The Bitter Fruit of the Transfer Market

Ball Harambee by Bagga Wilks

Transfers at the eleventh hour can strengthen or weaken a team. It also means not good news for those already in the roster. The transfer of Fellaini from Everton to Manchester United will unquestionably strengthen the Manchester United mid-field. It will mean Anderson might never be a regular starter for Manchester United and Cleverly will see less playing time.

Arsenal is the beneficiary of the Gareth Bale trade to Real Madrid as it made Ozil available. In his first game Ozil settled in right after the referee’s whistle even though it often takes players coming into the EPL one year to adjust. Wenger’s patience paid off and as they displayed against Sunderland Arsenal, will be a contender all season.

Mourinho acquired the players he wanted to possible triumph in his return to Stamford Bridge. Samuel E’too made his debut. Willian, the Brazilian, was not included in the roster and the new Chelsea is still struggling to find the right chemistry.

Manchester City is also struggling to integrate new players and a new coach. They are far from sharp and could only manage a draw at Stoke City. The departed Tevez is rejoicing as he will get to play regularly as the point striker for Juventus in Serie A. Juventus has readily integrated Tevez into the lineup even though they could only manage a draw against the newly reconstructed Inter Milan.

A.C. Milan sent Prince Boateng to Schalke in the Bundesliga, and re-possessed Kaka who had wallowed in Real Madrid’s bench since he transferred to La Liga a couple years ago. Kaka will now play regularly and try to get back to the form of the old Kaka. He joins with Balotelli and Robinho but Robinho against Torino was not in the game. Kaka did not sparkle. A.C. Milan drew 2-2 with Torino in a game that Torino deserved to win.

Across the river in La Liga, Spain, Neymar is settling in and his combined play with Messi should produce numerous highlights. One wonders why Alex Song transferred to Barcelona as in the prime of his career when he had established himself in the EPL. He has become a bench warmer at Barcelona.

Bale scored in his debut for Real Madrid but Real Madrid’s game ended up as a draw. All eyes are on Bale to determine if he can live up to the money spent for his acquisition. Like Ozil, he might not need much time to justify the bounty on his head.

Those who have lost places as a result of eleventh hour trades will certainly seek new pastures in the January transfer market.

The Transfer Boomerang

Ball Harambee by Bagga Wilks

The transfer market in 2013 was fairly tepid. The movement of players was quite cautious as it has become clear that the transfer from one club to the other might not produce any dividends to a club and can be detrimental to a player’s career.

Young talented players do not benefit when they move to overstocked elite clubs and are denied playing time essential to their development. Daniel Sturridge is a classical case in point. At Chelsea, he was behind Demba Ba, Fernando Torres and Victor Moses. The transfer to Liverpool thus far has been beneficial to Sturridge and has strengthened Brandon Rodgers’ rebuilding of the once mighty Liverpool.

The partnership with Suarez adds great punch to Liverpool’s attack. The return to form of Gerrard and having the recovered Lucas back from injury, has made Liverpool a team where all the pieces are neatly falling into place, perhaps with the exception of the goalkeeper. Liverpool was poised to defeat the defending champions, Manchester City, on the latter’s home turf were it not for some idiotic action of goalkeeper,Reina. Fantastic strikes from Sturridge and Gerrard gave them the lead but Reina ventured recklessly out of his goal to provide the wily Aguero the opportunity to tie the score.

Manchester City, rather than closing the gap, has fallen further behind League leaders Manchester United who defeated Fulham 1-0. Manchester City has sent the troubled Balotelli to A.C. Milan. Only time will determine whether the move to Serie A will lead to Balotelli playing regularly and developing his full potential as a ball player. Warming City’s bench has not been beneficial to City or to Balotelli.

Sinclair distinguished himself as an attacking player at Swansea and under Mancini his playing time at Manchester City has been limited. Again another example of a young player who benefitted financially from a transfer but his career as a footballer could be stifled.

Arsenal has the record for transferring fiascoes, both going and coming. Arshavin lost his way after a promising start. Chamakh is trying his wares at West Ham after failing to produce at Arsenal. And Andre Santos since re-emerging from an injury has been dreadful. Hopefully the January acquisition of Monreal at left full back will be a productive addition to the Arsenal squad. Despite the unproductive transfer activity, Arsenal managed a victory over Stoke City and are still in the mix to finish with a fourth place if recent transfers like Podolski, Cazorla and Giroud can finish strong in the last third of the season.

