Assessing Crewe Alex's January 2025 Transfer Window

So, another January transfer window comes and goes. Squads are now set for the run in. For Crewe Alexandra, it was a very quiet January window, which is unusual for them. We’re used to seeing loanees recalled, key players sold and last minute scrambles for deals. But this time, there was none of that. There were some deals to talk about, so let’s start with the outgoings:

Outgoings

Loans

Owen Lunt – Southport(1 month loan)

Lunt had found first team appearances hard to come by in recent weeks, with a few short cameos from the bench the best he could get. And with the arrival of Tommy Lowery, he wouldn’t have gotten a regular spot in the squad. So he’s gone out on loan to National League North side Southport for an initial month. Hopefully he smashes it there, as I think there is a player in there.

Fin Roberts – Chester(6 week loan)

Roberts was another who wasn’t getting regular appearances in the squad thanks to the return to fitness of the senior attackers. So he headed just down the road to the promotion pushing 6th tier Seals. He’s enjoyed a great start to life there, scoring 2 goals already and being a key part of their last 2 wins. However, do the management have to start considering a recall if the rumours of both Tracey and Hemmings being out long term are confirmed to be true? They might well do.

Lucas Sant, Jordan Hodkin

These 2 are barely worth mentioning simply because they weren’t factors in the squad anyway, but Sant switched Hanley Town for Matlock Town moving from the 8th tier to the 7th tier. Replacing him at Hanley was young striker Hodkin, who’s been impressing with the Alex U18s. Oliver Armstrong extended his loan at Newcastle Town as well.

Loan Termination

Kian Breckin

This one had been on the cards for a number of weeks. His game time has steadily dipped from what was a low peak in September and October to the point he wasn’t even making the squad regularly. It served nobody having him sat in the stands every week, so a mutual termination of his season long loan made sense.

Retentions

Jamie Knight-Lebel

The giant CB has been fantastic for the Alex, so to keep him was a real bonus. He’s becoming more of a goal threat lately, with 3 goals in his last 8 games. Now, maybe we can question keeping him AND signing Connor O’Riordan, but we’ll come to that shortly.

Max Conway

The steady and reliable left wing back has not missed a game since signing(touches every piece of wood nearby). I find some elements of his play frustrating and his lack of goal contributions are concerning, but overall he’s been an excellent player for them down the left and his durability is very underrated.

Filip Marschall

Mostly faultless since joining, you can count his howlers on one hand and have fingers spare. He’s been rock solid and hasn’t missed a minute of the season, which for a Crewe Alex goalkeeper is a rare thing. He’s on course to play the full season, which would make him the first keeper since Ben Garratt in 2016-17 to start 46 games.

Incomings

Connor O’Riordan – Half Season Loan(Blackburn)

He’s come in and not missed a beat. Ok, it’s only been 2 ½ games, but he looks identical to the commanding presence they had 12 months ago when he was sold to Blackburn. Quick, strong and with impressive technical ability, it’s an absolute mystery how Cambridge couldn’t find a use for him. Maybe home cooking is seeing him return to his previous levels. Again, we’ll discuss signing him and keeping Knight-Lebel shortly.

Tommy Lowery – Half Season Loan(Portsmouth)

Not content with signing 1 former player, they signed 2 with the creative midfielder coming back 2 ½ seasons after departing for the South Coast on a free transfer. Now, again there is a discussion to be had if signing an injury prone player in an area they should be well stocked in was the wisest way to use their final loan slot, but if he can come in and that extra bit of missing quality and creativity in the midfield, then it’ll prove a smart move.

Conclusion

Now that we know what the squad looks like, what is the overall assessment of their January window? First the positive. They didn't get any worse. They lost nobody permanently, either via a sale or loan recall, which is a big bonus. And even if you don't think signing Lowery and O'Riordan were good signings, you can't say the Alex got worse in this window, which is something I don't think a few of the promotion chasing clubs can say.

However, I’m going to go out on a limb and risk looking very stupid if this take backfires on me come May when the Alex are celebrating promotion, but I think they’ve erred. I think they’ve added 2 very good players no doubt, but added them at positions where they weren’t in need of reinforcements. At CB, you had Knight-Lebel, Demetriou and Williams still fit and available. You had Billington as depth and Connolly to return at some point. You could switch to a 4 at the back if more injuries hit.

For me, you sign O’Riordan or you keep Knight-Lebel. You don’t do both and use 40% of your loan capacity on CBs when you already have 4 signed and under contract. We’re already seeing the consequences of that choice as Bell now forces all 4 of his main CBs into the same starting XI, to a not so positive effect.

In midfield, Lowery could be a real difference maker. But are we saying that there isn’t enough quality in there between Tabiner, Holicek, Sanders, Powell, the returning Thomas and Lunt? There should be more than enough in those 6 to not need Lowery, as good as he is. To me, you use Lunt more rather than use your last loan spot on Lowery.

And why do I say this? Because no sooner have both players joined, but issues in other areas where reinforcements were more needed pop up. Out wide, they are a Max Conway or Ryan Cooney long term injury away from big issues. They have no depth to replace either of them. They’ve resorted to pushing Zac Williams to LWB and Shilow Tracey to RWB at times and neither have impressed there, probably because they aren’t natural wing backs.

Upfront, they’ve been unfortunate to have suffered a number of freak impact injuries with Omar Bogle, Jack Lankester and Kane Hemmings all picking up long term issues thanks to collisions with opposition players. That’s unlucky. But what isn’t unlucky is seeing Chris Long miss big chunks of the season. Again. The same for Bogle as well with muscle injuries.

Clearly they were hoping that increased depth would see them better able to juggle minutes and rotate to avoid issues occurring. But that’s proven to be the wrong strategy, because once a couple of injuries meant they had to quickly rely on their more durable players and unsurprisingly, they then picked up problems of their own.

For me, signing players in 2 positions that were already pretty well stocked in and not addressing an area with no depth(RWB) and another with questionable depth(ST) feels like a mistake. One they could be rueing come the end of the season. Still, I’ve been wrong before and hopefully this is another opinion I’ll be proven wrong on also.