Marcus Rashford, Douglas Luiz, Ansu Fati & the star players who still need a transfer as the January window enters its final week

Federico Chiesa's situation is fascinating. The Italian's injury issues are both well-documented and mysterious but it's obvious that he's in dire need of regular game time, as Liverpool coach Arne Slot has openly admitted. He's not giving Chiesa much, though, at least not in the Premier League. While the winger has impressed during his cameos in cup competitions, he's only seen 25 minutes of top-flight action since moving to England last summer.

Chiesa clearly loves being at Liverpool and, if he can overcome his fitness issues, he definitely has a big role to play going forward (particularly if Mohamed Salah leaves this summer!). He's also a wonderful rotational option for Slot, who will have to manage his squad wisely during the second half of the season, with the Reds still competing on four fronts.

In that context, staying at Anfield is not the worst option for Chiesa. However, he would definitely be better served by playing regular first-team football for the next five months, and preferably back in Serie A, where he'd feel most comfortable, before returning to Liverpool during the summer, hopefully in peak physical condition.

Forty-five minutes - that's how much game time Ben Chilwell has seen this season. Forty-five minutes in a Carabao Cup third-round clash with Barrow, which is just mind-blowing.

Chilwell is a 28-year-old, Champions League-winning England international and yet he's essentially rotting in the reserves at Stamford Bridge.

Chilwell should have left last summer, of course, after being relegated to the 'Bomb Squad' and it's been reported that his alleged refusal to accept a reduction in his salary is the reason why he's yet to find a new club.

But something has to give by next Monday night, as neither Chelsea nor Chilwell can afford this sorry situation to drag on any longer.

One of the many victims of Chelsea's ridiculous recruitment strategy, Axel Disasi has been relegated to the role of reserve 18 months after arriving from Monaco for £38.5m ($48m), with the defender's only meaningful minutes this season coming in the Conference League.

It's worth remembering that Disasi had just broken into the France squad before his ill-fated move to Stamford Bridge but it's now well over a year since he last represented his country.

Rather unsurprisingly, he now looks a player completely bereft of the confidence with which he used to carry himself on the pitch, so it's imperative that he escapes the chaos at Chelsea before the window closes - particularly with fellow centre-back Trevoh Chalobah having just been recalled from his loan spell at Crystal Palace.

Real Madrid clearly know a thing or two about refining young Brazilian attackers. After all, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo both had ups and downs during the early days of their respective Real Madrid careers but it's fair to say that they're doing alright now...

So, maybe Madrid are right to spurn all interest in Endrick for now. Maybe the 18-year-old needs time to develop away from the spotlight. Maybe he's not quite ready for the rigours of professional football on a weekly basis.

However, loan moves have been the making of many up-and-coming players and we freely admit that we'd love to see Endrick playing regularly during the second half of the season for another, smaller top-flight European team.

Endrick is still only 18, of course. There's no need to rush him. But it's still a shame that such a prodigious talent has yet to start a single game in La Liga since joining Madrid from Palmeiras last summer.

He may love training alongside Kylian Mbappe & Co. on a daily basis but one imagines that he'd jump at the chance to prove himself elsewhere between now and the end of the season.

It's seriously sad to see what's become of Ansu Fati. The Barcelona academy product broke a string of goalscoring records after exploding onto the scene as a teenager and is still only 22 - yet nobody seems to want him anymore.

Given their well-documented cashflow problems, the Catalans would dearly love to offload Fati before the window closes but finding a buyer is once again proving incredibly difficult on account of the Spain international's form and fitness issues.

There's now talk that Jose Mourinho wants Fati at Fenerbahce and a transfer to one of the top teams in Turkey is probably the best possible outcome for a player who failed dismally to impress during last season's loan stay at Brighton and has seen just 186 minutes of action at Barca this season.

Just 18 months ago, Evan Ferguson was being hailed as one of the most exciting young strikers in the Premier League, with then-Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi tipping the Irishman to become "the top scorer in Europe".

Now, though, there's very little room for Ferguson at the Amex. The centre-forward has featured in 14 Premier League games this term but started only two of them and head coach Fabian Hurzeler has repeatedly refused to rule out letting Ferguson leave on loan in January to aid the youngster's development.

A most untimely ankle injury at the tail end of the December has complicated matters for a couple for reasons: firstly, it prevented Ferguson from trying to fill the void left by the also-sidelined Danny Welbeck; secondly, it made the 20-year-old a less attractive option for a team looking for an immediate boost during the January transfer window.

Unfortunately, Ferguson remains out of action but the word coming out of Brighton is that he's approaching a return to full fitness and that a decision will be made on his future during the final week of the window. There is still hope, then, that he'll get the move he's craving so badly.

Remember Luka Jovic? He was the 'new Luis Suarez' that Real Madrid signed from Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer of 2019 for a whopping €60m.

Jovic was just 21 years of age at the time and was coming off the back of breakout season in which he had netted 27 goals in 48 games in all competitions.

However, the Serbian striker's spell at the Santiago Bernabeu was a disaster and things haven't gone much better since. There were flashes of his Frankfurt self during a single season at Fiorentina, which convinced AC Milan to take a gamble on him in 2023, but he's struggled horribly at San Siro.

Jovic has made just five appearances for the Rossoneri this season, starting only once, and simply has to move on if he's to have any hope of kickstarting a once-promising career.

The word is that nearby Monza are offering the 27-year-old a way out of his Milan nightmare. It's a serious step down in stature but Jovic would be wise to accept.