There isn’t much coming and going at Manchester United neither in the management realm nor the players’ realm. When moves are made, they are quite judicious. The acquisition of Van Persie has been a coup d’etat for Manchester United and is a prime reason why they will be League champions for 2013.

Ball Harambee Jan. 3

How Have the Mighty Fallen at the End of the Old Year By Bagga Wilks

At the beginning of the New Year 2012, the Manchester City vs Sunderland game could not have ended with greater drama. At the end of the first half, the score was scoreless. Coach Mancini made some changes to Manchester City line up in search of a victory. Micah Richards was brought in at right back for his attacking attributes. Aguero was asked to partner with Dzeko to expand the scoring potency. And the playmaker, David Silva brought in as a replacement for Nasri who was ineffectual.
Manchester City bombarded Sunderland hitting the cross bar, trying shots from inside and outside the area but no cigar. During the three minutes stoppage time, Sunderland scored on a break-away to steal three vital points and to thwart Manchester City from jumping ahead of Manchester United.

Arsene Wenger: Arsenal’s Dinosaur

By Bagga Wilks

Arsenal succumbed to an 8-2 drubbing from Manchester United on Sunday, August 28, 2011. The previous week, they lost to Liverpool 2-0. Arsenal managed to qualify for the Champions League by defeating Udinese but Arsenal is falling behind and runs the risk of becoming anachronistic in the rapidly changing world of soccer.

Wenger is living on past glory. He enjoyed success in the past with players like Viera, Henry and Bergkamp. Wenger presumes that he can continue in the same mode and still enjoy success. Wenger is now an albatross around Arsenal’s neck.

Kenny Dalglish took over Liverpool last season and recognized that if Liverpool was going to be competing in the league of the elite, his club would have to spend money. Dalglish did not spend money aimlessly. He understood the team’s weaknesses and he moved to fill certain critical positions. His signing of Suarez was key and Suarez has performed magnificently. He purchased top flight wingers, Dowling and Henderson. And he acquired Charlie Adams for his midfield general.

Even though Gerard is still mending, Liverpool has a first class aggregation, not only with the newly acquired players but Kuyt, Lucas and Meireles. Liverpool has great attacking weapons. Dalglesh needs now to strengthen his central defenders and he can compete with the top clubs in the world.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE TRANSFERS

English Premier League Transfers
All English Premier League transfers are listed on this page.

You’ll find the latest Premier League Transfers (January 2009) listed here. Archives for older transfer seasons are at the end of this page. For the latest transfer rumours and transfer lists for other leagues, see our transfer news column.

If you find a transfer not listed here let us know and we’ll add it.

Last Updated: 1 February 2009

Arsenal

In:

Out: Jay Simpson (loan, West Brom), Gavin Hoyte (loan, Watford), Paul Rodgers (loan, Northampton), Rui Fonte (loan, Crystal Palace)

Aston Villa

In: Emile Heskey (£3.5m, Wigan)

Out: Sam Williams (loan, Walsall)

Blackburn Rovers

In: Gael Givet (loan, Marseille), El-Hadji Diouf (£2m, Sunderland)

Out: Eddie Nolan (undisclosed, Preston), Sergio Peter (undisclosed, Sparta Prague), Frank Fielding (loan, Rochdale)

Bolton Wanderers

In: Sebastien Puygrenier (loan, Zenit St. Petersburg), Ariza Makukula (loan, Benfica), Mark Davies (£1m, Wolves)

Out: Heidar Helguson (undisclosed, QPR), Kevin Nolan (£4.5m, Newcastle)

Chelsea

In: Michael Mancienne (loan return, Wolves), Gokhan Tore (undisclosed, Bayer Leverkusen)

Out: Jack Cork (loan, Watford), Wayne Bridge (undisclosed, Manchester City), Ben Sahar (loan, De Graafschap), Scott Sinclair (loan, Birmingham), Carlo Cudicini (free, Tottenham), Lee Sawyer (loan, Coventry), Carl Magnay (loan, MK Dons)

Everton

In: Troy Archibald-Herville (loan, Tottenham)

Out: Lee Molyneux (free, Southampton), John Ruddy (loan, Crewe)

Fulham

In: Giles Barnes (loan, Derby)

