Transfers: Who's coming and going? Post Tounament Transfer Alert
As Euro 2012 turns into another memoire in Football’s rich, historical tapestry, the subsequent epilogue preaches almost immediately to the domestic scene and the race to win the inevitable transfer battles.
Champions League winners Chelsea wasted little time exerting their new found status on the market by acquiring in-demand Belgian Eden Hazard from Lille from under the noses of their free-spending Manchester rivals. German winger Marko Marin was secured before the season’s end and it appears with rumours of Hulk and Gregory Van der Wiel firmly in the East-London side’s sights, as well as a reported £16m deal for Andre Schurrle being turned down by his employers Bayern Leverkusen, it would seem Stamford Bridge and indeed Roman Abramovitch are in a free spending mood once more.
Although Arsenal’s prized asset Robin Van Persie seems all but certain to leave the Emirates this summer after refusing to extend his contract, the Gunners made efforts to improve their squad before the conclusion of the European Championships. Lukas Podolski and Oliver Giroud of Germany and France respectively have joined the ranks in what fans would have hoped as added cavalry for Captain Robin, however it’s now apparent following the Dutch marksmen’s revelations the duo now appear to be set to fill the huge void left by the talisman, or certainly attempt too.
Under the guidance of all-footballing scholar Brendan Rodgers, Liverpool have indicated they may have one, possibly two deals wrapped up before the end of the week. Whether the Anfield coffers are going to be quite so steeply delved in to is another question, yet every scouser will be hoping the logic and represented value for money will be somewhat more strategically thought out this summer following the Liverpool hierarchy estimating Stewart Downing, Andy Carroll and Jordan Henderson to be around £75m in the last 18 months. It’s almost certain Liverpool will attempt to increase the quality in their squad before FIFA impose their congruent restrictions on transfer revenue.
Bar one Asian in and one Asian out at Old Trafford, the Manchester clubs are yet to make their major plays this summer. City will undoubtedly want to keep up their momentum and impose themselves on Europe as they failed to do so spectacularly last season. Negating their domestic prowess, The Citizens struggled to impact Europe in the face of their European counterparts and will have no problem investing in new talent to adapt after securing the Premier Division title which adds credence to their project and vision. It would have been patently absurd to suggest Manchester City ruling England and then Europe five or so years ago, now though colloquial enough, City have entered the bracket of the elite through not only finances, but stature that only winning big competitions can bring – as Chelsea’s Champions League trophy will testify.
Tottenham have also made early strides in the transfer window with the capture of free-scoring midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, despite an apparent agreement in place with Swansea the club whom he made his temporary home for the second half of last season. Following Rodgers exit from the Welsh side’s helm, Tottenham didn’t waste a breath in usurping their league rivals to the Icelandic international’s signature. Jan Vertongen, the ball playing Belgian defender, has also been brought in from Ajax to reinforce an ageing back-line. Rumours of Emmanuel Adebayor’s permanent £5m imminent arrival are also central in the media this week.
Newcastle have secured Coventry’s young starlet and Championship ‘apprentice of the year’ Gael Bigirimana on a 5-year contract signalling their intension to build for the future, much like the signing of James Milner in the past. Bigger deals directed particularly towards defensive reinforcements will be needed though for Newcastle to compete amongst the elite as they did last season. Everton, Ipswich and Spurs have all shown breaking or even challenging for the top four doesn’t equate to longevity.
While at this point approximately 6 weeks away from the beginning of the season a lot of deals lend themselves to mere speculation, this is a good chance to reflect on some deals which have gone terribly wrong after such exciting tournament promise the preceding summer. Only time will tell if the same mistakes will be made for the 12/13 campaign, but below are some famous examples of years gone by where clubs gamble on tournament stars:
Stephane Guivarc’h (Newcastle)
Actually named the worst Premier League striker of all time by the Daily Mail, Guivarc’h was prolific in his homeland of France for Guingamp, Rennes and Auxerre, which lead to him leading the line in France’s successful 98’ World Cup win. Despite scoring no goals at the tournament, then Newcastle King Kenny Dalglish decided to splash close to £10m on the 28 year-old 6’1 target man (Kenny knows how to judge the worth of strikers doesn’t he??). After managing four league appearances and one goal, the St. James’ faithful couldn’t stand the appalling control no more. Clearly out of shape, Guivarc’h was relegated to the bench, and frozen out completely by Dalglish’s successor Ruud Gullit. After arriving in August, by November the striker had jumped ships to Rangers north of the border, where believe it or not he won a domestic treble in his first season, but again yielded less than one goal every four games. Interestingly, Guivarc’h means ‘swift stallion’ in the Breton language (a dialect in France) to which much of the French media found great irony in.
El-Hadji Diouf (Liverpool)
Following Senegal’s surprise performances and in particular their victory over World Champions France at the 2002 World Cup, several of the African minnows unknown stars rose to prominence and quick. At the top of those emerging stars was the apparently silky skilful El-Hadji Diouf, who had been going quietly about his business in France prior to the tournament. Liverpool decided Diouf was worth a punt, a £10m punt at that, and snapped the forward up sharply after the World Cup’s conclusion. Diouf made 80 appearances for Liverpool in two seasons, and consistently frustrated the Kop for his inability to deliver in the final third, and indeed beat players at all with his wasteful flicks and tricks. In 2004, Bolton took the controversial converted winger on loan and that was the end of the ill-tempered Diouf at Anfield, but not the UK. Spells at Bolton, Blackburn, Rangers, Doncaster and Sunderland followed, each new pasture as irrelevant and non-descript as the last. One thing probably not noted on Diouf’s scouting report prior to his switch to Merseyside is his fondness for a spit or two at other players and fans, and indeed a token court appearance every season or so.
Kleberson (Manchester United)
Brazil secured the 2002 World Cup in Germany with the potent three R’s heading the attacks – Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho. However head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari declared Kleberson was ‘the driving force behind the Brazilian national team’ at the World Cup. His performances tempted Manchester United to lure the playmaker from Athletico Paranaense for £6.5m as a replacement for Chelsea bound Juan Sebastian Veron. Much was expected of Kleberson and he simply couldn’t deliver to United’s high standards, only managing 20 league appearances in two seasons due to injury and lack of form. It wasn’t long before Fergie was shipping the Brazilian off to Besiktas in Turkey and started to rebuild. A season after Kleberson’s arrival, Eric Djemba-Djemba also arrived at Old Trafford dubbed the new Roy Keane. How those two never lived up to those tags aye!
