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| Love football, love life. |
Being the devoted fans that we are, Dmitri and I stayed up until way past the 11pm deadline last night to watch Sky Sports News wrap up the final deals and wind down a hard days work by bringing the window to a close.
With the transfer window shut we can all finally suspend our nerves and excitement until the frenzy begins again in January as more sagas spiral out of journalistic control. This article will cover the big 5’s transfer movements across the final day and our opinions regarding the new signings, what type of impact we expect from them etc. We hope you enjoy the read!
Arsenal
Players in: 5
Andre Santos, LWB / LM (£6 million, from Fenerbahce)
Dmitri: Let’s be perfectly honest here, neither of us follows Turkish football, but looking at the statistics (52 club games, 10 goals) and 22 caps for Brazil since 2009, it’s certainly not a bad record. Aged 28, Santos should bring experience to the left-back position, which desperately needed attention after Traore left for QPR, leaving Gibbs as the only available player to fill that role.
Igor: However, this article I found suggests Santos defensive abilities are lacking and is the main reason why Dunga didn’t take him to South Africa. It also indicates that the Brazilian “might” be a little bit of a loose cannon, so it will certainly be interesting to see what kind of character this left-back actually has – god do we love a bit of football gossip!
Per Mertesacker, DC (£10 million, from Werder Bremen)
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| He was a mean, green German machine; now he's a Gunner. |
Igor: 6”6 and German, that is surely criteria enough to be a powerhouse in the centre of defence? In all seriousness Mertesacker has been a long target for the Premiership in general so it’s about time someone picked him up. Regardless of the problems Arsenal have been through, Vermaelen and Mertesacker in the heart of defence is a top-tier pairing on paper, so let’s hope they can reach the potential everyone expects of them.
Dmitri: £10 million is definitely a bargain for the 26 year old. Per has 147 appearances for Werder Bremen and 75 for Germany, so this guy is going to bring in vast amounts of experience and maturity to a team that is so very clearly lacking in especially the latter.
Chu-Young Park, FW (Undisclosed fee, from Monaco)
Dmitri: Again, The French league isn’t exactly our port of call but 91 appearances for Monaco and scoring 25 goals (08/11) isn’t terrible by any stretch. He also has 53 caps and 17 goals for South Korea, which is on top of over 50 games for the Under 20 and 23 sides as well. It’s simply too early to tell how he will fair in English football but one of my favourite players in the Premier League is Ji-Sung Park, so hopefully he can grab me just like the Manchester United midfielder did.
Igor: We can’t forget though that Chu-Young Park is a forward so he will need to do a lot more than work hard to impress Arsenal fans as he’s gonna have to put some goals away. An interesting fact, in 2005 when he played for FC Seoul, Guus Hiddink was actually very interested in bringing him to PSV Eindhoven. An unfortunate trip with the transfer fee broke the deal down, but clearly different top managers have appreciated his talent for a while now.
Mikel Arteta, CM (£10 million, from Everton)
Igor: Essentially a like-for-like replacement for Fabregas, only Arsenal won approximately £20 million from the transfer. I can sing Arteta’s praises all day long; he has incredible vision, a terrific pass and a deadly finish. He will compliment Arsenal’s style of play perfectly and I wish him all the best at his new team.
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| Have you lost a little bit of respect for Arteta? |
Dmitri: I feel the exact same way, except I think it’s important to note that Arteta has had quite a few injury concerns over the past few years. I think keeping him fit could be a problem; it will be very interesting to see how the added strain of European football will impact upon his general health and performanc. Nevertheless, I do wish him the best because he is a fantastic player to watch.
Yossi Benayoun, ACM (season-long loan, from Chelsea)
Dmitri: I know we both feel the same way, incredibly frustrating that Chelsea football club build their team to centre around Frank Lampard, thus not giving any room for such talented players like Benayoun. Yossi had a terrific pre-season with the Blues, which is probably why there was such high interest in the player on deadline day. Being a Chelsea fan, I wanted to see him in a Blue shirt, but a player of such high quality deserves to play first-team football, and if Arsenal can offer that then fair play and I hope he succeeds.