Out: T.J. Moncur (free, Wycombe), Hameur Bouazza (loan, Birmingham), Seol Ki-Hyeon (loan, Al-Hilal), Jimmy Bullard (£5m, Hull)

Hull City

In: Kevin Kilbane (undisclosed, Wigan), Manucho (loan, Manchester United), Jimmy Bullard (£5m, Fulham), Kamil Zayatte (£2.5m, Young Boys)

Out: Dean Windass (loan, Oldham), Wayne Brown (loan, Leicester)

Liverpool

In:

Out: Jermaine Pennant (loan, Portsmouth), Craig Lindfield (loan, Accrington Stanley), Krisztian Nemeth (loan, Blackpool)

Manchester City

In: Wayne Bridge (undisclosed, Chelsea), Craig Bellamy (£14m, West Ham), Nigel de Jong (£17m, Hamburg SV)

Out: Sam Williamson (loan, Wrexham), Javan Vidal (loan, Aberdeen), Paul Marshall (loan, Blackpool)

Manchester United

In: Zoran Tosic (undisclosed, Partizan Belgrade), Adem Ljajic (undisclosed, Partizan Belgrade), Richie De Laet (undisclosed, Stoke City)

Out: David Gray (loan, Plymouth), Adem Ljajic (loan, Partizan Belgrade), Sam Hewson (loan, Hereford), Manucho (loan, Hull), Tom Cleverley (loan, Leicester)

Middlesbrough

In: Marlon King (loan, Wigan)

Out: Seb Hines (loan, Derby), Jonathan Grounds (loan, Norwich City), Graeme Owens (loan, Blackpool), Tom Craddock (£80k, Luton)

Newcastle United

In: Kevin Nolan (£4.5m, Bolton)

Out:

Portsmouth

In: Nadir Belhadj (£4.4m, Lens), Jermaine Pennant (loan, Liverpool), Hayden Mullins (£2m, West Ham), Pele (loan, Porto)

Out: Lassana Diarra (£20m, Real Madrid), Jermain Defoe (£15m, Tottenham)

Stoke City

In: Matthew Etherington (£2m, West Ham), James Beattie (£3.75m, Sheffield United)

Out: Richie De Laet (undisclosed, Manchester United), Nathaniel Wedderburn (loan, Notts County), Tom Soares (loan, Charlton), Carl Dickinson (loan, Leeds), Ryan Shotton (loan, Tranmere), Lewis Buxton (small fee, Sheffield Wednesday)

Sunderland

In:

Out: Roy O’Donovan (loan, Blackpool), Graham Kavanagh (free, Carlisle), Liam Miller (loan, QPR), Pascal Chimbonda (£2.5m, Tottenham), El-Hadji Diouf (£2m, Blackburn)

Tottenham

In: Jermain Defoe (£15m, Portsmouth), Wilson Palacios (£12m, Wigan), Pascal Chimbonda (£2.5m, Sunderland), Carlo Cudicini (free, Chelsea)

Out: Paul Staltieri (free, Borussia Monchengladbach), Kevin-Prince Boateng (loan, Borussia Dortmund), David Button (loan, Bournemouth), Tony Archibald-Herville (loan, Everton), Cesar Sanchez (undisclosed, Valencia), Hossam Ghaly (undisclosed, Nassr Saudi Club)

West Brom

In: Jay Simpson (loan, Arsenal), Marc-Antoine Fortune (loan, Nancy)

Out: Joss Labadie (loan, Shrewsbury), Lee Baker (loan, Kidderminster), Sherjill MacDonald (loan, Roeselare)

West Ham

In: Savio Nsereko (£10m, Brescia)

Out: Joe Widdowson (loan, Grimsby), Matthew Etherington (£2m, Stoke City), Lee Bowyer (loan, Birmingham), Kyel Reid (loan, Wolves), Craig Bellamy (£14m, Manchester City), Hayden Mullins (£2m, Portsmouth), Julien Faubert (loan, Real Madrid)

Wigan

In: Hugo Rodallega (£4.5m, Necaxa), Ben Watson (£2m, Crystal Palace)

Out: Lewis Montrose (loan, Cheltenham), Luke Ashworth (free, Leyton Orient), Kevin Kilbane (undisclosed, Hull), Wilson Palacios (£12m, Tottenham), Marlon King (loan, Wigan), Emile Heskey (£3.5m, Aston Villa)