High Profile, High Price: Sergio Aguero: Atletico Madid to
Manchester City-£45 Million
Without straining the memory all that much, Sergio Aguero's
mega bucks move to Manchester City was without doubt the biggest money spinner
of the summer transfer window. The Argentine arrived at the club as the
muted replacement for prolific striker Carlos Tevez, as his move away from
Manchester seemed imminent. As it turned out, Tevez's asking price was just too
high, and clubs such as Inter Milan and Chelsea ran a mile upon hearing the steep
fee City wanted, leaving Aguero's fellow countryman within the ranks at the
City Of Manchester Stadium. Arriving alongside Aguero, comes his
almighty set of stats and figures that suggest that he is more than worthy of
replacing Tevez at any one point, possibly even exceeding him as a lead
striker: In just six seasons (234 games) with Atletico Madrid, Aguero had
racked up a staggering 102 goals in all competitions; an amazing statistics
by anyone's reckoning. With blistering pace, an overly enthusiastic
eye for goal from near enough any range, and amazing technical ability, Roberto
Mancini has undoubtedly signed one of the best players in the world today;
all be it at a hefty price, even though it is most likely considered as pocket
change for mega rich City. Having scored 3 goals in four matches, and with
Tevez' place in the team still in limbo, Aguero looks set to become the Blue
side of Manchester's new Argentine hero.
Summer Shock: Brad Friedel: Free Agent to Tottenham Hotspur-Free
Transfer
Okay, maybe not as noticeable to most people as
maybe some others, but without doubt, flicking through the
Transfer Clock-watch on the Sky Sports website, no one done deal
struck me by surprise more than Brad Friedel's move from Aston Villa
to Tottenham Hotspur. Friedel is nothing less than a rock behind the back line
of defence, no matter which club he may be at, and the past few seasons he has
spent with Villa have been no exception. Unlike the Heurelho Gomes' and the
David De Gea's of this world, the American shot stoppers name has never
once been uttered in a sentence that also boasts words such as 'fumbled' and
'folied' and 'mistake'. Im no manager, but surely a near solid keeper in goal
is what any manager wishes for? All of which makes it hard to believe that the
Birmingham club held back from offering the veteran keeper a well deserved
contract extension. Villa fans will be sure to argue that there
new acquisition in-between the sticks, Shay Given, is more than
on par with Friedel, but did they really need to sell such a keeper with
such calibre ? Personally no, but hey, who am I to argue with
the world renound managerial excellence of Alex Mcleish... (please
note very strong sarcasm). From a Spurs fan's point of view, a new keeper was
an absolute must, with there number one for the last two seasons, Gomes, being
nothing short of a colossal calamity for Harry Redknapp's aspiring
north London team, with shot, after shot trickling past a
poorly executed save attempt from the former PSV Eindhoven
man. For these very reasons, Brad Friedel is perhaps one of the best
signings Spurs could have hoped for.
Start of Season Starlet: Ashley Young: Aston Villa to Manchester
United-£17 Million
Ashley Young was just one of an influx of players
that exited Villa Park over the summer, in order to join Premier
League giants Manchester United. Young had always been a player with great
diversity in form, hit or miss if you like, but towards the end of last year he
was fast establishing himself as one of the most accomplished wingers
in English Football. Not one to pass by such budding talent, Sir Alex Ferguson
signed Young on 5 year deal early on in the window, for a
fee believed to be in the region of £17 Million. What makes Young's
move maybe more special than it would otherwise be, is the fact that he wasn't
joining an established Manchester United squad. He was in fact signing up to
form part of a young revolution at Old Trafford, under the leadership of a
manager who is all to famous for being an successful architect in developing
a young squad. This record has been justified in fabulous fashion so
far, with Young being at the very centre of the success, out on the flank as an
attacking winger. Not as technical as Nani, but with an eye for goal and a
forward thinking brain on the football pitch that is easily a
likened to that of the now retired Manchester United legend, Paul Scholes.
Deadline Day Diamond: Raul Meireles: Liverpool to
Chelsea-Undisclosed Fee
One of the latest, and most stunning captures of this years
summer window has undoubtedly been Raul Meireles' move from
Merseyside to West London. I for one, cannot even begin to explain
my surprise at this move: an integral part of last years Liverpool
squad, developing goal scoring chance after goal scoring chance, and being
Liverpool's most prolific goal scorer come the second half of the season,
scoring 5 in 6 before the season was out. The versatile centre midfielder had
in fact earned himself the PFA Fan's Player of the Year for the 2010/11 season,
a prestigious award that he won after fending off candidates such as Samri
Nasri and Dimitar Berbatov. This sparkling season in the colours of the
Liverpool kit fuels my confusion even more as to why 'King Kenny' decided to
sell the Portuguese Midfielder at the very death of the transfer
window. From an educated guess, the shock arrival of former Liverpool player
Craig Bellamy was the catalyst for his departure, this move coming
prior to written transfer request being handed in, with a mere half an
hour left of the window! Surely a big loss for Liverpool, who will almost
certainly feel the pinch caused by losing such a versatile player should
they run into injury issues throughout the season.
