The story of the January Transfer Window
by Chris
Hello and welcome to the return of The Sporting Lowdown. Now as you know its been a dry January blog-wise since the mayhem of the advent calendar and Christmas time. It does seem like another year has passed since then with the weather 'n' all that, but here we are, the first of February, fresh from a fantastic transfer window full of drama and twists in multiple tales.
We began the window with the news that the transfer saga would finally close after such opprobrium for Virgil Van Dijk in a crazy transfer worth £75m.
Of course, what a deal that will be for Southampton, if you cast your eyes very narrowly on the fee, but the long-term impact the towering Dutchman may have at Anfield for me will be worth every measly penny of that fee.
The Merseyside derby came along, and he immediately established the fact that he will never ever have to buy a drink in Liverpool again, after he thumped home an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain corner to win it for the Reds.
Liverpool however did lose one of their fab four in the Brazilian Phillippe Coutinho, to Barcelona for an astronomical £146m fee. This will have ultimately be down to the player for me. He devoted himself fully to the cause at Anfield for six months, in exchange for the move he had dreamt of as a young player at Brazilian club Vasco de Gama. I, as a Liverpool fan, truly hopes he establishes himself as one of the world's best players at Barcelona learning from the likes of Messi and Suarez.
Moving on to the blue side of Liverpool, on the very day that they fought hard but lost 2-1 in the derby, they fulfilled the fans' wish for an out-and-out number 9 in signing Turkish hitman Cenk Tosun from Champions League surprise package Besiktas.
They also lost fans favourite and contract rebel Ross Barkley to Chelsea for what seemed a very reasonable and modest £15m fee in today's market. Even though he ha a baptism of fire in his debut in the Carabao Cup Semi Final I think he will eventually be a decent signing for Chelsea. He has so much potential to be a world beater, and it does frustrate me to see such a bright spark be flickering at the moment and I hope it doesn't become dim in the coming years.
One club that shocked us all with their spending sprees and outgoings was the usually very conservative Arsenal. The fans stated they wanted big name signings, and they began the window by getting a very big name, perhaps only in letters, but a big name nonetheless in Konstantinos Mavropanos from PAS Gianina.
This was but a foreshadow, as the real superstars came in in the shape of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The former Dortmund duo most certainly will bring a spark to the Gunners' attacking force, but whether they need this is another question. What will happen to Alexandre Lacazette? Danny Welbeck? Alex Iwobi? Will they all be out in the wilderness after serving the club perfectly well in their tenures.
What wasn't a shock was the departure of Alexis Sanchez. But it was where he went which stunned us the most. Why, we all had our eggs in the City basket, it was the perfect fit! Guardiola had managed him before, they chased him in the summer, it all adds up! Oh wait, he finds himself in an exchange deal with Henrikh Mkhitaryan to head to Old Trafford. My first reaction was, as a Liverpool fan, one of utter disbelief. Why would a player of such expressiveness and flamboyance choose Mourinho over Guardiola, the Red over the Blue. But the choice for me seems now more clear. Would a player of Sanchez's selfishness, however much he is lauded for his team play, fit in at Man City where they all are expected to pass, move and set up teammates? I don't think so. It seems more about himself than about the team, which I think Mourinho will tolerate a lot more than Guardiola.
But in what I would say is the craziest transfer of the window involved Arsenal's capture of Aubameyang. This saw the Chelsea 'big man' saga eventually ended when they signed 31 year old goal getter Olivier Giroud. The former Montpellier man saw his options limited at Arsenal, and he I think will be a big success at Chelsea with the overloaded pressure on Alvaro Morata. I eventually think the quality of Giroud could displace Morata in the starting eleven. This however triggered the move of Michy Batshuayi, the out-of-favour striker who still has scored more goals than Arsenal's 55 million man Lacazette, was loaned to Borussia Dortmund as a replacement for Aubameyang. This must be the most intriguing and reliant transfer circle of all time.
Elsewhere around the league, we saw West Ham boost their chances of avoiding relegation by signing Euro 2016 winner Joao Mario on loan from Inter Milan, quite a coup for the Irons. Ex-Preston frontman Jordan Hugill on Deadline Day. Whether he will be a deciding factor in the Hammers staying up I'm not sure, but overall I think they'll survive comfortably in 14th or 15th.
