3 players PSG should try to sign in January transfer window

Unlike any of the last four campaigns, Paris Saint-Germain faces a stern test to lift its fifth Ligue 1 title on the bounce, making the January window a more imperative project than in previous years.

Five points adrift of table-topping Nice and three back of goal-happy Monaco, capital club newcomers Unai Emery and Patrick Kluivert are tasked with avoiding a relative disaster.

Somewhere, Laurent Blanc is at the apex of leisure on a yacht with his €22-million severance, smiling.

With 19 matches to play, there's absolutely no reason Emery can't right the ship at the Parc des Princes. Julian Draxler is on his way, and with Nasser Al-Khelaifi's resources, the sky's the limit for a club whose assets dwarf the rest of France's top flight.

Here's a look at three players PSG would be wise to sign in the January window understanding that money is no object for a club to continue its run toward Lyon's record of seven straight French titles:

Virgil van Dijk (Southampton)

After a comparatively underwhelming individual campaign in 2015-16 for Thiago Silva, the Brazilian has paired a new deal at PSG with a bounce-back season.

With Marquinhos, Silva has formed a reliable tandem, though if either or both of those established stars were befallen by injury, 21-year-old Presnel Kimpembe would be forced to inhabit a first-team role that has seen the Paris-born centre-back make just 14 league starts in his budding career.

Hardly the defensive luxuries of a side with title ambitions.

While the January window is rarely an opportunity to add veritable talent, by the same token, there are plenty of selling clubs looking to make a buck on a player whose future lies elsewhere.

For Emery, the options are a highly coveted defender targeted by other top sides like a Virgil van Dijk or Kalidou Koulibaly, or an affordable veteran presence with experience playing in the capital like Mamadou Sakho. There's always Loic Perrin, who continues to be one of Ligue 1's most consistent centre-backs while getting half the plaudits of his peers.

Naby Keita (RB Leipzig)

For a team that prides itself on possession, signing Grzegorz Krychowiak in the summer was a bizarre choice considering the Polish international's virtues. A stodgy ball-stopper, the former Sevilla star followed Emery to the capital with great expectations.

Midway through the Ligue 1 campaign, and Krychowiak has made six starts in the league as part of a three-man midfield, though the fact that Thiago Motta has been selected 14 times raises a few questions.

With Marco Verratti and Blaise Matuidi typically flanking a deep-lying central midfielder, a dynamic box-to-box player with a penchant for the long ball would be preferred.

In walks RB Leipzig stud Naby Keita.

Like the contentious Bundesliga surprise side, Keita, 21, has enjoyed a meteoric rise. Four years ago, Keita was plying his trade in his homeland Guinea with Horoya before moving to French second-tier side Istres and eventually Leipzig's Austrian sister club Red Bull Salzburg.

An all-around polished defensive mid, Keita has emerged as one of the continent's future stars, and rightly so. Few young players in Europe's top five leagues match passing accuracy numbers with tackles and interceptions like Keita, and his talent for passes in excess of 15 yards is world class.

Tottenham's Mousa Dembele would also fit the profile, though it's doubtful Mauricio Pochettino's lot would sell its midfield lynchpin. Either way, something needs to be done, especially with the continuing speculation of Verratti's return to Italy.

Javier Hernandez (Bayer Leverkusen)

For all the criticisms of Edinson Cavani, no player in the top five leagues has scored as many goals as the Uruguayan with as few touches (16 goals with 21 touches per match).

A volume scorer, Cavani rarely sees the ball more than 25 yards away from the ball, contrasting Zlatan Ibrahimovic's tendency to drop deep and collect that ball. While PSG is surely worst off in the absence of the towering Swede, the critiques of Cavani are far from elucidated.

With that in mind, should Cavani go down, Emery's options up top are limited. Academy product Jean-Kevin Augustin has made just five league starts in two seasons, lacking the experience to lead the line for a title-chasing side. After that are two players mired by underwhelming campaigns capable of playing the false 9 role: Hatem Ben Arfa and Lucas Moura.

With no excuses for a lack of funds or ambitions, surely another striker should be at the top of Emery's wishlist, and a marquee one at that.

That said, there's little to be had in the January window, forcing Kluivert to exercise some creativity, though one player who could make the Parc des Princes switch is Bayer Leverkusen striker Chicharito.

Several factors hint at a potential move for Chicharito. Roger Schmidt's lot currently sit ninth in the Bundesliga table, but the club has a wealth of attackers who can shift up top in Julian Brandt, Hakan Calhanoglu, and Kevin Volland, and the North-Rhine Westphalians are reportedly willing to offload the Mexican international with a year-and-a-half left on his deal.

Make that call, Kluivert.