ARSENAL
In: Mikael Silvestre, Samir Nasri, Aaron Ramsey, Amaury Bischoff
Out: Alexander Hleb, Gilberto Silva, Jens Lehmann, Mathieu Flamini, Philippe Senderos (loan), Justin Hoyte, Nacer Barazite (loan), Armand Traore (loan)
Spent: £18.5M
Received: £15.8M
Arsene Wenger hasn't quite made a profit but, though Samir Nasri is among the most expensive arrivals in Arsenal history, his frugality has been apparent again. Wenger may have been able to spend £30million on a player, as Danny Fiszman suggested, but he did not invest heavily. That choice may leave a void in the centre of midfield, with Mathieu Flamini not replaced, but was entirely typical. Stranger was the change at the heart of the defence: Wenger presumably ignored Mikael Silvestre's birth certificate, just as AC Milan may not have heeded Philippe Senderos' form.
ASTON VILLA
In: James Milner, Brad Friedel, Brad Guzan, Luke Young, Nicky Shorey, Curtis Davies, Carlos Cuellar, Steve Sidwell
Out: Olof Mellberg, Patrik Berger, Luke Moore, Shaun Maloney, Thomas Sorensen
Spent: £45.6M
Received: £4M
So Aston Villa nearly topped the league; the spending league, that is. Martin O'Neill, a manager who made his reputation scouring the lower leagues for unlikely bargains, makes for an unlikely big spender. Yet a slender squad required strengthening and, with the exception of the forward line, O'Neill has bolstered every department. That, besides two new goalkeepers, three-quarters of the potential first-choice defence are new indicates the priority. But, despite expenditure approaching £50 million, it is hard to say O'Neill has recruited a proven Premier League match-winner; James Milner comes closest but he, like one or two others, may have been overpriced. In that context, Gareth Barry's £18million tag is realistic, but it still proved enough to deter Liverpool.
BLACKBURN
In: Paul Robinson, Vince Grella, Keith Andrews, Danny Simpson (loan), Carlos Villanueva (loan), Mark Bunn, Julio Santa Cruz
Out: David Bentley, Brad Friedel, Stephane Henchoz, Bruno Berner, Maceo Rigters (loan)
Spent: £8.8M
Received: £17.3M
More of the focus has been on the exit at Ewood Park than the entrance, with Brad Friedel and David Bentley departing and Roque Santa Cruz eventually staying. Paul Ince's signings are an eclectic bunch, from his League Two captain Keith Andrews to the Chile international Carlos Villanueva, but the midfield anchorman Vince Grella and the goalkeeper Paul Robinson are, thus far, the only arrivals trusted to start a Premier League game. The range of recruits gives an experimental look to Ince's early days but, courtesy of Bentley, he has at least recorded a tidy profit.
BOLTON
In: Johan Elmander, Danny Shittu, Fabrice Muamba, Riga Mustapha, Ebi Smolarek (loan)
Out: El-Hadji Diouf, Abdoulaye Meite, Ivan Campo, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Andranik Teymourian, Daniel Braaten, Blerim Dzemaili
Spent: £18M
Received: £5.5M
The big spenders no one remembers, Bolton have managed to break their club transfer record without elevating expectations. The £9million Johan Elmander has been charged with replacing Nicolas Anelka, and now the loaned Ebi Smolarek is brought in to deputise for the injured Swede, but the formula, if anything is even simpler: goalscoring, competitive midfielders - augmented by Fabrice Muamba - and sizeable defenders, especially now Danny Shittu is at the Reebok. With El-Hadji Diouf and Stelios leaving, any semblance of flair is gone; surely heavy investment should have produced at least one creative player.
