Saturday 1 September 2012

Summer transfer window - winners and losers


Arsenal: 3 in (Cazorla, Giroud, Podolski), 14 out (Afobe, Almunia, Bartley, Bendtner, Campbell, Cruise, Denilson, Hoyte, Lansbury, Miyaichi, Park, Song, van Persie, Vela)

Arsenal have brought in quality players - like Carzorla, Podolski and Giroud - but, until the new arrivals gel into a team, the jury will be out. Apart from van Persie and Song, the other departing 12 will not be missed, so Wenger's squad has improved ever-so slightly.

Aston Villa: 8 in (Bennett, Benteke, Bowery, El Ahmadi, Holman, Lowton, Vlaar, Westwood), 5 out (Collins, Cuellar, Delfouneso, Heskey, Makoun)

Lambert has brought in relative unknowns without much Premier League experience for mostly undisclosed fees, apart from Benteke (£7m), so he must trust the Villa scouts a lot! Five relatively big names have left, but at least the new boss has more senior professionals at his disposal.

Chelsea: 6 in (Azpilicueta, Eden Hazard, Thorgan Hazard, Marin, Moses, Oscar), 18 out (Benayoun, Bosingwa, Bruma, Chalobah, Courtois, de Bruyne, Drogba, Essien, Gordon, Thorgan Hazard, Hutchison, Ince, Kakuta, Kalas, Kalou, Lukaku, McEachran, van Aanholt

Di Matteo has really trimmed down his squad and seems to have bought wisely, judging by Eden Hazard's quick adaptation to the Premier League. The Blues have had a good start, considering they're a team in transition.

Everton: 5 in (Kennedy, Mirallas, Naismith, Oviedo, Pienaar), 8 out (Cahill, Forshaw, Hahnemann, McFadden, Rodwell, Silva, Wallace, Yobo)

Moyes did well to sign old Toffees favourite Pienaar, earlier in the transfer window. Other signings like Mirallas (who's already scored since his arrival), Oviedo, Kennedy and Naismith might come good as well. They'll need to, as Everton have lost a fair bit of flair by offloading Cahill, McFadden and Rodwell.

Fulham: 8 in (Berbatov, David, Dejagah, Richardson, Riether, Rodallega, Williams), 6 out (Dembele, Dempsey, Etuhu, Gecov, Johnson, Murphy)

Signing Berbatov on transfer deadline day was a major coup for Jol, especially as there was interest from Spurs, Fiorentina and Juventus. It's a risky signing, but will pay off if Berbatov decides to out a shift in! Richardson is a solid signing, who won't let the club down. Meanwhile, the club may rue the day that Dempsey decided he was leaving. Dembele will also be missed.

Liverpool: 5 in (Allen, Assaidi, Borini, Sahin, Yesil), 13 out (Adam, Amoo, Aquilani, Aurelio, Bellamy, Carroll, Darby, Eccleston, Kuyt, Mukendi, Rodriguez, Silva, Spearing)

Rodgers has trimmed down his squad and it's going to be interesting to see how well his midfield, which may now include Allen, Borini and Sahin will dovetail alongside the likes of Gerrard. Not many of the players he's let go will be missed that much.

 

Man C: 6 in (Garcia, Maicon, Nastasic, Rodwell, Sinclair, Wright), 13 out (Adebayor, Boyata, Bridge, Bunn, Cunningham, De Jong, Elabdellaoui, Hargreaves, Johnson, McGivern, Santa Cruz, Savic, Weiss)

City rarely disappoint when it comes to bringing big names in, but Mancini left it late to grab Garcia and Maicon. Those two might not adapt instantly to the Premier League, but Sinclair should hit the ground running. Some big names have left too, like Adebayor, Bridge, de Jong, Santa Cruz and Johnson, but the squad had to be trimmed down.

Man U: 4 in (Buttner, Kagawa, Powell, van Persie), 12 out (Berbatov, Cofie, De Laet, Fabio, Fryers, James, Kuszczak, McGinty, Norwood, Owen, Park, Pogba)

Fergie has added quality not quantity to his squad, by bringing in Kagawa and van Persie. Perhaps, Park Ji-Sung's departure was a little surprising, but United now have a lean, mean fighting machine of a squad.

Newcastle: 4 in (Amalfitano, Anita, Bigirimana, Good), 5 out (Best, Drummett, Forster, Guthrie, Smith)

Pardew is still relying on his chief scout to unearth some diamonds, and it will be interesting to see if Carr has done it again. No big-name departures, so the Magpies are in fine fettle.

