Fernando Torres – Liverpool to Chelsea £50 million
Not many couples can say that it has cost a British transfer record for them to be brought together, but in the case of El Nino and The Blues, it is cold hard fact. A whopping fifty million quid saw Chelsea dive head first back into the transfer market to get their man, and set tongues a wagging on the dating scene everywhere. Fernando’s relationship at Liverpool had been looking strained for a while, but most thought the marriage counselling of King Kenny was going to be enough to make it work. However, Nando most likely couldn’t understand him and so jumped ship to shack up with fellow man from the Med Ancelotti. There is no doubt he’ll score goals, but can he fit in to a system at Chelsea. They usually play one up (Drogba) with two advanced wide men (Anelka & Malouda) so this can’t continue as neither Drog or Nando will play wide, and both must surely play. So that means 4-4-2, with Anelka in behind, Malouda somewhere in the middle, Lampard getting old and Sturridge at Bolton. It all makes perfect sense. This certainly has the makings of a cracking couple, but until they work out their issues, it’s a…
Match Rating 7/10
Darren Bent – Sunderland to Aston Villa £18-24 million
With the Andy Carroll move, everyone has forgotten the initial raging debate about overpriced English strikers that was kicked off by the sordid love triangle involving Darren Bent, Steve Bruce and Gerard Houllier. It did seem that Gerard had gone to extreme lengths to get his man, but as has been pointed out numerous times, only Drogba and Rooney have scored more than “the dazzler” in the last three years in the Prem. So it’s not a gamble in the sense that Liverpool have taken, and in fact could prove out to be a masterful move from Houllier. Darren has been like the girl who in every way is nice looking, but for some reason you just don’t really fancy, ticks all the boxes on paper, but for some reason just doesn’t excite. He is quick, strong and most importantly scores loads of goals, but when someone spends big on him everyone is shocked. I think it’s time for Darren to finally be recognised as one of the top English strikers around, and this new relationship could just make that happen, so…
Match Rating 10/10
Robbie Keane – Tottenham Hotspur to West Ham United – loan
I did try and sort Robbie out earlier in the year, but to be honest I’d expected a move to a team a little higher up the table than the Hammers. However, Robbie might have become a little high maintenance for some clubs in terms of wages, and might have limited his own options a bit. Upton Park is certainly still a good place for him to be though if he is going to be playing regularly, which is all he really wants. You can obviously see why Avram has brought him in, because he has undoubted quality, but West Ham’s problems are at the back, not upfront, so it is odd he has prioritised strikers over defenders. How they’ll fit in Cole, Piquionne, Obinna and Keane in I’m not sure, so this match just gets a…
Match Rating 6/10
Daniel Sturridge – Chelsea to Bolton Wanderers – loan
With Fernando coming in, it would have been a waste of time for Danny to sit on the bench for the rest of the season with even less hope of game time than he already had at Stamford Bridge. He looks like a really promising talent, with all the attributes you want from a striker, but no one has seen it enough during his Chelsea career. A loan move is perfect for him, but is Bolton the perfect match? Coyle has been fairly set on Elmander and Davies all season, but this may have been due to lack of other options and the Swede has dropped off from the blistering form he showed early season, so having another striker around could be very useful to mix things up where they have become stale. Danny isn’t guaranteed a starting place every game at the Reebok, but he will get a few, especially if he keeps scoring as he did on his debut against Wolves. This could finally be when we see the coming of age of a future England star. It might only be a short-term fling, but it could spice up his career and Bolton’s season, so…
Match Rating – 8/10
Eidur Gudjohnsen – Stoke City to Fulham – loan
Pretty much anywhere would have done for Eidur this January as he looked to escape from the worst partner he’d ever got involved with. He’s a wine bar man, Stoke want to go down the pub, he wants a bit of Vivaldi, Stoke won’t turn off Status Quo, he wants to indulge in the latest fashion trends, Stoke call him a daft Icelandic ponce. Maybe I went too far, but you get the picture. It just wasn’t a good match, but is Fulham? Mark Hughes has struggled for strikers so far this season, but Andy Johnson looks like he’s getting back up to speed, and Dembele is looking good so with Eidur around as well, things are looking a whole lot better for Sparky. Eidur can drop into midfield as well where him and Danny Murphy could be a very creative force. I like this move so it’s getting a …
Match rating 8/10
James Beattie – Rangers to Blackpool – loan