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| Chelsea fans should be sad to see Yossi leave. |
Igor: Can I just copy and paste exactly what you said? Yossi is an exceptional talent and a very clever loan signing by Arsene because just like Arteta, Yossi will compliment Arsenal’s style of play superbly. I too am sad to see him leave for a season because he’s not getting any younger but at 31 years of age, the guy needs to play football for a couple more years, so good on him for accepting a new challenge.
Chelsea
Players in: 1
Raul Meireles, CM (£12 million, from Liverpool)
Igor: Oh Chelsea you sly dogs you! Cleverly hiding under the radar and swooping in literally on the last minute with the signing of Meireles for £12 million, a superb deal! Certainly a bit controversial how it all came to light, with a written transfer request being unveiled at 10pm, only 1 hour before the end of the window. There must have been some sort of confusion and perhaps he handed in the request much earlier and it was only revealed near the end for some strange reason? Nevertheless, it didn’t backfire, as now the terrific midfielder is a Chelsea player under a 4-year contract.
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| Andres Villas-Boas is reunited with Meireles. |
Dmitri: Can I get this out there; Luka Modric (£40 million) or Raul Meireles (£12 million)? You’d have to be insane to choose the former. Meireles’ fantastic form at the end of last season showed how prolific he can be as a player, so picking him over Modric and saving £28 million is an absolute no brainer as far as I’m concerned. I am very happy Tottenham rejected Chelsea’s final bid as I believe it would have been another foolish signing by Roman if this was on the cards the entire time. I also can’t stand Sky Sports continuously referring to Meireles as the back-up plan if the Modric deal failed, it’s not like he’s any worse a footballer, if anything on his day he could be a better player.
Liverpool
Players in: 1
Craig Bellamy, RW/LW/FW (Undisclosed fee, from Manchester City)
Dmitri: I’ve always believed that Bellamy is a dangerous forward and deserved top-flight football. He is a bit of a hot-head but let’s just go ahead and call that passion for the sake of the argument. But I’m finding it difficult to place the Welshman in the Liverpool team currently, maybe bombarding up the right flank instead of Jordan Henderson? Nevertheless I always believe that nothing bad can happen if you have Bellamy as an option in your squad.
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| A great player comes back for round 2. |
Igor: Well it’s certainly a terrific move as far as Bellamy is concerned as what else did he have on offer, Celtic, QPR and Cardiff again? I think at Liverpool he has a genuine chance at some form of consistent first-team football down that right wing, or maybe do the new modern thing and switch Downing with Bellamy so they both cut inside? Who knows but there’s definitely opportunity to experiment there.
Manchester City
Players in: 1
Owen Hargreaves, DCM, RB (Free transfer, from Manchester United)
Igor: I’m not going to say much here because I know how much Dmitri wants to talk about this transfer, so go for it …
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| Does this man deserve a move to Man City? |
Dmitri: Ridiculous. 11 minutes of first-team football in 2 years with United, a YouTube video and he gets a 1-year deal with potentially an even bigger club. Logically, a team like West Brom should have taken him, he should have played half a season, showed that he can still cut it and play consistently and injury free, then maybe a big club could move in for him. I wish him the absolute best, but if he breaks down, it’s simply an “I told you so” moment. This reminds me of the Ledley King fiasco during the World Cup, players need actual football matches to prove their fitness, not training sessions and video montages.
Manchester United
Players in: 0
Igor: No one! Ah man the buzz on Sky Sports of a potential Wesley Sneijder move on transfer day was so huge, but it just wouldn’t formulate. Wage issues were outlined as the major stipulation both parties simply could not agree upon, but what a big deadline day move that would have been eh? We can still dream!
There you have it folks, these were the big moves for the big clubs on deadline day. Some great signings for Arsenal certainly strengthen their ranks, while both Chelsea and Liverpool increase their depth by 1. Manchester City take a big gamble and add another holding midfielder to their arsenal consisting of Yaya Toure, Gareth Barry and Nigel De Jong, good luck getting ahead of them Hargreaves. Manchester United unfortunately stayed silent and the big money move for Sneijder that was building up all Summer, could not come to a satisfying conclusion. Enjoy the international break and let’s look forward to the next Gameweek in the Premiership! As always, we are on Twitter @ss4Igor, check us out!
Laters!
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