Norwich: 9 in (Bassong, Bunn, Butterfield, Garrido, Kane, Snodgrass, Tettey, Turner, Whittaker), 7 out (Ayala, Crofts, Drury, Francomb, Vaughan, Whitbread, Wilbraham)

Hughton raided his old club Spurs for Bassong and Kane, but those two are not expected to take the Premier League by storm. None of the players that have left are likely to be greatly missed.

QPR: 12 in (Bosingwa, Cesar, Diakite, Fabio, Granero, Green, Hoilett, Johnson, Magri, Mbia, Nelsen , Park), 16 out (Agyemang, Barton, Borrowdale, Bothroyd, Buzsaky, Connolly, Cook, Gabbidon, Hall, Helguson, Kenny, Perone, Ramage, Shittu, Smith, Vine)

Hughes has brought in a whole new team and got rid of a lot of dead and not-so-dead wood. It's clear that he and the board mean business. It might take a while for this new squad to gel though, so Rangers fans may have to be patient.

Reading: 8 in (Gunter, Guthrie, Mariappa, McCleary, Pogrebnyak, Shorey, Sweeney, Taylor), 4 out (Andersen, Antonio, Manset, Sheppard)

The squad looks stronger than last season, judging by the arrivals of Gunter, Guthrie and Pogrebnyak, in particular. Shorey should 'shore' things up at the back, with Taylor who might 'save nine' a game, if the old adage about a 'stitch in time' proves true.

Southampton: 7 in (Clyne, Cropper, Davis, Gazzinga, Ramirez, Rodriguez, Yoshida), 9 out (Bialkowski, Connolly, Dean, Doble, Hammond, Harding, Holmes, Jaidi, Sharp)

The Saints have been busy on the transfer front, but their new players may take time to settle. A lot of pressure will be on £12m-signing Ramirez to prove his worth.

Stoke: 6 in (Adam, Cameron, Edu, Kightly, Ness, N'Zonzi), 4 out (Collins, Davies, Lund, Woodgate)

The additions of Adam, Kightly and N'Zonzi are likely to make Stoke even more formidable than they were last season.

Sunderland: 5 in (Cuellar, Fletcher, Johnson, Rose, Saha), 9 out (Angeleri, Carson, Cook, Elmohamady, Gordon, Gyan, McCartney, Richardson, Turner)

All the additions look like astute signings at best and worth a gamble at worst. Some big names like Gordon, Gyan, McCartney and Richardson have been allowed to move on though, somewhat surprisingly, perhaps.

Swansea: 7 in (Bartley, Chico, de Guzman, Hernandez, Ki Sung-yeung, Michu, Proctor), 7 out (Allen, Bessone, Bodde, Dobbie, Donnelly, Orlandi, Sinclair)

Laudrup's got off to a good start, but can he keep it up? Hernandez will have their work cut out to stop the fans missing the likes of Sinclair and Allen.

Tottenham: 6 in (Adebayor, Dembele, Dempsey, Lloris, Sigurdsson, Vertonghen), 15 out (Alnwick, Bassong, Corluka, Dos Santos, Fredericks, Kane, Khumalo, King, Kranjcar, Modric, Nelsen, Pienaar, Rose, Saha, van der Vaart)

Spurs have bought wisely, yet still managed to trim down their squad. Modric and van der Vaart may be missed, but Kane and Rose are likely to return from their respective loan spells as much improved players.

WBA: 6 in (El Ghanassy, Foster, Lukaku, Popov, Rosenberg, Yacob), 6 out (Andrews, Cox, Fulop, Mattock, Shorey, Tchoyi)

Ben Foster still looks like the Baggies' 'safest' signing of the summer, but the fans may have hoped for more transfer activity and a more worn-out welcome mat. The departures are unlikely to upset many.

West Ham: 11 in (Benayoun, Carroll, Collins, Diame, Diarra, Henderson, Jaaskelainen, Jarvis, Maiga, McCartney, Spiegel), 7 out (Baldock, Barrera, Green, Maynard, Morrison, Nouble, Sears)

West Ham have brought in a whole new team, and only Rob Green will be a significant loss. Jaaskelainen is arguably as good anyway. The additions of old favourites like Benayoun and McCartney are a bit of a coup, but Big Sam deserves special praise for landing Carroll.

Wigan: 4 in (Fyvie, Kone, Miyaichi, Ramis), 9 out (Diame, Dicko, Golobart, Kirkland, Moses, Nicholls, Rodallega, Sammon, Watson)

The squad looks a bit weaker now without Moses and Rodallega. The four new signings will really have to pull their weight to compensate for the loss of 9 squad members.

No comments:

Post a Comment