Every
football club needs something or someone: if it's not a goalkeeper like Edwin
van der Sar, it's a defender like Dani Alves, a midfielder like
Xavi Hernandez, a winger like Cristiano Ronaldo, or an attacker like
Lionel Messi.
So for one, which club needed who
and why?
It's
exemplary for a manager to hear the voices of the critics, pundits and analysts
and use these voices to improve their club.
Some
managers have the legs to fill up in the areas where they are needed most,
however, these legs are sent off on loan and new players are brought in, or no
player is brought in at all. Other managers try to hold onto their players
because they are a huge part of their survival to escape relegation: West Brom rejected a second bid from QPR for Peter
Odemwingie. Although West Bromwich Albion rejected the signing of
Odemwingie, the manager didn’t sign anyone during the transfer window.
Just a few transfer which caught the eye of the media:
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Clubs
like Arsenal
are harder to understand because right now they are sixth on the Barclays
Premier League table. Arsenal need a consistent striker, and the club
itself needs to be more consistent. Lately Giroud and Walcott have been making
it on the score sheets. Yet, if one or both of them had to suffer an injury,
who would be put upfront since Chamakh has been sent out on loan to West Ham?
Wenger hardly uses the January transfer window, but if he wants Arsenal
in the top four at the end of the season, he would've used the window to his
full advantage. Instead, he only signed one footballer, Nacho Monreal. Unfortunately,
bids for David Villa, Demba Ba, were not successful. Football pundits doubt Arsenal
will finish in the top four this season. Which means what? Could that be the
end of Arsene Wenger?
Chelsea on the other hand was in dire need of a striker besides the
presence of Torres, who is not as dominant upfront as he ought to be. On a
positive note, besides Sturridge leaving for Liverpool, Chelsea bought Demba Ba from Newcastle United, and in less than a
month at Stamford Bridge, Demba Ba has scored three goals in his first few
starts for Chelsea.
Ba has also been chosen to start on numerous occassions, with Torres left on
the bench. Chelsea
actually paid less for a striker who does his job, unlike the amount they paid
for Torres. The fans may not want Rafael Benitez, but it seems he has made a
good signing, unless it was Abramovich’s idea to sign Ba, if that is the case,
then no credit should be given to Benitez.
Liverpool has become a shadow in the Premier League, Manchester United manager Sir Alex
Ferguson said he doesn't even know where they are on the table. These Reds need
a striker, attacking midfielder, and a stronger defence. The arrival of Daniel
Sturridge has solved the Reds striker troubles, Sturridge and Suarez seem to
work well together. The Reds also bought midfielder Philippe Coutinho to sort
out their midfield issue.
Manchester United's noisy neighbours, Manchester City didn't need much during the
transfer window, just a ball playing centre back and central midfield
playmaker. However, they made one purchase during the transfer window and that
was for attacker Godsway Donyon to seal the opening Mario Balotelli left when he went to AC
Milan.
Manchester United on the other hand suffers in midfield, the Red Devils need a
holding midfielder, someone like Xavi or Lampard and instead, they bought Zaha
from Crystal Palace. A few seasons ago, Manchester United had Zoran Tosic and Darren
Gibson, they showed a lot of potential, Gibson even fired shots like Scholes.
Would the Red Devils have midfield trouble if these two were still in the mix?
Some questions are better left unanswered.
Newcastle United are weak
upfront and even weaker defensively. A striker and two defenders are what they
need. Newcastle has 5 new footballers in their mix; Mapou
Yang-Mbiwa, Massadio Haidara, Mathieu Debuchy, Yoan Gouffran, Moussa Sissoko
and Kevin Mbabu. Hopefully these signings will get
Newcastle out of the bottom half of the table.
It
didn't look like Tottenham Hotspur
would make a signing at this transfer window, but they are in need of a striker
who is more flexible, in other words, one who can go wide. Instead, Andre
Villas-Boas only bought a defender and a midfielder. Fans were left dumbfounded
as they expected last minute signings, but the transfer window closed with AVB
only making two signings. Moreover, some fans even mentioned that Harry
Redknapp was very active during the transfer window while he was still manager at
Spurs. That should leave a bad
reflection on AVB.
