It's undoubtedly gearing up to be an exciting month for Manchester United supporters, both on the field and off it.
Arsenal's loss against Manchester City has once again opened up an opportunity for United to capitalise on their minimum target of reaching the top four. At the same time, January is always a time to keep an eye on the football calendar because changes are always made.
Be it incomings or outgoings, I firmly believe there will be developments at Old Trafford, and some supporters might be in for a shock as to what's to come.
Donny van de Beek is one player whose future seems up in the air.
Since his move to United in the summer of 2020, Van de Beek's career in Manchester hasn't been the greatest. Despite achieving so much with his beloved Ajax, he's failed to establish himself as a regular first-team player and somehow cannot get more than one game in a row.
This has undoubtedly had a profound effect on his form, and under the reigns of former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, he was seriously considering leaving in the January transfer window.
However, Solskjaer was sacked, and since then, Ralf Rangnick has come in and given loads of players opportunities to impress. Still, Van de Beek seems like he isn't getting enough game time.
Since Rangnick has been United's official interim manager, Van de Beek has started just one game in the 1-1 Champions League draw against Young Boys - a match where most of the club's youngsters were playing.
Supporters thought Van de Beek would get a start in the 3-1 win against Burnley. He felt like the most like-for-like replacement for the suspended Bruno Fernandes. However, he didn't get a sniff of action, failing to come off the bench either, raising further questions about his long-term future at the club.
Rangnick was asked about Van de Beek in his latest press conference, and while he confirmed he wants him to stay, he realises the player has his ambitions;
When asked what Van de Beek had to do to play, Rangnick replied: "Well, just work hard. So far, as I have got to know him he's got a top mentality, he works hard in every training session, is a team player through and through and there will be games where he gets his chance to play.
"I also had a long conversation with him last week about that and, again, of course, it's difficult for him right now because he also wants to play for the Dutch national team to qualify for himself and play in the World Cup in Qatar and, in order to do that, he needs that game-time here.
"But I still believe we should keep him, he should stay here definitely until the end of this season and try to get as much game-time as he possibly can."
To me, it's clear that for Van de Beek to get to the World Cup in Qatar, he has to leave. Why? It's obvious - he's never going to get the regular game time needed to make the Netherlands squad.
I've always maintained that Van de Beek needs a consecutive number of games under his belt to get back to his best, but as we've seen so far during his career at Old Trafford, that hasn't happened, and I don't think it will anymore.
I'd love to be proven wrong - I want nothing more than Van de Beek to be successful because I know there's a player in him. But do I think he's going to get the chance to prove that at United? I don't.
If he wants to get to the World Cup, I think he has to find a move elsewhere, whether as a loan or permanently.
Unless Rangnick shows a will use him, I think his decision is already pretty clear.
Should Van de Beek leave United? Follow our United On My Mind writer Omar Garrick on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below.
