- Jun 8, 2003
- 6,734
- 4,132
Taking into consideration which areas needed upgrading at each individual club, I don't think we've done too badly at all. I'd say our dealings have probably been the best. Arsenal desperately needed a defensive midfielder and although Flamini will be deployed there, he's no Song, Vieira or a Khedira. The majority of their fans were quite rightly delighted with Ozil, but still there were mutterings that an attacking midfielder was the least of their requirements. The fact they stopped there was great I have to admit, with rumours of a triple Real Madrid deal on the cards, it was quite a relief all things considered.
Chelsea didn't really need any reinforcements, but brought in quite a few midfielders. They certainly won't slip out of the pack this season - if any club was absolutely nailed on for a top 4, it will be Chelsea. Disappointed that they got Willian but time will tell if that was a good move for all parties. The fact Mourinho didn't use a striker in the game against United and still get a result shows how much faith he has in them - ie not a lot. Add to that Lukaku leaving on loan and that puts a lot more pressure on the others performing well, Eto'o certainly has a lot to do now.
Liverpool have made some good signings - no world beaters but safe all the same. Mignolet is a good addition but I wouldn't say he was a better goalkeeper than Reina. I like Sakho from what I've seen of him but I would put money on him taking a while to settle in the Premiership. Aspas was very poor against United so the jury is out on him at the moment, but with Victor Moses coming in they have pace straight across their attack now. Sturridge will be a huge threat this season, even more so when a certain Uruguayan comes back into the side. Their excellent start to the season will be huge boost for them and I can see them challenging the top 4 no question.
Manchester City have replaced Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli with Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic. Whether that works out remains to be seen, but I've been impressed by Negredo for a few years now and Jovetic has huge potential. Whether that will be seen at City is debatable because I don't think he'll get the opportunities. Navas was another good signing but City are in a transition period at the moment with a new manager and system, so I wouldn't at all be surprised to see them struggle quite a few times this season.
Finally, Manchester United. Well, I don't know many of their fans who are happy with their dealings in the transfer market this summer. Fellaini is a good buy, but this is arguably the biggest club in the world. They can attract and buy almost any player yet Moyes has gone for a midfielder he's worked with before. Could be a great move, but IMO United needed more than Fellaini. Apart from their win against Swansea where they played very well, they've been poor. No creativity at all in the games against Chelsea or Liverpool and in the match at Anfield the team selection from Moyes was baffling not only from a United point of view, but from a neutral too. On more than 3 occasions, several of the United players were chasing the same ball and being dragged out of position. Very unlike them.
Ultimately, I think we've had a brilliant window when taking into account the clubs around us and what they've been doing too. Admittedly, a shiny new left back would have been perfect, but even the Champions couldn't grab one of those. The difference being they left it too late, whereas we didn't seem to be interested in anyone other than a player that didn't want to join.
Arsenal
In
Yaya Sanogo (Auxerre) Free
Mathieu Flamini (AC Milan) Free
Emiliano Viviano (Palermo) Loan
Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid) £42.5m
Out
Andrey Arshavin (Zenit St Petersberg) Free
Francis Coquelin (Freiburg) Loan
Denilson (Sao Paulo) Free
Johan Djourou (Hamburg) Loan
Craig Eastmond (Colchester United) Free
Kyle Ebecilio (Twente) Free
Vito Mannone (Sunderland) Undisclosed
Sebastien Squillaci Released
Sanchez Watt (Colchester United) Free
Jordan Wynter (Bristol City) Free
Jernade Meade (Swansea City) Free
Andre Santos (Flamengo) Undisclosed
Gervinho (Roma) £7m
Marouane Chamakh (Crystal Palace) £4.5m
Chelsea
In
Andre Schurrle (Bayer Leverkusen) £18m
Mario van Ginkel (Vitesse Arnhem) £14m
Mark Schwarzer (Fulham) Free
Willian (Anzhi Makhachkala) £25.6m
Samuel Eto'o (Anzhi Makhachkala) Free
Christian Atsu (Porto) £3.5m
Out
Yossi Benayoun Released
Florent Malouda (Trabzonspor) Free
Paulo Ferreira Released
Ross Turnbull (Doncaster Rovers) Free
Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid) Loan
Marko Marin (Sevilla) Loan
Oriol Romeu (Valencia) Loan
Wallace (Inter Milan) Loan