CHELSEA
In: Deco, Jose Bosingwa, Fabio Paim (loan)
Out: Andriy Shevchenko, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Claude Makelele, Steve Sidwell, Tal Ben Haim, Khalid Boulahrouz, Hernan Crespo, Ben Sahar (loan), Claudio Pizarro (loan)
Spent: £24.2M
Received: £23M
Deco has made an auspicious start to life at Stamford Bridge and Jose Bosingwa has made a promising beginning, yet Chelsea still contrived to end the transfer window embarrassed. In advertising Robinho shirts on the club website, they antagonised Real Madrid. In failing to notice the sudden turn of events at Manchester City, they managed to miss out on a long-term target. In a summer of stalemate, the two most prominent predicted departures, of Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard, never materialised either. The non-deals leave Chelsea requiring one flair player but with enviable strength in the centre of midfield. The positive is that they have trimmed the squad as Luiz Felipe Scolari wished, with the added bonus of Andriy Shevchenko's eventual exit to end a strange sideshow. Chelsea almost made a profit, but it is worth remembering that they took a huge loss on failed signings of previous years.
EVERTON
In: Louis Saha, Marouane Fellaini, Lars Jacobsen, Carlo Nash, Segundo Castillo (loan)
Out: Andrew Johnson, Lee Carsley, Stefan Wessels
Spent: £16.5M
Received: £10.5M
After a summer of extreme inactivity, David Moyes went on the equivalent of a desperate dash round the shops on Christmas Eve. His first signing - Lars Jacobsen - came in the last week of the window and at a time when Moyes appeared to have a troop of boy scouts on the bench. Selling Andrew Johnson for less than originally intended added to the agony for the blue half of Merseyside; at least the pay-as-you-play element of his replacement Louis Saha's recruitment could prove cheap, though if Manchester United make 25p a season from the injury-prone striker, Everton are unlikely to benefit from many goals. Some of Moyes' targets - including Joao Moutinho and Wagner Love - promised much; the reality of the lesser-known Marouane Fellaini, at a seemingly inflated £15 million, is more of a mystery.
FULHAM
In: Andrew Johnson, Bobby Zamora, Mark Schwarzer, Fredrik Stoor, John Pantsil, Zoltan Gera, Pascal Zuberbuhler, Toni Kallio, Dickson Etuhu, Julian Gray (loan), David Stockdale
Out: David Healy, Steven Davis, Kasey Keller, Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, Dejan Stefanovic, Collins John, Alexei Smertin, Hameur Bouazza (loan), Lee Cook (loan), Eddie Johnson (loan), Elliot Omozusi (loan), Jari Litmanen, Philippe Cristanval
Spent: £20.9M
Received: £4.5M
The former England man will arrive at Craven Cottage.
The last three transfer windows have brought 30 players of varying - and, in some cases, no - quality to Craven Cottage. The most recent has been the most productive, if only because Roy Hodgson lacks Lawrie Sanchez's enthusiasm for Northern Irish players in the Championship. In Bobby Zamora and Andrew Johnson, Hodgson now possesses Fulham's strongest strike-force since Louis Saha left for Old Trafford. If some of the many other new faces are squad players, Hodgson has also managed to dispose of some of Sanchez's less inspired signings. Nevertheless, the summer has provided another dent in Mohamed Al-Fayed's bank balance.
HULL
In: Anthony Gardner, George Boateng, Geovanni, Daniel Cousin, Marlon King (loan), Peter Halmosi, Craig Fagan, Bernard Mendy, Paul McShane (loan), Tony Warner, Kamil Zayette (loan)
Out: Stuart Elliott, Henrik Pedersen, David Livermore, Michael Bridges (loan), Frank Belt, Brewster Frizzell
Spent: £9.9M
Received: £0
It seems a clear-cut case of quantity rather than quality. That, however, is harsh on George Boateng and Anthony Gardner, who acquitted themselves respectably on their initial outings. However, with both injured, it is a damning indictment of the other newcomers that 10 survivors of the Championship team started against Wigan. A £7 million bid for Frazier Campbell was an indication of ambition or desperation - or both - but the window closed with Hull's prime target at White Hart Lane, even though Daniel Cousin became Hull's third record signing of the summer.
