EPL Deadline Day Wrap Up
By Sam McPhee
The Deadline Day came and passed and once again it provided shock moves and last ditch signings.
Whilst it lacked the huge spending usually provided by Manchester City and Chelsea, plenty of high profile players moved and many club’s got better.
Arsenal confirmed five transfers on the final day, three which were in the works for several days, but nonetheless the club certainly added much needed depth to their seriously shallow squad. The humiliation at Old Trafford earlier in the week seemed to encourage Wenger and co. to go after more established, experienced players rather than their usual 17 year old prodigies.
Arsenal signed four players with captaining experience clearly addressing their need for leaders. Andre Santos joined from Fenebache who joined Per Mertesacker from Werder Bremen as Arsenal’s defensive signings and look certain to slot immediately into the first team. Israeli captain Yossi Benayoun joined South Korean captain Park Chu Young as much needed offensive depth and experience for a very young Arsenal attacking core.
By far the best signing for Arsenal moving forward was the transfer of long term target Mikel Arteta. Arteta flourished at Everton and is one of the most dangerous players in the Premier League with the ball at his feet. Arteta is not in the class of Nasri and Fabregas, but he certainly has similarities. More importantly he is experienced and can help mentor players such as Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey as well as providing Arsenal with much needed creativity in the final third.
Meanwhile Craig Bellamy rejoined Liverpool as they looked to add another, more direct striker to their squad. With Kuyt operating largely as a winger in Dalglish’s system, Bellamy could likely rotate with Luis Suarez playing off Andy Carroll, and certainly provide depth to the wider attacking positions occupied by Jordan Henderson and Stuart Downing. Bellamy should have his revitalised at Anfield following a highly unsuccessful last 24 months in Manchester.
Stoke vastly improved their offensive weapons as they look to establish themselves in England’s top half by signing Peter Crouch, Cameron Jerome and Wilson Palacios. The two former Spurs were long term targets for the club, but Cameron Jerome was a surprising purchase as it was believed Arsenal’s Nicklaus Bendtner was on the verge of signing. Jerome’s poor statistics overshadow his obvious talent and a new start may prove to be the kickstart to the former Birmingham striker’s career.
Chelsea couldn’t help but to make yet another last minute addition, and again it was a Liverpool player. Raul Mereiles, who had fallen out of favour at Anfield, joined the Blues and will likely fight with Mikel for the holding midfield position following Michael Essien’s long term injury. Personally I do not buy into what Mereiles is selling, I have not seen the quality that saw him a sought after player throughout Europe yet and whilst he was something of a standout for Liverpool last year, that is saying very little. Harry Redknapp admitted Chelsea made a late and monumental 40 million pound bid for Luka Modric but the Spurs board rejected the offer as it wouldn’t have benefitted the North Londoners to sell him with no time to sign a replacement. Expect Chelsea to return for the little Croatian in January.
Aston Villa made some noise signing Spurs duo Alan Hutton and Jermaine Jenas in a fee and on loan respectively. QPR too had themselves a good day signing Anton Ferdinand to add to their highly eventful week.
In other notable deals Fulham signed Bryan Ruiz, Royston Drenthe (teenage prodigy coming out of Holland a few years ago, never got a real chance to shine) joined Everton on loan from Real Madrid, Nicklaus Bendtner joined Sunderland on loan, Scott Dann was signed by Blackburn, Joe Cole went to Lille and Bolton claimed David N’Gog and Gael Kakuta.
Gary Cahill surprisingly remains at Bolton, Luka Modric still at Tottenham, Carlos Tevez in Manchester and Barcelona did not claim any more Arsenal players were rightfully their’s. Expect some of these situations plus many more to change come January.
Depending on injuries and results, expect January to be extremely busy, especially for clubs such as Arsenal and Chelsea who failed to complete all the business they would have liked and will be effected by the African Cup. Manchester City will likely sign another player they don’t need for around 40 million pounds and Manchester United’s rookies may start to show cracks which will bring back the Sneijder rumours.
All in all an exciting day that lacked real spending sprees but provided great depth to teams that were lacking it.