Gareth on Citysport: Premier League and transfer window deals

Gareth on Citysport: Premier League and transfer window deals

Eccoci, con una settimana di ritardo, al consueto appuntamento con la Premier League, e i vari affari conclusi nel mercato britannico. Tutto ciò ci sarà raccontato, come è accaduto nel suo esordio su Citysport, dal nostro esperto Gareth Freeman. Allora, non dilunghiamoci troppo e lasciamo spazio a Gareth. It's up to you my friend!.

Hi readers, Hi Citysport. I try to explain what happened in this period. The transfer window proved to be a bit of an anti-climax in the Premier League this year. The window is a favourite with the football betting bookies in England as the soccer betting odds seem to change so rapidly throughout the window as new rumours surface. Manchester City were expected to make a big money move for Blackburn striker Santa Cruz but that failed to materialise. Tottenham Hotspur were this years biggest spenders and they brought back three of their ex-players back into the team.

Manchester City brought in Nigel de Jong, Craig Bellamy, Wayne Bridge and Shay Given in January. Bellamy, Bridge and Given are all proven Premier League players but they’re not the massive names expected now City are the world’s richest club. They did move for Kaka and when that fell through there was a feeling they might make a similarly sized move for Juventus keeper Gianluigi Buffon but that move never surfaced.

The surprise big spenders were Tottenham Hotspur. It is the first time since being in charge that Harry Redknapp has been able to dip into the transfer market and he really took his chance. Tottenham have spent around £50million in the transfer window, the whole Premier league spent just over £120million so Spurs take up a massive chunk of that. Among Spurs transfers are Robbie Keane, Jermaine Defoe and Pascal Chimbonda, all players that have played for Tottenham before but not under Harry Redknapp. Attacking midfielder Wilson Palacios have also joined from Wigan along with Carlo Cudicini from Chelsea.

Chelsea have been fairly quiet but they have added Riccardo Quaresma to their ranks. Quaresma had fallen out of favour at Inter Milan and he could be a decent buy for the Stamford Bridge side. Only time will tell if he can adapt to the Premier League but I see know reason why he would not.

Like Chelsea Arsenal conducted very little activity until the closing stages of the window when they began talks with Andrei Arshavin. The heavy snowfall in Britain forced the FA to extend the deadline if the ‘deal had been agreed in principal’ because players could not travel in the weather. The actual deal for Arshavin was not announced until a day after the deadline but it could be the best transfer of the month. Arshavin’s performances in the European Championship and the UEFA cup show his quality and he should fit into the Arsenal side well. Whether Arshavin will be enough to get Arsenal back into the Champions League places is another matter, he will add to their attack though and Arsenal have struggled for goals of late.

Manchester United added two Serbian youngsters to their squad in Zoran Tosic and Adem Ljajic, the latter of which has been immediately loaned back to Partizan Belgrade. These players are two for the future for United and though Tosic may play he is unlikely to feature heavily for Manchester United this season.

Elsewhere Newcastle signed Bolton captain Kevin Nolan in a £4million deal. England international Emile Heskey joined Aston Villa, while Wigan brought in Egyptian striker Mido to replace the departed Heskey. Hull City broke their transfer record by splashing out £5million on Fulham midfielder Jimmy Bullard. Everton eased their injury problems by signing Brazilian striker Jo on loan from Manchester City.