LIVERPOOL
In: Robbie Keane, Albert Riera, Andrea Dossena, Philipp Degen, Diego Cavalieri, David Ngog, Peter Gulasci, Emmanuel Mendy
Out: Peter Crouch, John Arne Riise, Scott Carson, Steve Finnan, Andriy Voronin (loan), Harry Kewell, Danny Guthrie, Anthony Le Tallec, Sebastian Leto (loan), Paul Anderson (loan), Jack Hobbs (loan), Adam Hammill (loan), Besian Idrizaj
Spent: £41M
Received: £21.75M
Few clubs lend themselves to wildly different interpretations as often as Liverpool. On the one hand, it is another summer of lavish outlay, with Robbie Keane becoming the second-most expensive signing in the club's history. On the other, Liverpool's net spend is less than might be expected, and the failure to secure Gareth Barry brought embarrassment as well as disrupting Rafa Benitez's plans; Albert Riera was, at best, Plan B. The Liverpool manager - or Rick Parry - struggled to sell the fringe players but, for the sake of all concern, a rapid return on the investment in Keane would be welcome.
MANCHESTER CITY
In: Robinho, Jo, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Vincent Kompany, Tal Ben Haim
Out: Vedran Corluka, Rolando Bianchi, Geovanni, Sun Jihai, Georgios Samaras, Andreas Isaksson, Emile Mpenza, Paul Dickov, Matt Mills, Nery Castillo
Spent: £76.6M
Received: £13.8M
Not content with buying and selling players, City contrived to trade themselves. A change of ownership and a British record deal for Robinho capped a strange summer, even by City's standards. Whether billionaires or broke - and there are times when it was hard to tell which is the case - they were busy. There was an inevitability about Ronaldinho's choice of AC Milan ahead of Manchester, but, in the first Jo and then Robinho, City signed a big-bucks Brazilian, if not a buck-toothed one. Hughes' description of the £32.5 million man as 'a real statement of intent' was an understatement; it catapulted City into the top rank of spenders, made their ambition of Champions League football evident and satisfied executive chairman Garry Cook as he looked for a superstar to market the club in Asia. In the other deals, which were rather overshadowed by Robinho, Hughes, whose own transfer fee is not included in the figures above, showed a fondness for central defenders while the returning Shaun Wright-Phillips starred on his second debut.
MANCHESTER UNITED
In: Dimitar Berbatov, Davide Petrucci
Out: Louis Saha, Mikael Silvestre, Gerard Pique, Fraizer Campbell (loan), Lee Martin (loan), Danny Simpson (loan), Chris Eagles, Tom Heaton (loan), Kieran Lee, Dong Fangzhuo
Spent: £32M
Received: £9.7M
United's capacity to get their man, albeit eventually, has been demonstrated again. Dimitar Berbatov answers the need for a target man and a more conventional No.9 and ensures Sir Alex Ferguson can revert to perming two from a four-man strike-force. In the end the record transfer was a signing, rather than a sale as Cristiano Ronaldo remained in Manchester. Indeed, United's squad is largely untouched, though the lesser-spotted trio of Gerard Pique, Mikael Silvestre and Louis Saha have gone. And while United have appeared largely inactive in the transfer market for much of the summer, it is worth remembering that when Carlos Tevez's permanent deal is finalised, Berbatov will lose his status as the record signing.
MIDDLESBROUGH
In: Justin Hoyte, Didier Digard, Marvin Emnes
Out: Luke Young, George Boateng, Lee Cattermole, Mark Schwarzer, Fabio Rochemback, Gaizka Mendieta, Lee Dong Gook, Jonathan Grounds (loan)
Spent: £10.2M
Received: £10M
Gareth Southgate's purge of the elderly has continued. Middlesbrough, besides balancing the books, have disposed with senior players by the bundle. Luke Young lasted less than a month as the oldest before he was sold, Boro doubling their money in 12 months on the right-back. Justin Hoyte, Didier Digard and Marvin Emnes have hardly had the opportunities to prove themselves money well spent but the advantage of such a youthful squad is that they should retain their value.
