to sign for them will have undoubtedly secured a diamond in the rough.
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