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Embattled, under scrutiny and running out of time to turn things around, Arne Slot may turn to the transfer market once more this season.

The Reds boss is under pressure after what has been an underwhelming campaign so far. Liverpool have some ground to make up on league leaders Arsenal - hardly the Premier League defence fans would have hoped for.

After lifting the trophy in May, Liverpool moved to spend significantly in the summer. So maybe splurging on new signings is unlikely this deadline day - but what could Liverpool do?

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We simulated the transfer window on Football Manager 26 to see what deadline day could look like for Liverpool. Here's what FM26 predicts for the reigning Premier League champions.

Unlike real life, Liverpool are making a serious claim for back-to-back Premier League triumphs in our simulation. At the end of the transfer window, they are up in second on 56 points, just three behind Manchester City.

Given the concerns Slot and Reds fans have over the centre-back position, it makes sense for the club to prioritise that area in the January window. But how much of a bearing would the club's summer spending have on their transfer activity?

The answer seemed to be quite a bit. There was just one incoming transfer to Anfield in January 2026 on the simulation, and it happened right at the end of the window on deadline day.

In real life, Mohamed Salah's future has also been the subject of speculation in recent months after his fallout with Slot. The Egyptian's poor performances earned him a spell on the bench, which we didn't take too kindly.

He accused the club of "throwing him under the bus", which earned him a spell out of the squad entirely. The dust has settled since the fallout, and Salah looks set to remain at Liverpool until at least the end of the season. But would FM26 handle things differently?

• Ryan Flamingo (PSV) - £37m

Sure enough, the virtual version of Slot opted to bring in a new centre-back. Slot looked to the Eredivisie and his home nation, the Netherlands, to sign a highly touted reinforcement.

Coincidentally, the man brought in to play alongside Virgil van Dijk is both Slot's countryman and a Liverpool fan. At least, that's what the FM26 database suggests.

Liverpool chose to spend the best part of £40m on Ryan Flamingo from PSV. The 23-year-old earns a £75,000-a-week contract at Anfield, and is now valued at up to £66m.

• Armin Pecsi (Swansea) - loan
• Trey Nyoni (Preston North End) - loan
• Rio Ngumoha (Derby) - loan
• Trent Kone-Doherty (West Brom) - loan

Despite spending as much as £430m in the summer, Liverpool didn't feel the need to balance the books on transfer activity in January 2026. Instead, all four of the departures during the simulated window went out on loan.

These included highly-rated youngster Rio Ngumoha, who earned a move to Derby on loan. Since that transfer, the in-game 17-year-old has featured five times in the Championship, assisting a goal and being named player of the match once.

All of the other moves were Championship loans for hot prospects. The in-game version of young Irish winger Trent Kone-Doherty headed to West Brom, while 18-year-old English midfielder Trey Nyoni went to Preston and Hungarian goalkeeper Armin Pecsi was sent to Swansea.

Salah, though, remained exactly where he is, suggesting Slot and co. will deal with this particular issue in the summer - presumably how the real-life situation will pan out.

Elsewhere in the simulation, Manchester City splashed out a combined £130m to sign former Arsenal man Lucas Torreira from Galatasaray and to replicate the real-life signing of Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth. City's business accounted for around a third of the league's total £311m net spending.

Torreira's transfer cost City £60m initially, but this will rise to £80m with add-ons. The biggest transfer outside the Premier League was Raphinha's £69m transfer from Barcelona to Saudi side Al-Ittihad.