The New Year brings with it new hopes, new challenges, and guaranteed wall-to-wall action as the 2023-24 campaign moves into its second half, and it also brings with it the African Cup of Nations and the Asian Cup.
Coaches throughout the league will wave goodbye to one or more stars. They will wish them well and hope that none of them pick up an injury. And they also need to work out how they can keep on winning without the absent few.
With Liverpool at the top of the tree, we expect Manchester City to make a charge over the next few months, and the Premier League title race promises to be as exciting as we’ve seen over the past few years.
So this is not the perfect time for Reds’ boss Jurgen Klopp to wish a fond farewell to his best player, as Mohammed Salah joins his Egypt colleagues at AFCON. Salah has climbed to the top of the list of Premier League hotshots, drawing alongside City’s Erling Haaland on 14 goals, and he looks as sharp as ever so he will be a huge miss.
Liverpool also have another first team player on his way to serve his country, as defencive midfielder Wataru Endo has gone to the Asian Cup to meet his Japan teammates.
Meanwhile, Manchester City will lose no one.
Fourth placed Arsenal are still in the title race, and they will lose two key players as midfielder Mohammed Elneny will join Salah with the Egypt squad and utility man Takehiro Tomiyasu is in the Asian Cup with Japan.
Injury-hit Tottenham Hotpsur, who are hanging on to fifth place and are still in the mix-up, will be without their talisman Heung-Min Son, who will lead South Korea into the Asian Cup.
Spurs beat Burnley 1-0 in a Friday night FA Cup clash but, without Son, they struggled to break the Clarets down and that must be a worry for head coach Ange Postecoglou.
Spurs will also miss combative midfielder Yves Bissouma, who is playing for Mali and Pape Sarr who is part of the Senegal squad.
Aston Villa are currently second in the league, and they will lose one player, attacking midfielder Bertrand Traore, who is the star player for African minnows Burkina Faso.
When it comes to the title chasers, the Premier League 2024 betting odds back Manchester City to retain their title and, in January, they have a chance to turn the screw a little.
But the two teams which will be affected the most are relegation battlers Nottingham Forest, who will lose six players, including Serge Aurier and Willy Boly to the Ivory Coast, and Brentford who will lose four.
Premier League Stars heading to the Bundesliga
Away from the African and Asian competitions, one or two other big names may be packing their bags, but they won’t be travelling so far as the big Bundesliga clubs have been tracking some Premier League stars.
Harry Kane made an explosive start to his career at Bayern Munich, and both Bayern and their rivals are scouring the English league for more top-class talent.
Borussia Dortmund, who have struggled to keep pace with the league leaders, look set to be reunited with their former star, Jadon Sancho, as they have agreed a deal in principle to take the England man from Manchester United on a six-month loan.
Sancho has seen little game time since he criticised manager Erik ten Hag back in September, and his future at Old Trafford looks bleak, but there is still doubt over whether the deal includes an option to buy.
Wolves striker Sasa Kalajdzic could be on his way back to the German league as reports have emerged in the UK press that Wolverhampton Wanderers are happy to agree a loan deal with Eintracht Frankfurt. He previously played for VfB Stuttgart before moving to Wolves, but he has struggled for game time in the West Midlands.
Title favourites Bayern Munich could be dipping back into the Premier League for one of Kane’s old colleagues. 29-year-old defencive midfielder Eric Dier was missing from Spurs’ FA Cup victory over Burnley, leading to speculation that he may be on his way.
The Bavarian giants have apparently agreed a deal in principle with the player, but the Spurs boss insisted Dier, who can also play as a centre-back, missed the Friday match through injury.
In other Premier League 2024 news, there are a number of free agents kicking their heels at the moment and no bigger name than former Manchester United goalie David de Gea. Here at SBOTOP, we picked out the Spanish stopper as a potential replacement for the injured Nick Pope at Newcastle United. Nothing has happened there yet, so we’ll keep an eye on that one.
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