NEWCASTLE
In: Fabricio Coloccini, Xisco, Jonas Gutierrez, Danny Guthrie, Sebastien Bassong, Ignacio Gonzalez (loan)
Out: James Milner, Emre, Amdy Faye, David Rozehnal, Stephen Carr, Peter Ramage, Lamine Diatta
Spent: £26.8M
Received: £19.1M
There once was a time when Kevin Keegan's transfer policy appeared to be based upon reuniting his England team of 1999; now Newcastle show a new fondness for Spaniards and Argentineans plucked from La Liga. Not for the first time, the question can be posed of who is making the decisions at St James' Park. Whoever it is merits praise for Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez, at least if the opening fixtures are a reliable indicator. But James Milner's sale, prompting a rapid U-turn from Keegan to claim he sanctioned the winger's move to Aston Villa, means the issue of Newcastle's strange structure remains as pertinent, and as problematic.
PORTSMOUTH
In: Peter Crouch, Younes Kaboul, Jerome Thomas, Glen Little, Armand Traore (loan), Ben Sahar (loan), Nadir Belhadj (loan)
Out: Sulley Muntari, Pedro Mendes, Linvoy Primus (loan), Omar Koroma (loan), Asmir Begovic (loan)
Spent: £18M
Received: £15.7M
A long-time target (Peter Crouch), a seemingly strange signing (Glen Little), a player whose flaws seemed more apparent than his strengths (Younes Kaboul) and the quixotic decision to loan not one but two left-backs; a typical summer for Harry Redknapp, whose desire for an annual overhaul of his squad doesn't seem to abate with age. Yet the overhaul has come at a cost to the centre of midfield, Sulley Muntari and Pedro Mendes financing the arrivals as Portsmouth proved poorer than some, their manager included, had anticipated. It is dangerous to dismiss Redknapp's recruits on the basis of past underachievement, but it is debateable if he has a stronger squad now.
STOKE
In: Dave Kitson, Amdy Faye, Abdoulaye Faye, Ibrahima Sonko, Danny Higginbotham, Tom Soares, Andrew Davies, Seyi Olofinjana, Thomas Sorensen
Out: Marlon Broomes, Adam Rooney, Russell Hoult, Anthony Pulis, Jon Parkin
Spent: £17.5M
Received: £0
If not the summer of love, it was certainly the transfer window when Tony Pulis showed his fondness for large Senegalese men, many of them named Faye. There may be some surprise at the extent of Stoke's spending, but the targets should shock few: the battalion of six-footers has been bolstered, signifying a clear commitment to a certain style of play. Dave Kitson, the club's record signing, scored at Middlesbrough, to provide rather more early vindication for Pulis than the dismissed Amdy Faye. Stoke ended the summer the biggest net spender of the three promoted clubs, suggesting owner Peter Coates is backing Pulis; whether those millions are a consequence of his bookmaking firm taking bets on Stoke to return to the Championship is a moot point.
SUNDERLAND
In: Djibril Cisse (loan), El-Hadji Diouf, David Healy, Steed Malbranque, Pascal Chimbonda, Teemu Tainio, Anton Ferdinand, George McCartney, Nick Colgan, David Meyler
Out: Danny Higginbotham, Dickson Etuhu Andy Cole, Greg Halford (loan), Russell Anderson (loan), Paul McShane (loan), Ross Wallace (loan), Ian Harte, Stephen Wright, Stanislav Varga
Spent: £34.4M
Received: £3M
Ireland must be impervious to the credit crunch if the activities of the Premier League's Celtic Tiger economy is any judge. Niall Quinn and his many backers have been generous to Roy Keane again, especially as most of his previous signings still lurk at the Stadium of Light. The sheer unpredictability of the new-look forward line of Djibril Cisse and El-Hadji Diouf suggests they should be worth watching, but the purchases of the Tottenham trio of Steed Malbranque, Teemu Tainio and Pascal Chimbonda and the £8million defender Anton Ferdinand indicate Keane has not lost his habit of paying inflated fees. Nevertheless, Sunderland's looks a vastly improved squad; consistency, which has eluded them thus far, must be the aim.