Christian Atsu (Vitesse Arnhem) Loan
Victor Moses (Liverpool) Loan
Romelu Lukaku (Everton) Loan
Liverpool
In
Kolo Toure (Manchester City) Free
Luis Alberto (Sevilla) Undisclosed
Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo) Undisclosed
Simon Mignolet (Sunderland) £12m
Aly Cissokho (Valencia) Loan
Tiago Ilori (Sporting Lisbon) Undisclosed
Mamadou Sakho (Paris St Germain) £12m
Victor Moses (Chelsea) Loan
Out
Danny Wilson (Heart of Midlothian) Free
Jonjo Shelvey (Swansea City) Undisclosed
Suso (Almeria) Loan
Pepe Reina (Napoli) Loan
Jay Spearing (Bolton Wanderers) Undisclosed
Stewart Downing (West Ham United) Undisclosed
Oussama Assaidi (Liverpool) Loan
Daniel Pacheco (AD Alcorcon) Undisclosed
Manchester City
In
Fernandinho (Shakhtar Donetsk) £34m
Jesus Navas (Sevilla) £25m
Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla) £28m
Stevan Jovetic (Fiorentina) £20m
Martin Demichelis (Atletico Madrid) Undisclosed
Out
Kolo Toure (Liverpool) Free
Wayne Bridge (Reading) Free
Roque Santa Cruz (Malaga) Free
Carlos Tevez (Juventus) £7m
Karim Rekik (PSV Eindhoven) Loan
Jeremy Helan (Sheffield Wednesday) Undisclosed
Maicon (AS Roma) Undisclosed
Scott Sinclair (West Bromwich Albion) Loan
Denis Suarez (Barcelona) Undisclosed
Abdul Razak (Anzhi Makhachkala) Loan
Manchester United
In
Guillermo Varela (Atletico Penarol) £5.4m
Marouane Fellaini (Everton) £27,5m
Out
Scott Wootton (Leeds United) Undisclosed
Angelo Henriquez (Real Zaragoza) Loan
Nick Powell (Wigan Athletic) Loan
Tottenham Hotspur
In
Paulinho (Corinthians) £17m
Nacer Chadli (FC Twente) £8m
Roberto Soldado (Valencia) £26,5m
Etienne Capoue (Toulouse) £12m
Vlad Chiriches (Steaua Bucharest) £9m
Erik Lamela (Roma) £30m
Christian Eriksen (Ajax) £12m
Out
Nathan Byrne (Swindon Town) Free
David Bentley Released
John Bostock Released
William Gallas Released
Steven Caulker (Cardiff City) £9m
Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders) £6m
Tom Huddlestone (Hull City) Undisclosed
Jake Livermore (Hull City) Loan
Scott Parker (Fulham) £5m
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) £85.3m
Massimo Luongo (Swindon Town) 400k
Tom Carroll (QPR) Loan
Benoit Assou-Ekotto (QPR) Loan
Chelsea didn't really need any reinforcements, but brought in quite a few midfielders. They certainly won't slip out of the pack this season - if any club was absolutely nailed on for a top 4, it will be Chelsea. Disappointed that they got Willian but time will tell if that was a good move for all parties. The fact Mourinho didn't use a striker in the game against United and still get a result shows how much faith he has in them - ie not a lot. Add to that Lukaku leaving on loan and that puts a lot more pressure on the others performing well, Eto'o certainly has a lot to do now.
Liverpool have made some good signings - no world beaters but safe all the same. Mignolet is a good addition but I wouldn't say he was a better goalkeeper than Reina. I like Sakho from what I've seen of him but I would put money on him taking a while to settle in the Premiership. Aspas was very poor against United so the jury is out on him at the moment, but with Victor Moses coming in they have pace straight across their attack now. Sturridge will be a huge threat this season, even more so when a certain Uruguayan comes back into the side. Their excellent start to the season will be huge boost for them and I can see them challenging the top 4 no question.
Manchester City have replaced Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli with Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic. Whether that works out remains to be seen, but I've been impressed by Negredo for a few years now and Jovetic has huge potential. Whether that will be seen at City is debatable because I don't think he'll get the opportunities. Navas was another good signing but City are in a transition period at the moment with a new manager and system, so I wouldn't at all be surprised to see them struggle quite a few times this season.
Finally, Manchester United. Well, I don't know many of their fans who are happy with their dealings in the transfer market this summer. Fellaini is a good buy, but this is arguably the biggest club in the world. They can attract and buy almost any player yet Moyes has gone for a midfielder he's worked with before. Could be a great move, but IMO United needed more than Fellaini. Apart from their win against Swansea where they played very well, they've been poor. No creativity at all in the games against Chelsea or Liverpool and in the match at Anfield the team selection from Moyes was baffling not only from a United point of view, but from a neutral too. On more than 3 occasions, several of the United players were chasing the same ball and being dragged out of position. Very unlike them.
