It is the time of year that all football fans look forward to and all football managers loathe. Fans wait with bated breath to see what improvements the chairman and manager can make to give their club the best chance of a successful finish to the season. For managers this the time of year for speculation in the press, unsettled "superstars" and in some cases an chance for a good start to season to unravel before their eyes.

Early movement in January has seen a flurry of temporary loan moves from the MLS. Landon Donovan has been recruited by Everton , Robbie Keane has moved to Aston Villa and Thierry Henry makes a return to Arsenal. Very little in terms of definite moves has happened as of yet.

People will be watching the big clubs very carefully. Manchester United have seen their title challenge stutter in recent weeks and having left the Champions League earlier than expected they may seek to bolster their injury plagued side in the coming weeks. They have been linked with moves for Chelsea's Frank Lampard and Newcastle's Demba Ba who reportedly has a release clause in his contract that would allow him make the move.

Chelsea may look to ring in the changes under new manger Vilas Boas .Having let Anelka leave for Shaghai reports of an overhaul of the club which would see Terry, Lampard , Drobga and Torres all leave are rife. It also appears their move for Boltons Gary Cahill has been successful.

Liverpool are rumored to be looking once again to Fernando Torres to lead the line in the wake of Suarez' eight match ban and are believed to be considering a bid from Newcastle for Andy Carroll who has looked out of sorts at Liverpool.

Manchester City will be hoping for an end to the long running Tevez saga as the striker may have negotiated a deal with AC Milan. Brazilan Kaka has been linked with a move to City in recent weeks as Mancini seeks to build competition within his squad and maintain their impressive start to the season which sees them in first place. City were also linked with an unbelievable 60 million pound move for Wayne Rooney which has since been rebuffed but with a seemingly bottomless pot of cash to spend nothing is impossible.

Clubs will be on high alert as it appears Bobby Zamora has been made available for transfer by Fulham after the striker had a falling out with manager Martin Jol. The seasoned striker would be a valuable asset to some clubs struggling for goals.

Tottenham Hotspurs will be expected to make some moves in January also however manager Harry Rednapp is well known for getting great value very late on in the transfer windows.

The next few weeks will make for interesting reading in the sports pages but traditionally very little gets done in January until the dying moments of the window but at this make or break time of the season expect some big transfers.

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