Some may point to Meireles appointment at Chelsea as being
nothing less than a deal being made in the last chance saloon, after there well
documented pursuit of Tottenham play maker Luka Modric never came
to fruition. If Chelsea can integrate Meireles within there
already bulging midfield section, Villas Boas may well
have struck last minute Gold.
Loan Ranger: Yossi Benayoun: Chelsea to Arsenal- Season Long loan
Despite it not being widely predicted, Benayoun's loan move to
Arsenal makes sense on so many fronts. First and foremost, Benayoun was pretty
much a cast out at Chelsea ever since his arrival, with very
limited opportunities to display his undoubted potential as
a world class midfielder. Even under new management, the early
signs weren't good, with Villas Boas intensely chasing
Modric from Tottenham, aswell as courting a host of players from the managers
native Portuguese league, including Jose Moutinho and Alvaro Pereira,
both of whom were managed previously under Villa Boas, and would be almost
certainly ahead of Benayoun in the pecking order at Stamford Bridge. Add to this
the fact that both Juan Mata and Raul Meireles had joined come the
end of the summer transfer window (just), and the future was looking blue for
all the wrong reasons. On the other end of the spectrum but still at the sharp
end of the Premier League, were Arsenal; a team feeling more than sorry for
itself having sold its two most influential and creative mid
fielders in Cesc Fabregas and Samri Nasri, aswell as a host of
other fringe players from the line of defence. Benayoun joins Arsenal with a
host of other deadline day sealed deals at the Emirates Stadium, which are
being heavily relied on to ensure that last weekends 8-2 destruction at the
hands of Manchester United is well and truely buried in the past. Hindsight is
a wonderful thing, but on paper and with fate, the match looks like one to be
made in heaven, should Benayoun capture the creative mindset and ‘tricky to
mark’ traits that had at one point valued him at just under a snip of £10
million pounds.
Best Market Worker: Sunderland
Come the end of deadline day last Wednesday, there had been 1000's
of transfers within the English Football league, but with only a handful
of teams that had really pushed the boat out in signing pretty much an entire
new squad. Queens Park Rangers stick most potently in the mind, with the main
bulk of their arrivals entering Loftus Road on Deadline Day, thanks to the
recent takeover of the club by Malaysian Millionaire, Tony Fernandes. Money mad
Leicester City certainly led the way in terms of transformation in the Championship,
but perhaps the most impressive of the teams trending a squad transformation,
was Sunderland. Yes, Steve Bruce was a very busy man this summer, desperate to
ensure that his injury plagued squad from last year would be strengthened, in
order to avoid a slump in form again that ultimately cut short
the northerners European Football qualification ambitions. From a
personal point of view, Bruce' summer recruitments have all been fantastic, and
on paper, a team that is worthy of a top six spot in this years Premier League
(my underdog tip). They've signed numerous high profile players; creative
midfielder Sebastian Larsson from Birmingham, Blackpool's former player of the
year David Vaughan, promising young Goalkeeper Kieren Westwood from Coventry
City; all of which were staggeringly free transfers. This isn't to say that
the Wear side club were at all 'tight', with £9 million and £6.6
million fees being spent on bringing certain future super striker Connor
Wickham and defender Craig Gardner from Ipswich and Birmingham respectively.
despite these impressive signings, I believe that perhaps Steve Bruce' most
important acquisition this summer was in making Ahmed Elmohamady's loan
deal from last year to a permanent one. The Egyptian defensive midfielder is
somewhat unorthodox, with the fact that despite being a right winger, his
mind is more focused on the defensive side of football; a trait that
in modern football is very rarely linked with the position. Steve Bruce didn't
just stop their with beefing up his defensive efforts either; with
both John O'Shea and Wes Brown joining his new look team this summer, in
moves that will almost certainly provide the two Manchester United cast outs
with some much needed extra match time.
So that's a few of my stand out moves from this summers
transfer window, in all honestly choosing just one player for
each category has made it the toughest entry I've wrote
yet; feel free to comment below!
P.S, sorry for a lack of photos on this one, something wrong with
the photo uploader!
It's just gone 9pm on the 28th of October, 2011. Chelsea are facing Valencia in the Champions League group stage, at the prestigious Estadio Mestalla in Spain. After weeks and weeks of media scrutiny being intensified on Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard and his current affairs on the pitch, the England International has been given a starting chance for the first time in four matches, by manager Andre Villa-Boas.
