Monday, January 31, 2011

The January Transfer Window in a Nutshell

The Transfer window come to a close today, January 31, 2011 and some major transfers were made, while some ended up being rumors. Read about which transfers went through this month.
The transfer window started with some high intentions that never ended up working out, the first one, David Beckham. There was talk of him moving to AC Milan permanently, Arsenal and Tottenham. Sadly, none on them happened. Instead, the former England captain is just training with hotspurs to keep in shape for the upcoming MLS season. His contract with L.A. Galaxy ends in November when the superstar will be free agent and there has already been talk of a transfer to the spurs then.

Another legendary player in the transfer news was Ronaldinho, who ended his time with AC Milan to play back in Brazil for Flamengo. He did have offers from clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City but he felt that it was his time to go back home.

There were rumors about Kaka leaving Spanish giants, Real Madrid mainly because there was no starting role on the team for him anymore. Manager Jose Mourinho thought he would be wasted talent if he didn't have a lead role. Mourinho brought in winger, Mesut Ozil when Kaka was out with an injury. The Portuguese manager offered to transfer Kaka over to Manchester United stating he would fit in with the rest of the squad perfectly. He also is known to have a good relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson so the two would have worked out a nice deal. While the Brazilian. Had offers from Inter and Chelsea, but Mourinho refused to sell him to a club he once managed. Kaka ended up staying with Madrid.

Another big transfer was Sunderland's Darren Bent, who moved to Aston Villa to team up with forward Ashley Young. He started his term with the club by scoring a winning goal against title contenders Manchester City. He quickly proved that he was a good buy for the club.
Major rumors of Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas moving to Barcelona were alive throughout the window until Fabregas told the press that he will stay at Arsenal until he can win some silverware. And for Torres, he signed a five and a half year, £50 million deal with Chelsea just earlier today.

In other news, Liverpool sealed the deal for two new forwards, English International Andy Carroll and the infamous Luis Suarez. The two new strikers are to replace Torres' transfer to London.

Manchester City landed the talk of the EPL, Edin Dzeko. He had offers from all the major clubs in England. Man City, Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal all tried to get the Wolfsburg striker but all but one failed.

Real Madrid closed in on Man City striker Adebayor for a loan spell. This was a good move for the Ghanaian because he was only a super sub for City and will most likely be the same in Madrid, but will have more opportunities to play, as he already played on Sunday. It will give him time to play and build up some skill while Man City use their attacking pair.

It was surprising to see Premier League leaders Manchester United loaned out only one major player and added a goalie to the lineup. The player who was loaned out was the young Italian striker, Frederico Macheda. He left to spend some time in the Serie A playing for Sampdoria. He thought he could use some more starting opportunities, so he will play as a starting forward in Italy to earn a position in United’s starting line-up. The goalkeeper is Anders Lindengaard, a Danish International who’s debut with United was against Southampton in the fourth round of the F.A. Cup. United were in contact with Real Madrid for not only Kaka, but for a player swap. Young Mexican striker Chicharito was supposed to be traded for Madrid midfielder Diarra. This didn’t go through because it obviously wasn’t exactly a fair deal. United also made a bid for Tottenham winger, Gareth Bale. The Welsh international would be a possible replacement for Ryan Giggs when he decides to retire, but it looks like he has a few more years in him. United’s midfielder Ji-Sung Park was set for a Sevilla transfer but as the looks of it, the deal broke down.
Robbie Keane transferred from Tottenham over to West Ham United. Tottenham is a team focused on their attacking force and lately Keane hasn’t been good enough to continue with the team. Tottenham have a lot of great strikers anyway so not a lot of playing time in available.
Hoffenheim signed German winger Ryan Babel for a reported €7 million which was quite the deal. Celtic confirmed their contract with Freddy Ljungberg. Atletico Madrid sold Simao, for less than one million Euros, to Besiktas. A very good deal for Besiktas, considering he plays for a great international team, and should be worth a lot more.
All in all, this was a pretty good transfer window. There were a lot of transfers that could make or break the teams that are trying to pull themselves back into the EPL title race, and a lot of players training and on loan to other clubs to gain some more starting 11 experience. I think for the most part, the transfers I have seen this time around are all positive and it will be nice to see how the teams change.

-JoeyB

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