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.

Good News!

I don't know how Dan feels about this but the Premier League Fantasy Football game is back! Yay

For those that don't know, this is the official game and it's pretty good - it's also free, which means the prizes aren't as good, but frankly I've played things like the Telegraph and the Sun ones and they're rubbish

I therefore propose a Footie Banter league, I'll be looking to sort it out by the start of August, but you can set your team up any time between now and the start of the season, obviously watch out for the transfers up til then

Transfer Rumour Mill

SkySports is speculating that Patrick Viera may be in line for a move to Birmingham

The Times is saying that Sunderland have made an £11m bid for Peter Crouch which is being considered by Portsmouth.

Newcastle’s Sebastien Bassong is quoted by ITV as revelling himself to be a target for Arsenal.

The Mirror says that Sir Alex Ferguson is weighing up an unlikely move for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The Sun says Barcelona will make a £40m move for Cesc Fabregas, but only if they can sell Samuel Eto’o to Man City for mega-bucks first.

Enjoy!

Owen to United

It would *appear* that Michael Owen is set for a spell at Old Trafford

Who guessed that one? Show of hands please

Whatever happened to that animosity between United and Liverpool? Clearly it only works one way in Fergie's eyes

Summer Transfer Wish Lists

It feels a bit like a grenade has been thrown under any transfer speculation talk, with the two best players in the world moving, with minimal drama to Real Madrid already this Transfer Window.

However, I am not going to let that stop me, so tell us about who you want to see your club sign, and who you will be happy to see the back of.

Tell us also how that wish list varies from who you actually think your team will sign.

My thoughts are on whether Man Utd will sign Carlos Tevez on a permanent deal or if the price will be too high and where he may end up elsewhere in that case. With Ronaldo gone, and if Tevez does not return the prospect of a big name forward, such as David Villa or potential wing replacement Franck Ribery will bring fresh excitement to the club, and might bring sufficient new energy to re-capture the Champions League.

United Accept £80m Bid For Christiano Ronaldo

Madrid are set to break the World Transfer Record, set by them in the last week by getting Christiano Ronaldo for £80million.

Should United sell Ronaldo for £80million? In my opinion, absolutely.

I think the real debate is exactly who will fill his golden boots at Old Trafford?

Kaka To Madrid?

Spanish Radio is reporting that a deal is done for Kaka and he is on his way to Madrid. Milan representatives have confirmed that a bid has been tabled but have said that a deal is a long way off. It seems that Madrid have tabled an early bid in an effort to lure Kaka to Madrid before Man City and Chelsea could table their offers.

City can double Madrid's offer in the blink on a eye so the Spanish club know they have to get Kaka's agreement before more sizable bids can turn the head of the Italian club. However, City are now used to long and tough negotiations and will likely already have acted.

It could be an interesting few days.

Barry Moves To City

I have to say I was a little surprised to see the news that Gareth Barry has moved to Man City today for a £12m fee. Apparently Barry was able to command a £92,000 weekly wage in return for his services. The early transfer will give Martin O'Neil the full window to shop for a replacement.

I think that most people, myself included assumed that Gareth Barry was off to Liverpool this summer after last summers pleas for Champions League football and considering the overtures from Liverpool in seeking to reach a deal worth around £18m. So it is a very good piece of business from Man City and Mark Hughes and a first class signing.

In fact I am not sure what happened to Liverpool or Barry's desire to go there, but that may drastically alter Rafa Benitez's summer transfer plans.

Unsubstantiated Transfer Rumours and Gossip... Brilliant!

As we approach yet another summer without an international tournament to enjoy I started to have a think about what the transfer market might be like this summer, after all except for the odd foreign tour in late July the Transfer Window is all the football we are going get for a few months.

This is all unsubstantiated gossip of course… Let the speculation begin!

Ronaldo to Madrid: I personally think Ronaldo will look to leave again once the season has closed. Certainly I think that if United fail to win the Champions League the chances are more likely. I would love to see him stay at United stay one more year, and he might, but Sir Alex will have to dream up a new challenge to keep the wing marvel at Old Trafford for another year. Maybe the promise of Sir Alex’s last year of management, an unprecedented fourth successive Premiership Title and third successive Champions League might do the trick?

Man City could unwittingly be the saving grace, if they launch another super-money bid for Kaka; United will rightly demand as much or more for their star.

Kaka to Chelsea or Man City: I think Man City will be following up with a new bid for Kaka in the summer. There are rumours that Carlo Ancelotti is on his way to Chelsea and has identified Kaka as his main target. Will Kaka take the money and move?

Mourinho to Man City: Yet more rumours, but earlier in the season there were plenty of stories about the Italian media not rubbing along with The Special One and he has come out many times and said he would like to return to England in a managers role.

Mourinho to Liverpool: A large section of Liverpool fans have a rocky relationship with their club manager and by Sunday afternoon previous hostilities may resume. Having just secured a new contract Benitez will likely be staying on – but if Mourinho come looking for an English club, I expect Liverpool fans to state their preference.

Mourinho to Chelsea: Will not happen, but Chelsea fans will continue to show their esteem if Guus leaves and there is a vacancy.

Barry to Liverpool: Is said to have been promised an exit if Villa failed to qualify for Champions League football. There should be enough funds available to Benitez this year, but Alonso will still probably have to make way. Arsenal may also bid, but Barry and Gerrard are mates, if Barry gets the choice he is heading to Merseyside.

Ballack, Bosingwa, Alex, Kalou & Drogba to leave Chelsea: According to Darren, my resident Chelsea fan at work.

Downing to Tottenham: Has long been touted, will probably happen following Middlesbrough’s trip to the Championship.

Owen to….?: Michael Owen I think will be leaving Newcastle in the summer, but is anyone prepared to take a gamble on the former England man now?

What do you think about these, and what are your suspicions for the upcoming transfer window?

Chelsea Clear-Out Planned

Chelsea executive Bruce Buck has revealed the club are planning to clear out some players to make way for replacements at the end of the season. He is quoted on Eurosport as saying:

"We haven't properly got together to talk about summer transfers yet, but I think that we could expect that several players will leave and that several players will come in," Buck said.

"I don't know whether that is three, four or five, but something in that kind of neighbourhood, so we can expect a handful to leave.

"We'd like to use internally generated cash to buy new players - and by that I mean sell players and buy new players.

"But of course if an appropriate player comes then money would be made available from the owner to buy him."

Caretaker boss Guus Hiddink is willing to advise on transfers although he still insists he will not be manager next season.

So, who do you think is likely to be shown the door at Chelsea and who is staying... who should Abramovich bring in?

Is it right that players will potentially be brought before a manager is in place?