2008 has been slow for transfer activity mainly because of the European Champions however transfer activity in the Premiership is now in full swing. Sunderland has one of the most active so far signing Spurs trio Taino, Chimbonda and Malbranque along ex Liverpool and Bolton forward Diouf. Roy Keane certainly has signalled his intent for the new season not to just stay up but to get a high table position.The big four have been fairly quiet especially Manchester United and Arsenal who haven’t really splashed out with United not signing anyone so far. Arsenal have signed young starlet Samir Nasri but have sold Hleb, Gilberto Silva, Flamini and Lehmann. Chelsea have splashed out on Portuguese duo Deco and Boswinga and let the likes of Steve Sidwell and Ben Haim leave. Liverpool has made the biggest signing so far purchasing Robbie Keane for £19million and are still trying to get Gareth Barry for a similar price. They have recouped some of the money though by selling the likes of Crouch to Portsmouth and Riise to Roma.
Teams like Aston Villa, Everton and Manchester City have yet to really set the transfer window on fire. City did sign Brazilian Jo with Villa buying Chelsea’s Steve Sidwell and Blackburn’s veteran keeper Brad Friedel however you expect all three to bring in plenty of talent. Fulham have quietly been making several acquisitions including Andy Johnson (£12 million), West Ham pair Bobby Zamora and John Paintsill, Swede Fredrik Stoor along with free transfers Zoltan Gera and Mark Schwarzer.
Tottenham have probably been the most active signing the likes of Dos Santos, Bentley, Modric and Gomes. With the likes of Milito and Arshavin both expected to be Spurs players sooner rather than later. However Spurs have sold a lot of players with the likes of Gardner, Taino, Malbranque, Kaboul, Keane, Chimbonda, Robinson all departing and Berbatov is expected next too.
Newcomers Stoke, West Brom and Hull have all been fairly active in the market. Stoke City have made Dave Kitson their transfer record and have also signed experience Danish keeper Thomas Sorenson. West Brom meanwhile has signed Scott Carson and Gianni Zuiverloon and Hull have brought in George Boateng, Giovanni, Bernard Mendy and Anthony Gardner.
Elsewhere Newcastle and Middlesbrough have all been fairly quiet only making a couple of signings each. Wigan has made a fair few signings including former Birmingham duo Kapo and De Ridder. I expect so much more activity over the next 4 weeks with the transfer deadline looming on August 31st.
2 comments:
I hear we've ended our interest in Arshavin and Milito, which is annoying. Only hope is Pavlyuchenko or David Villa, I'm a little worried now.
However Bentley scored against Celtic. Already a legend.
haha you definitely need 1/2 forwards depending on what happens with Berbs. Out of those two you mentioned Villa would be the best, obviously.
the quotes from Bentley the other day must've made any Spurs fan immediately love him. although saying he wanted to be like Gazza would worry me, we've all seen how he's gone.
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