Relegation battlers Brighton, Huddersfield, West Brom and Swansea all made big name signings this window, with the Seagulls and the Swans breaking their transfer records for Jürgen Locadia and Andre Ayew respectively. West Brom secured the loan deal of injury prone yet talented striker Daniel Sturridge, and Huddersfield signed Norwich's Alex Pritchard and Terence Kongolo from the millionaire's paradise of Monaco.
Man City, the leaders, also smashed their transfer record for the signing of French central defender Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao for £57m, to become the second most expensive defender after Van Dijk in history. I haven't seen much of him in terms of live football, but he seems extremely comfortable on the ball, as you would expect from a Pep Guardiola defender, and he always seems to grow well on Football Manager ;)
Cash-strapped Newcastle managed to haul in three new signings in their attempt to remain a Premier League club. In the rumoured collapse of the Amanda Staveley consortium takeover, it seemed set in stone that the Geordies would have to remain a Premier League club with the players they retained from the Championship winning side.
They did however secure the loan signing of Leicester outcast Islam Slimani. He, as Sturridge does at WBA, possesses the goalscoring ability that can keep Newcastle in the Premier League. In his final season at Sporting, he struck 27 times in 32 matches to see Lisbon fall 2 points short of Benfica, which obviously convinced Leicester to splash £29m on the Algerian. They also signed Slavia Prague shot stopper Martin Dubravka until the end of the seasons, a name which not many have heard of but one which Rafa believes can help the Magpies out of trouble. The Chelsea youngster Kenedy was also brought in, but I am yet to see the difference between Kenedy, Atsu and Murphy. Is Kenedy better than what Newcastle have already got?
I hope you enjoyed the return of the Sporting Lowdown, hopefully I will be releasing these between 3 and 5 times per month, but with exams and drastic revision in the coming months I cannot promise anything! If you have yet to read any previous edition of the SL, I do recommend the previous pieces in the advent calendar as they're mostly timeless and topical. This blog has been lucky enough to receive recommendations from major sporting social medias such as @theliverpoolbible and other sporting media presenters and journalists. If there's anything you can do or anyone you can let know about this page then please share it, as the more people I receive opinions from the better. Thank you!
Much appreciated
Chris
Hello and welcome to the return of The Sporting Lowdown. Now as you know its been a dry January blog-wise since the mayhem of the advent calendar and Christmas time. It does seem like another year has passed since then with the weather 'n' all that, but here we are, the first of February, fresh from a fantastic transfer window full of drama and twists in multiple tales.
We began the window with the news that the transfer saga would finally close after such opprobrium for Virgil Van Dijk in a crazy transfer worth £75m.
Of course, what a deal that will be for Southampton, if you cast your eyes very narrowly on the fee, but the long-term impact the towering Dutchman may have at Anfield for me will be worth every measly penny of that fee.
The Merseyside derby came along, and he immediately established the fact that he will never ever have to buy a drink in Liverpool again, after he thumped home an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain corner to win it for the Reds.
Liverpool however did lose one of their fab four in the Brazilian Phillippe Coutinho, to Barcelona for an astronomical £146m fee. This will have ultimately be down to the player for me. He devoted himself fully to the cause at Anfield for six months, in exchange for the move he had dreamt of as a young player at Brazilian club Vasco de Gama. I, as a Liverpool fan, truly hopes he establishes himself as one of the world's best players at Barcelona learning from the likes of Messi and Suarez.
Moving on to the blue side of Liverpool, on the very day that they fought hard but lost 2-1 in the derby, they fulfilled the fans' wish for an out-and-out number 9 in signing Turkish hitman Cenk Tosun from Champions League surprise package Besiktas.
They also lost fans favourite and contract rebel Ross Barkley to Chelsea for what seemed a very reasonable and modest £15m fee in today's market. Even though he ha a baptism of fire in his debut in the Carabao Cup Semi Final I think he will eventually be a decent signing for Chelsea. He has so much potential to be a world beater, and it does frustrate me to see such a bright spark be flickering at the moment and I hope it doesn't become dim in the coming years.
One club that shocked us all with their spending sprees and outgoings was the usually very conservative Arsenal. The fans stated they wanted big name signings, and they began the window by getting a very big name, perhaps only in letters, but a big name nonetheless in Konstantinos Mavropanos from PAS Gianina.
