It's been a difficult season for Manuel Pellegrini with his side struggling to compete in the Premier League.

West Ham are sitting in 16th spot in the table and the gaffer should use the January transfer window to give his team a much-needed boost.

With that in mind, Football FanCast outlines two January transfer priorities for the Irons...

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Back-up striker

Even though he is still very much a fresh signing for the Hammers, Albian Ajeti is already looking like an outcast just waiting to be sold.

Interestingly enough, he was linked with an exit earlier this month as Claret & Hugh stated West Ham could be looking to ship him off in January.

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This actually goes hand in hand with some other reports suggesting that his senior teammates were quite disappointed with the young forward's level upon arriving at his new club, which can also be seen in his endeavours in 2019/20.

The 22-year-old has only managed to muster 100 minutes across five Premier League outings and with a Whoscored rating of just 5.96, he has largely been an underwhelming signing.

Clearly, finding a more capable back-up striker should be one of West Ham's priorities or they'll be relying on goals from Sebastian Haller - who has only managed five himself - all season.

Find another holding midfielder

Another similar problem Pellegrini might want to solve come this winter is the defensive midfielder position.

Currently, he has two players occupying it: Declan Rice and Carlos Sanchez, but the latter has only mustered 51 minutes in the Premier League, almost never featuring for his side.

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Clearly, the coach doesn't trust him and besides, he is 33 years old and his contract is due to expire in the summer.

It makes sense to move him on in January and find a replacement who can really challenge for a midfield place.

It would also enhance Pellegrini's tactical options and allow him to play Rice in a deep-lying double pivot against top-quality opposition, rather than trying to protect the whole defence virtually single-handed.