Juventus thought they had pulled off a bit of a masterstroke by agreeing a €50m (£42m/$55m) deal with Aston Villa for Douglas Luiz - and a technically separate transfer involving Samuel Iling-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea - but the Brazilian has been abysmal.

Granted, the midfielder was ruled out of action for a couple of months with a muscular problem but even when he has played, he's performed poorly and it's clear that coach Thiago Motta has lost all faith in Luiz, who has started the Bianconeri's last three Serie A games on the bench.

Consequently, speculation is mounting that Luiz could leave Turin before the window closes, with the 26-year-old said to be 'very open' to an immediate return to the Premier League.

Both Manchester City and Chelsea have been credited with interest.

The case of Christopher Nkunku is pretty straightforward: he's far too good a player to be sitting on the bench at Stamford Bridge.

The France international has scored 13 goals in all competitions this season - and yet been afforded just three starts in the Premier League, which is just ridiculous.

So, it's not in the least bit surprising that Nkunku is being linked with a move to Bayern Munich. It might not happen, of course, but that's the kind of level Nkunku belongs at - not playing second fiddle to Nicolas Jackson at Chelsea while spearheading a Conference League challenge.

Did Marcus Rashford jump the gun?! The Manchester United forward announced his readiness for "a new challenge" more than a month ago and yet the unsettled forward appears to be no closer to securing a move away from Old Trafford.

AC Milan effectively signed Kyle Walker instead (although their interest in Rashford never made much sense anyway), Borussia Dortmund don't seem to be in a position to cover the England international's wages, while there clearly need to be outgoings at Barcelona before any new signings can be made.

The latest reports claim Rashford is willing to take a significant salary cut to push through a transfer to Catalunya but, as it stands, there's a real risk of the 27-year-old spending the remainder of the season on the sidelines, given he's been deemed persona non grata by new United boss Ruben Amorim.

Mathys Tel made 30 appearances in last season's Bundesliga - but the 19-year-old attacker won't be bettering - or even matching - that tally this term. Tel has featured just eight times since Vincent Kompany took over at the Allianz Arena last summer and is unsurprisingly said to be frustrated by his lack of game time under the Belgian boss.

As a result, there are now rumours that the French forward is willing to listen to offers during the January transfer window amid mounting speculation that Chelsea would consider selling Christopher Nkunku to Bayern if it meant Tel coming in the opposition direction.

Clearly, the last thing such a promising young forward should do is move to Stamford Bridge but a loan move to another club capable of offering first-team football would be ideal for him.

Dusan Vlahovic is in a difficult position at Juventus. He pushed hard to join the Bianconeri from Fiorentina in 2022 and his struggles under Massimiliano Allegri were attributed to the previous coach's dreadfully negative style of play.

The thing is, though, Vlahovic doesn't seem compatible with Thiago Motta's footballing philosophy either. Even though the Serbian striker is Juve’s top scorer this season, Allegri's successor has benched Vlahovic for the past two games, against Milan and Napoli, and in the latter contest, new signing Randal Kolo Muani marked his debut with a goal.

Juve have invested an awful lot of time and money in Vlahovic with the idea of building a team around him but it's no secret anymore that they'd accept a big bid from an overseas club before the close of the transfer window, as it would go a long way towards loosening their financial constraints.

A transfer would also suit Vlahovic, as he's undoubtedly got the potential to become a world-class No.9. He just needs the right manager to help him realise it. Maybe Mikel Arteta is the man for the job...

Given Tottenham's terrible results and ongoing injury crisis, manager Ange Postecoglou is dead-set against losing any players before the close of the transfer window. "We're not letting anyone go at this point," the Australian said earlier this month. However, it now seems more probable than possible that Timo Werner will be allowed to leave - and with good cause.

Werner was a risk worth taking, as Spurs managed to get a versatile former Germany international on loan from RB Leipzig with an option to buy for £8.5m ($10.6m), but he's not worth even such a relatively small sum of money.

It didn't work out for Werner at Chelsea and it's not worked out for him at Tottenham either. He's scored just three times in 40 appearances in all competitions for Spurs and clearly needs to take a step down in level.

Werner's still only 28 but a move to MLS makes so much sense for him at this stage of a once-promising career.

It's not so long ago that Oleksandr Zinchenko was considered a key man at Arsenal, a multi-purpose player with real leadership skills that was considered integral to Mikel Arteta's team. However, the signing of the vastly superior Riccardo Calafiori, Jurrien Timber's return to full fitness and the emergence of Myles Lewis-Skelly has seen Zinchenko slide down the pecking order.

Indeed, the versatile left-back has seen just four minutes of Premier League game time since the turn of the year and is very much up for sale. The problem is that while Borussia Dortmund are said to be keen, a move to Signal Iduna Park has yet to materialise.

Zinchenko will, thus, be praying for some movement in the coming days. Having just turned 28, he won't want to waste another six months of his career at the Emirates.

Joshua Zirkzee hasn't performed well for Manchester United since joining from Bologna last summer - that's beyond dispute. There have been just four goals in 33 appearances.

However, the Dutchman is not the cause of the plethora of problems at Old Trafford and yet he's been unfairly and disgracefully scapegoated by the supporters.

Zirkzee deserves so much better than to be booed by his team's own fans and he also deserves to work with a coach that knows how to get the best out of his particular set of skills.

A January move to Juventus makes so much sense for the Netherlands international, who proved a revelation while playing under Bianconeri boss Thiago Motta at Bologna last season.