This was but a foreshadow, as the real superstars came in in the shape of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The former Dortmund duo most certainly will bring a spark to the Gunners' attacking force, but whether they need this is another question. What will happen to Alexandre Lacazette? Danny Welbeck? Alex Iwobi? Will they all be out in the wilderness after serving the club perfectly well in their tenures.
What wasn't a shock was the departure of Alexis Sanchez. But it was where he went which stunned us the most. Why, we all had our eggs in the City basket, it was the perfect fit! Guardiola had managed him before, they chased him in the summer, it all adds up! Oh wait, he finds himself in an exchange deal with Henrikh Mkhitaryan to head to Old Trafford. My first reaction was, as a Liverpool fan, one of utter disbelief. Why would a player of such expressiveness and flamboyance choose Mourinho over Guardiola, the Red over the Blue. But the choice for me seems now more clear. Would a player of Sanchez's selfishness, however much he is lauded for his team play, fit in at Man City where they all are expected to pass, move and set up teammates? I don't think so. It seems more about himself than about the team, which I think Mourinho will tolerate a lot more than Guardiola.
But in what I would say is the craziest transfer of the window involved Arsenal's capture of Aubameyang. This saw the Chelsea 'big man' saga eventually ended when they signed 31 year old goal getter Olivier Giroud. The former Montpellier man saw his options limited at Arsenal, and he I think will be a big success at Chelsea with the overloaded pressure on Alvaro Morata. I eventually think the quality of Giroud could displace Morata in the starting eleven. This however triggered the move of Michy Batshuayi, the out-of-favour striker who still has scored more goals than Arsenal's 55 million man Lacazette, was loaned to Borussia Dortmund as a replacement for Aubameyang. This must be the most intriguing and reliant transfer circle of all time.
Elsewhere around the league, we saw West Ham boost their chances of avoiding relegation by signing Euro 2016 winner Joao Mario on loan from Inter Milan, quite a coup for the Irons. Ex-Preston frontman Jordan Hugill on Deadline Day. Whether he will be a deciding factor in the Hammers staying up I'm not sure, but overall I think they'll survive comfortably in 14th or 15th.
Relegation battlers Brighton, Huddersfield, West Brom and Swansea all made big name signings this window, with the Seagulls and the Swans breaking their transfer records for Jürgen Locadia and Andre Ayew respectively. West Brom secured the loan deal of injury prone yet talented striker Daniel Sturridge, and Huddersfield signed Norwich's Alex Pritchard and Terence Kongolo from the millionaire's paradise of Monaco.
Man City, the leaders, also smashed their transfer record for the signing of French central defender Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao for £57m, to become the second most expensive defender after Van Dijk in history. I haven't seen much of him in terms of live football, but he seems extremely comfortable on the ball, as you would expect from a Pep Guardiola defender, and he always seems to grow well on Football Manager ;)
Cash-strapped Newcastle managed to haul in three new signings in their attempt to remain a Premier League club. In the rumoured collapse of the Amanda Staveley consortium takeover, it seemed set in stone that the Geordies would have to remain a Premier League club with the players they retained from the Championship winning side.
They did however secure the loan signing of Leicester outcast Islam Slimani. He, as Sturridge does at WBA, possesses the goalscoring ability that can keep Newcastle in the Premier League. In his final season at Sporting, he struck 27 times in 32 matches to see Lisbon fall 2 points short of Benfica, which obviously convinced Leicester to splash £29m on the Algerian. They also signed Slavia Prague shot stopper Martin Dubravka until the end of the seasons, a name which not many have heard of but one which Rafa believes can help the Magpies out of trouble. The Chelsea youngster Kenedy was also brought in, but I am yet to see the difference between Kenedy, Atsu and Murphy. Is Kenedy better than what Newcastle have already got?
I hope you enjoyed the return of the Sporting Lowdown, hopefully I will be releasing these between 3 and 5 times per month, but with exams and drastic revision in the coming months I cannot promise anything! If you have yet to read any previous edition of the SL, I do recommend the previous pieces in the advent calendar as they're mostly timeless and topical. This blog has been lucky enough to receive recommendations from major sporting social medias such as @theliverpoolbible and other sporting media presenters and journalists. If there's anything you can do or anyone you can let know about this page then please share it, as the more people I receive opinions from the better. Thank you!
Much appreciated
Chris
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