RELEGATION BATTLE
At Wigan Athletic, all positions,
especially up front, need to be improved. Martinez looked to make an analysis
of who he needs at Wigan. Martinez signed Roger Espinoza and 3 loan deals of
Joel Robles, Paul Scharner and Angelo Henriquez (midfielder, goalkeeper,
defender, and attacker).
When
it comes to Aston Villa, whether the
problem lies in management or in the team, only time will tell. Yet, it was not
this bad during Alex McLeish's reign. Villa are in the relegation zone but
Lambert has made one signing and an attacker who’s on loan. Similar to QPR,
Villa need a centre-half, midfielder and another striker. With such little
efforts made by the manager to get his club out of the relegation zone, it
seems Villa may remain there for a while.
"I
know we need to improve, but it's not easy," said Harry Redknapp, which is
what he has tried to do this transfer window. Queens Park Rangers needs to strenghthen the whole team; strong
defence, a playmaker like Xavi in midfield and an energetic attacker upfront. QPR needs a strong defence, yet how is
that possible with the loans of defender Anton Ferdinand and attacker Rob
Hulse? Nevertheless, the signing of Tal Ben Haim, Loic Remy, Yun Suk-Young,
Christopher Samba, Jermaine Jenas and Andros Townsend on loan, this could be
the beginning of QPR's battle to get
out of the relegation zone.
OTHER LEAGUES
Mario
Balotelli
Balotelli
made a £22 million move from Manchester City to AC Milan. The Italian
signed a contract that runs until 2017. According to Balotelli, he has wanted
to go to AC Milan for a long time. For someone who has had a ton of bad
publicity, with his infamous ‘WHY ALWAYS ME?’ undershirt, fans have accepted
him, sold jersey's with his name and number before he even signed. They also celebrated
Balotelli's arrival until they clashed with police. Maybe the English Premier
League will miss him, he did bring a few laughs to the league, but his
misconduct will not be missed.
David
Beckham
Beckham
has signed a 5 month deal with French league leaders Paris Saint-Germain. His salary
will go to a children’s charity in Paris. Beckham said many clubs wanted to
sign him at this stage in his career, and if he had to go to the English
Premier League, he would never play for another Premier League club other than Manchester United.
Most footballers say that, but this is David Beckham, not Cristiano Ronaldo,
we’ll see what his next step is when his 5 month contract ends.
Didier
Drogba
Drogba
agreed to an 18 month deal to move from Shanghai Shenhua to Turkish side Galatasaray.
However, Shanghai plan on contesting the move to Galatasaray because Drogba is
still under contract at the Chinease club. When it comes to this mix-up, only
time will tell. Will Drogba move to Galatasaray, or will he remain at Shanghai
Shenhua?
Wesley
Sneijder
Sneijder
completed a move to Galatasaray on a 3½ contract from Inter Milan. He was open to a move to the English
Premier League, but Galatasaray made the first move for the Dutch
international. His move to the Turkish club came after a few years of speculation
that he wanted to leave Inter Milan but at the time, he only came close to signing
for Manchester
United.
BIGGEST UPSET
The QPR bid for Peter Odemwingie was
rejected more than once. The footballer was determined to join QPR, but West Brom wanted to hold onto
the player. At his age, Odemwingie was either captivated by another club
wanting him, or the better wages he would be earning. Besides all that, the
footballer even went to QPR last
night hoping that the deal between QPR
and West Brom had been finalised, but to his dismay, an agreement could not be
met by the two clubs.
Rumours Will Always Be Rumours
Cristiano
Ronaldo – Manchester
United
Luka
Modric – Premier League
Neymar
– Barcelona, Chelsea
& Manchester
City
David Villa - Arsenal
Who was the best buy of the January
transfer window?
Damba
Ba?
Daniel
Sturridge?
Loic
Remy?
Mario
Balotelli?
Only
at the end of the season will we be able to tell the tale.
All European football transfers can be viewed at soccer news