Another man looking to put an end to an unhappy relationship is James, who’s foray northwards never really got going as it turned out he didn’t have a thing for Scottish gals at all. On paper it sounded a dream move, decent Premier League striker move to one of the Old Firm to score shed loads of goals, but no such luck, so he’s back to join Ian Holloway’s rapidly growing collection of strikers. It certainly doesn’t seem like a bad match to me. Blackpool’s style of play means that they never fail to create chances and James when he’s on form will rarely fail to put them away. It also seems like it’s a good old laugh playing football at Blackpool, so if he’s fallen out of love with the game at all it might be just the place for him to get all sentimental again, I like it. The only problem is he will have to compete with a fair number of fellow frontmen who are vying for Ollie’s attention, which takes this match down a notch to…
Match Rating 8/10
Carlos Vela – Arsenal to West Brom – loan
Here’s a stat they may or may not surprise: at 21-years-old, Carlos Vela has made less league appearances than he has caps for Mexico and has scored less goals for the Gunners than he has for his national side. Now, the quality of the Mexican side isn’t world beating, but even so, you’d expect someone who’s picked up 33 caps by the age of 21 to be making an impact in the Premier League, but he just doesn’t get the game time. He has already been on loan to Salamanca and Osasuna, but now, for the first time we’re going to see Carlos on a regular basis in the Prem, and I think it might be a treat. As far as matches for this short-term affair go, I don’t think there’s many better than West Brom, they play attractive, passing football and they are short of a striker so he’s guaranteed games. I think this is an excellent move all round and a little gem of a match-make…
Match rating: 10/10
Sulley Muntari – Inter Milan to Sunderland – loan
Looks like a good bit of transfer window work from Stevie B here, consoling him just a little for losing his main striker. Sulley might not have been starting every game at Inter, but he has clocked up over sixty appearances in Milan since his move from Portsmouth in 2008, and he certainly played his part in the historic treble win last year. He’s a domineering midfielder who at his best can be immense both defending and going forward. He is a bit tempestuous though and can be seen heading for an early bath more often than he perhaps should be. If him and Lee Cattermole team up in the middle of midfield I’d be offering evens at best on someone seeing red, and I am just glad Sunderland have already played Newcastle twice, because those two up against Nolan and Barton is more for tag-team WWE than the Premier League. The presence of fellow Ghanaian Asamoah Gyan at the club must surely have worked in Bruce’s favour as he looked to woo Sulley his way and their friendship might just help him settle in quicker. It’s difficult to say how much impact he’s going to make, but I’m sure it will be a positive one…
Match Rating; 6/10
Jermaine Jones – Schalke 04 to Blackburn Rovers – loan
I’ll be brutally honest here, I don’t know a fat lot about Jermaine Jones. There, I’ve said it. But I do know he’s just forged a new relationship in Lancashire with those newly done up, quite weirdly attractive looking now, Blackburn Rovers. Thanks to some Indian inspired beauty treatment Rovers have become quite the catch, and Jones is the latest step in their transformation. Steve Kean is building a new team as he looks to stamp his authority at Ewood and Jermaine is part of his vision. Another part is moving Morten Gamst Pederson to a more central role as a playmaker, which leaves the midfield somewhat lightweight in the middle, and so Jermaine is in there almost as his bodyguard. It’s a plan, and a plan that just might work, and being part of a plan has got to fellow good for the German-American hybrid.
Match rating: 8/10
Curtis Davies – Aston Villa to Birmingham – Undisclosed
It’s like Phil Mitchell’s mrs running off with Ian Beale, or
Harry Potter’s gal getting off with Lord Voldemort or Tom’s lady friend jumping in to bed with Jerry (that one’s a bit weird) but you get the picture, Curtis Davies has moved from one team to their bitterest of rivals. However, maybe this isn’t so bad, Liam Ridgewell did it and Craig Gardner did it and they are enjoying great success at St. Andrews, playing every week and being key parts of the team. So can Curtis achieve similar results? Well it seems he has a limited time period to do so, as he is being brought in to cover the loss of Scott Dann to a season ending injury. If Curtis can catch his new boss’s eye enough before Dann returns then he might just convince him that he is the man for him. If Dann heals before Curtis has sufficiently impressed, then it’s back to the Championship on loan for you sir. So we shall wait and see, for now…
Match rating: 6/10
So there’s part two for you, I hope your enjoying this little review I’m putting together because there’s one more instalment to come, where I go through the last ten of my favourite moves of January. Thanks for reading.
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