TOTTENHAM
In: Luka Modric, Roman Pavlyuchenko, David Bentley, Giovani Dos Santos, Heurelho Gomes, Vedran Corluka, John Bostock, Cesar Sanchez, Fraizer Campbell (loan)
Out: Dimitar Berbatov, Robbie Keane, Paul Robinson, Steed Malbranque, Pascal Chimbonda, Teemu Tainio, Younes Kaboul, Lee Young-Pyo, Anthony Gardner, Tommy Forecast, Tomas Pekhart (loan), Leigh Mills (loan), Joe Martin, Radek Cerny
Spent: £66.1M
Received: £77.7M
More money has changed hands at White Hart Lane than any other Premier League ground. A mere £144 million was paid into, or taken out of, Tottenham's accounts and yet Spurs still don't quite resemble the finished article. Having acquired a surfeit of attacking midfielders and ignoring a shortage of strikers, they eventually redressed the latter with Roman Pavlyuchenko's arrival. A lack of fit defenders was another issue until Vedran Corluka signed. Last summer was notable for some substandard signings. Not this. With Luka Modric, Giovani Dos Santos and David Bentley, Tottenham have talent in abundance. Yet the general sense of chaos that has characterised Damien Comolli's glorious reign as director of football seemed to be summed up when Dimitar Berbatov arrived at Manchester United while Spurs tried to sell the striker to Manchester City instead. The Bulgarian provided an eventual profit at White Hart Lane; if Pavlyuchenko prospers, they should be a stronger side but despite the frantic trading, another overhaul next summer is entirely feasible.
WEST BROM
In: Borja Valero, Scott Carson, Luke Moore, Roman Bednar, Marek Cech, Gianni Zuiverloon, Abdoulaye Meite, Kim Do Heon, Jonas Olsson, Ryan Donk (loan)
Out: Curtis Davies, Kevin Phillips, Zoltan Gera, Martin Albrechtsen, Miguel Tininho
Spent: £21.3M
Received: £8M
Thus far, the newcomers have commanded less comment than the man allowed to leave, Kevin Phillips. Luke Moore and Roman Bednar's loan moves have become permanent transfers but Albion's early-season dearth of goals has prompted the thought that the 35-year-old is looking indispensable. Nevertheless, Albion have made a considerable investment with the Spaniard Borja Valero becoming their biggest signing. Abdoulaye Meite, already culpable for one of Everton's goals, may prove the critical buy, given Albion's weakness at the heart of defence last season.
WEST HAM
In: Valon Behrami, Jan Lastuvka (loan), Balint Bajner
Out: Anton Ferdinand, Freddie Ljungberg, George McCartney, Bobby Zamora, John Pantsil, Nolberto Solano, Richard Wright
Spent: £5M
Received: £19.3M
Twelve months ago, West Ham were major movers in the transfer market. Now they are a selling club, even if a bloated squad required a little dieting. The sale of Anton Ferdinand, a regular and a player Alan Curbishley was keen to keep, could have repercussions for both the defence and the manager. While West Ham have posted the biggest profit in the Premier League, those figures don't take into account Freddie Ljungberg's £6million pay-off. Their fortunes this season depend not just on the solitary cash signing - Valon Behrami - but those who were bought in Upton Park's boom time.
WIGAN
In: Amr Zaki (loan), Lee Cattermole, Olivier Kapo, Daniel De Ridder, Maynor Figueroa (loan)
Out: Marlon King (loan), David Cotterill, Julius Aghahowa, Antoine Sibierski (loan), Andreas Granqvist, Josip Skoko, Andy Webster, Salomon Olembe
Spent: £7M
Received: £1.6M
The sums, showing a comparatively meagre outlay, are respectable enough but Steve Bruce's greatest achievements may not involve buying and selling as much as the borrowing of Amr Zaki and keeping Wilson Palacios at the JJB Stadium. The Egyptian is arguably the earliest candidate for the title of 'signing of the season' while Lee Cattermole, Palacios' equally energetic partner in midfield, is further proof of Bruce's sure touch in the transfer market since his move up the M6 from Birmingham.
Source: Soccernet
No comments:
Post a Comment