Transfer Window Key Deals

Great Deals

Gareth Barry, Villa to Man City £12m - A solid performer who will become integral to the spine of a title challenging team.

Thomas Vermaelen, Ajax to Arsenal £10m – Looks like he has been playing in the Premier League for years already. Not the big commanding centre-half that Arsenal fans have been after, but already looks a good buy at £10m.

Sol Campbell, Portsmouth to Notts County £0 – Sven won’t be lonely at night or go thirsty in Nottingham after swinging this one.


Sound investments

Tal Ben-Haim, Man City to Portsmouth £1m – A good deal on transfer deadline day who was solid at Bolton but has failed to impress at Chelsea & City. If he stays fit and in the first team his performances will be key to whether Portsmouth can stay up this year.

Stewart Downing, Middlesbrough to Villa £12m – Downing is a good player and if he stops for a few seasons Villa will definitely get their money’s worth. However, though Downing should fit in well, I am not convinced his arrival takes the Villa first team forward.

Joleon Lescott, Everton to Man City £24m – City had to pay top price for him, but he is good enough to lend credibility and stability to a defence that last season was not good enough for a team aiming for at least a Champions League Spot. He might even chip in a few goals if his Everton form carries over.

Emmanuel Adebayor, Arsenal to Man City £25m – There are question marks over him still but he has been a good performer for Arsenal and has started with 3 goals in 3 games for City. Will get City the goals they need when they need them for this season at least. Seemed to raise his game in the big matches for Arsenal so only time will tell if he can maintain a high level of performance over several seasons, but Hughes can rotate in quality so will need to depend on him less than the Gunners did.

Damien Duff, Middlesbrough to Fulham £2.5m – Title winner with Chelsea and should bring an added dimension to Fulham’s forward play.


Not Yet Proven / To Be Proven

Michael Owen, Newcastle to Man Utd £0 – May have been no fee, but Owen commands a decent salary and represents a gamble of being the only tested striker available to Sir Alex when he wishes to rest either Rooney or Berbatov. Come May this deal may be lauded as another stroke of genius or an easily predicted failure.

Luis Antonio Valencia, Wigan to Man Utd £15.25m – United fans seem unsure if he was worth the price tag, but Sir Alex has faith. No player in the world has bigger boots to fill in the coming months.

Habib Beye, Newcastle to Aston Villa £3m – Won over the crestfallen Geordies, but was a part of a leaky defence. Should get plenty of opportunities in the first team to show if he is worth the money.

Yuri Zhirkov, CSKA Moscow to Chelsea £18m – A great debut, but the “Russian Ronaldinho” is in a team full of stars, and has to show that he is better than Joe Cole and Florent Malouda if he wants regular football.

Alberto Aquilani, Roma to Liverpool £18m – Good passer of the ball but has not played a whole lot of football in the last 18 months. I doubt he will prove to be as good as the departed Alonso and I am not sure how if his advanced role in Midfield will see him as an occassional back up to Gerrard or consistent partner.

Fabian Delph, Leeds to Villa £6.5m – Good prospect in the long term, but is unlikely to fill the void left by the departure of Gareth Barry. O’Neil is good at bringing young players and taking them up a step as proven with Young and Agbonlahor.

Hmmm…

Roque Santa Cruz, Blackburn to Man City £18m – You could probably argue that he is worth the money; however, he hasn’t played yet and is in a dressing room that contains Adebayor, Tevez, Robinho, Bellamy, Benjani and SWP he may prove to be the league cups most impressive and expensive player.

Glen Johnson, Portsmouth to Liverpool £18.5m - Johnson is a good Premiership player and seems to have started well. However, the phone in shows have been besieged with irate Liverpool fans claiming Rafa has no money to spend. What is £18.5m if not money to spend? Could have got Roque Santa Cruz as back up or partner to Torres for 500k less which would have probably made the restless Kop a little happier.

Roger Johnson, Cardiff to Birmingham £5m – I do not know anything about Roger Johnson, but £5m for a good Championship defender seems a high price; especially if we look at other defenders who have moved at around the same price such as Richard Dunne & Robert Huth.