Should be relatively self explanatory and in a half hearted
worst to very worst order. I’ve tried to
take account of their impact over the season, such as it was.
Joe Allen; Swansea to
Liverpool, £15 Million
The way the transfer was presented sums up the worst
excesses of Rodgers’ Liverpool project.
The Welsh Xavi hasn’t been terrible since his move exactly, he just
hasn’t lived up to his metronomic billing.
Telling that Liverpool have only really clicked since he’s been out the
side. With Lucas doing a more physical
version of the same job you have to wonder if he’ll get back in again. And Swansea aren’t exactly missing him.
Emmanuel Adebayor;
Manchester City to Tottenham, £5 Million
Had a successful loan season in 2011-12 to earn himself a
move away from City. Then promptly
decided to stop playing until a week before the season ended. What Tottenham needed for their top four push
was a twenty goal a season striker.
Instead they signed Ade. One of
the most frustrating players in the world to watch.
Scott Sinclair;
Swansea to Manchester City, £6.2 Million
Seemed an odd transfer at the time and now looks even more
so. Almost as if City had a list of
targets and skipped right to the end.
Looked a decent player at Swansea and most likely will again wherever he
moves on to. Currently though he’s not
even making the bench at his current club.
A warning to all young British players about making a premature move to
one of the big boys (see also Jack Rodwell).
Pavel Pogrebnyak;
Stuttgart to Reading, Free
There was perversely a lot to admire in Reading’s doomed to
failure approach to trying to stay in the Premier League with what was so
obviously a Championship squad. Then
they sacked Brian McDermot for the crime of getting them promoted in the first
place and we felt ambivalent about them again.
Pavel Pogrebnyak was the exception.
A proven Premier League performer (at Fulham) who came on big wages
(reportedly £65,000 a week) and then proceeded to do very little to justify them. Scored five times. Adam Le Fondre’s got twice that and hardly
ever starts.
Bryan Oviedo; FC
Copenhagen to Everton, £5 Million
Easy to forget that he’d joined so forgettable his debut
season has been. Still has time on his
side to come good and live up to the promise he’d shown in the U20 World Cup in
2009. Not much though. Also at a club where every penny has to count
five million is a lot for a left winger without a goal and one assist in fifteen
appearances.
Marko Marin; Werder
Bremen to Chelsea, £7 Million
Was once the next big thing in German football. This was at least six or seven big things
ago. He’d already gone off the boil by
the time the move to Chelsea came about and there should have been a warning
attached to that price tag (given that it works out as less than Bremen paid
for him). Still only 24, he’s not so
much disappointed as not showed up. Six
appearances this season don’t bode well.
Nuri Sahin; Real
Madrid to Liverpool, Loan
First things first, Sahin is an excellent player. He’s been an excellent player this
season. Just not during his time at
Liverpool. After his loan had been
cancelled in January and he’d gone back to Dortmund he told reporters he
thanked God that he was no longer managed by Rodgers. Reportedly unhappy he was played out of position
he’s proved back at Dortmund what he’s capable of. Anonymous or worse at Liverpool.
Estaban Granero; Real
Madrid to QPR, £9 Million
Out of the fourteen players brought in by QPR this season
Granero was the most expensive. He was
also the most gifted. Showed his quality
in patches but never enough to completely convince. Could just be that he was powerless to affect
things at a club where everything was going sideways pretty much from day
one. Will get another chance somewhere,
can’t see him settling in the Championship.
Maicon; Inter Milan to
Manchester City, £3 Million
Everyone in English football knew that Maicon was a spent
force apart from Mancini, ever since Gareth Bale ordered him that taxi he’s
never been the same. That was the story
when he signed anyway. And a season
later it’s difficult to argue with.
Presumably he was bought to add Champions League experience and we all
know how that turned out.
Jose Bosingwa; Chelsea
to QPR, Free
Had to be really didn’t it?
Presumably made the move because they were willing to pay him a reported
80 grand a week and he didn’t have to move house. Then proceeded to refuse to sit on the bench
against Newcastle, laugh when they got relegated and maintain a general
standard of ineptness that was difficult to argue with. Can’t really see there being a queue forming
to take him off QPR’s hands. But he did
wind up Joey Barton. So all in all a
mixed bag.
No comments:
Post a Comment