Transfer Window… It’s the 31 day period when seasons are often defined by the influx of new unfamiliar faces that don’t deliver, or the freebie veteran who inspires you to safety. Some teams it appears have spent wisely, others have had to sell to survive and it really doesn’t look like Portsmouth are going to have what it takes to remain in the league this season. Their best players are after leaving this season in the form of Niko Kranjcar, Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch, Younes Kaboul and their promising ‘keeper Asmir Begovic has also left the club with an inability to replace any of them due to their crippled financial situation. The uncertainty over their finances continues as rumours continue to circulate that the players haven’t been paid in weeks.
One of the most interesting signings this January was that of Victor Moses, the 18 year old superstar of Selhurst Park who completed a reported £2.5 million move to Wigan. He proved his worth in the championship with some phenomenal strikes but the Premiership is a completely kettle of fish as proven by Sylvain Ebanks-Blake who has struggled to replicate his scintillating form of last season into the top tier. I feel however that he is a great capture for Wigan and could be one of the signings of the season, and there is a hint of Theo Walcott about his move to the Premier League in a World Cup year.
Manchester City signed in my opinion one of England’s best wide players in Adam Johnson who is quite apt on either side of the pitch. His end product is quite promising as well but you have to wonder was he wearing rose-tinted glasses when he completed the deal? You have to wonder where is he going to fit into this Manchester City team that are undoubtedly going to sign more star-studded names from abroad and if he does not deliver immediately there is a feeling that he may end up on the City scrapheap where he may waste one or two years of his career. Patrick Viera is another signing that was greeted with much fanfare around the blue half of Manchester but has yet to don the shirt and after one month without their first sighting many are starting to wonder whether their team have just signed a crock whose best years are behind him.
Celtic pulled off one of deadline day shocks when they swooped for out of favour Robbie Keane from Tottenham for the remainder of the season. I feel that this was a very poor move on Keane’s behalf moving to a league where there are really only two teams. The Old Firm have dominated the league since the days of Alex Ferguson’s departure from Aberdeen in the mid-80′s . Robbie is going to prove nothing to any other possible suitors by having a good season in Scotland, but if he proved to have a tough time of it his stock will drop dramatically. The expectations that have been put on him are very high by the Celtic faithful as hundreds of supporters were out in force to greet him in the early hours of February 2nd. If he fails to deliver here I feel his career may begin to nosedive spectacularly.
In other deals around the Premiership, West Ham have signed three strikers in an attempt to curb their recent lack of goals. Ilan, a Brazillan international, Benni McCarthy from Blackburn and Mido from ‘Boro. I feel that of those three Benni McCarthy will probably be the best signing as he is proven in the league and if Gianfranco Zola can extract the best from him it will be money well spent. Mido is a bit of an enigma and you never really know what you’re going to get from him and Ilan is an unknown quantity to English supporters after being released by St. Ettiene.
So, overall a fairly dull transfer window period sprinkled with a few shrewd singings by various clubs. It will be interesting to see how the unproven players will cope with the pace and pressure of the English Premiership and what impact they will have.