Ultimately, I think we've had a brilliant window when taking into account the clubs around us and what they've been doing too. Admittedly, a shiny new left back would have been perfect, but even the Champions couldn't grab one of those. The difference being they left it too late, whereas we didn't seem to be interested in anyone other than a player that didn't want to join.
Arsenal
In
Yaya Sanogo (Auxerre) Free
Mathieu Flamini (AC Milan) Free
Emiliano Viviano (Palermo) Loan
Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid) £42.5m
Out
Andrey Arshavin (Zenit St Petersberg) Free
Francis Coquelin (Freiburg) Loan
Denilson (Sao Paulo) Free
Johan Djourou (Hamburg) Loan
Craig Eastmond (Colchester United) Free
Kyle Ebecilio (Twente) Free
Vito Mannone (Sunderland) Undisclosed
Sebastien Squillaci Released
Sanchez Watt (Colchester United) Free
Jordan Wynter (Bristol City) Free
Jernade Meade (Swansea City) Free
Andre Santos (Flamengo) Undisclosed
Gervinho (Roma) £7m
Marouane Chamakh (Crystal Palace) £4.5m
Chelsea
In
Andre Schurrle (Bayer Leverkusen) £18m
Mario van Ginkel (Vitesse Arnhem) £14m
Mark Schwarzer (Fulham) Free
Willian (Anzhi Makhachkala) £25.6m
Samuel Eto'o (Anzhi Makhachkala) Free
Christian Atsu (Porto) £3.5m
Out
Yossi Benayoun Released
Florent Malouda (Trabzonspor) Free
Paulo Ferreira Released
Ross Turnbull (Doncaster Rovers) Free
Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid) Loan
Marko Marin (Sevilla) Loan
Oriol Romeu (Valencia) Loan
Wallace (Inter Milan) Loan
Christian Atsu (Vitesse Arnhem) Loan
Victor Moses (Liverpool) Loan
Romelu Lukaku (Everton) Loan
Liverpool
In
Kolo Toure (Manchester City) Free
Luis Alberto (Sevilla) Undisclosed
Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo) Undisclosed
Simon Mignolet (Sunderland) £12m
Aly Cissokho (Valencia) Loan
Tiago Ilori (Sporting Lisbon) Undisclosed
Mamadou Sakho (Paris St Germain) £12m
Victor Moses (Chelsea) Loan
Out
Danny Wilson (Heart of Midlothian) Free
Jonjo Shelvey (Swansea City) Undisclosed
Suso (Almeria) Loan
Pepe Reina (Napoli) Loan
Jay Spearing (Bolton Wanderers) Undisclosed
Stewart Downing (West Ham United) Undisclosed
Oussama Assaidi (Liverpool) Loan
Daniel Pacheco (AD Alcorcon) Undisclosed
Manchester City
In
Fernandinho (Shakhtar Donetsk) £34m
Jesus Navas (Sevilla) £25m
Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla) £28m
Stevan Jovetic (Fiorentina) £20m
Martin Demichelis (Atletico Madrid) Undisclosed
Out
Kolo Toure (Liverpool) Free
Wayne Bridge (Reading) Free
Roque Santa Cruz (Malaga) Free
Carlos Tevez (Juventus) £7m
Karim Rekik (PSV Eindhoven) Loan
Jeremy Helan (Sheffield Wednesday) Undisclosed
Maicon (AS Roma) Undisclosed
Scott Sinclair (West Bromwich Albion) Loan
Denis Suarez (Barcelona) Undisclosed
Abdul Razak (Anzhi Makhachkala) Loan
Manchester United
In
Guillermo Varela (Atletico Penarol) £5.4m
Marouane Fellaini (Everton) £27,5m
Out
Scott Wootton (Leeds United) Undisclosed
Angelo Henriquez (Real Zaragoza) Loan
Nick Powell (Wigan Athletic) Loan
Tottenham Hotspur
In
Paulinho (Corinthians) £17m
Nacer Chadli (FC Twente) £8m
Roberto Soldado (Valencia) £26,5m
Etienne Capoue (Toulouse) £12m
Vlad Chiriches (Steaua Bucharest) £9m
Erik Lamela (Roma) £30m
Christian Eriksen (Ajax) £12m
Out
Nathan Byrne (Swindon Town) Free
David Bentley Released
John Bostock Released
William Gallas Released
Steven Caulker (Cardiff City) £9m
Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders) £6m
Tom Huddlestone (Hull City) Undisclosed
Jake Livermore (Hull City) Loan
Scott Parker (Fulham) £5m
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) £85.3m
Massimo Luongo (Swindon Town) 400k
Tom Carroll (QPR) Loan
Benoit Assou-Ekotto (QPR) Loan