Transfer Winners and Losers
Transfer deadline day (the last few days really) always bring some serious intrigue. Some clubs clean up. Some clubs pay the price for waiting so long and driving a hard bargain. Others panic and feel like they have to buy just to be able to say they've added a big name or, done anything at all. Others, and by this we mean Arsenal, will inevitably infuriate their supporters and the media by sticking with what they've got. At the same time, players will be thrilled, miserable, and/or confused as to their new/not-as-new-as-they'd-like-them-to-be situations. We've got examples of all of that and more as we wrap up the always-wacky end of the Premier League transfer window:
Winner: West Ham United
The Hammers started off the summer well bringing in Dimitri Payet who was very good in Ligue 1 last season and supplemented that with Angelo Ogbonna and Patrick Obiang who bring strong pedigrees for a mid-table club. In the last 48 hours the Hammers have added quality, depth and potential in the persons of Victor Moses, Alex Song, Nikica Jelavic and Michail Antonio. Moses and Antonio bring more attacking capability down the flanks. Jelavic brings depth to a forward line that has been plagued by injuries. Song brings a veteran presence with a year of experience at the club already. West Ham are still a mid-table club so none of the signings are without questions. Moses and Jelavic have significant injury histories. Song is currently injured and faded significantly down the stretch last season. Antonio has been prolific in the Championship but has to make the leap up in compeition that has proven too steep for many over the years. Still, West Ham have made smart bets at reasonable prices to put themselves in a position to challenge for a Europa Cup spot, especially if Southampton and Spurs continue to struggle as they have to start the season.
Loser: Manchester United
Louis Van Gaal was supposed to be the experienced genius that wiped away the bumbling of the David Moyes era at Old Trafford. Gone would be the uncertainty of how to bring together a team of top players or deal with an unrelenting media. In it's place would be a worldly manager who could draw from his time and contacts in many of the major leagues around Europe to buy smartly and with a plan for how players might fit into his system. Instead we have Manchester United alienating their best player, David De Gea, by botching his transfer to Real Madrid and probably costing themselves tens of millions of pounds in transfer fees and the prospect of getting a good goalkeeper in return. They watched the opportunity to sign Pedro fly out the window and south to West London due, reportedly in part, to Louis Van Gaal's treatment of fellow Barcelona refugee Victor Valdes. Throw in the late signing of Anthony Marital that screams "panic buy" and you've got a trifecta of misery at Old Trafford during the late stages of the transfer window. This isn't to say that Marital won't end up being a good player eventually but at 19-years-old, making the leap up a level in competition, and playing in very similar space to United's other big summer signing in the attack, Memphis Depay, this looks more like something that will help the next manager than it will Van Gaal. Oh, and the price was pretty much insane. Maybe this is all Ed Woodward's fault and he's really bad at this part of his job, I'm sure that's how LVG is going to spin it. Maybe United even gain a little by getting at least part of a final season out of DDG before he heads off to Spain for free. Regardless, the overwhelming impression left since Sir Alex Ferguson and Peter Gill left Old Trafford is that the club has absolutely no idea what it's doing strategically (unless you're talking about growing sponsorship revenue, they've got that down cold).
Winners: Glenn Murray, Bournemouth, and Connor Wickham
In one relatively small transfer, there were three winners (and maybe four if you count my Expert League team that has both Wickham and Murray on the bench). Glenn Murray appeared to be on the outs at Selhurst Park and his move to Bournemouth should see him resume his role as a full-time starter opposite four-goal-man Callum Wilson. Bournemouth win because they paid a reasonable fee for a player who should be more productive than what they had at that spot and who is probably not above continuing in that role in the Championship next season if the Cherries aren't able to stay up. Finally, Connor Wickham sees the path open for him to be the regular number nine surrounded by great attacking talent in the form of Bolasie, Sako, Zaha and Cabaye. Whether it is knocking the ball down into the path of those players for assists or benefitting from the work they do in the attacking midfield, Wickham should, for the first time, get a chance to show that he can be a useful Premier League forward.
Losers: Saido Berahino, West Brom and Spurs
In the same way that a single transfer can yield three winners, here we have a single non-transfer that yields three losers. Saido Berahino ends up looking the worst in all this as his somewhat pathetic Tweet makes him look like a petulant child. I have no problem with the notion that he wanted to make a move, I don't think that was any mystery to anyone, but digitally stomping your feet and swearing that you're going on strike is going to do nothing but diminish your value on the market. On the other end of that diminishing value stands Jeremy Peace, Tony Pulis, and West Brom. The Baggies are in the unenviable position of having to put up with a player who very publicly doesn't want to be there. They will have to try their best to walk him back from the edge and get something from him between now and January when they can try again to get maximum value for a player that is going to leave eventually. Finally, we have Spurs who seem to want to play the transfer market like and Arsene Wenger team tries to score goals. That is to say that they seem to want to be a bit too perfect. They seem to have a sense that they are better at this transfer thing than everyone else despite years of results to the contrary. They brought in two attackers who could help but both are young and neither are proven in the Premier League. The addition of Berahino would have given the club a second proven double digit goal scorer and eased what looks like it is going to be an insane burden on Harry Kane to keep Spurs in the top half as clubs like Crystal Palace improve.
Winner: DeAndre Yedlin
The US international wasn't going to play sitting behind Kyle Walker AND Kieran Trippier so while a move to Sunderland doesn't sound like much fun compared to being in London, the potential to compete with Billy Jones for playing time seems like a big win. That we might get to see Yedlin's marauding play on the right side of the pitch and see how it measures up in the Premier League sounds like a blast to me. Costel Pantilimon might feel differently given that we're not sure that Yedlin is ready to tend to the defensive part of his role.
Loser: Mile Jedinak
The proposed move to Stoke City looked like a perfect one for the Australia international. With Steven N'Zonzi leaving for Sevilla there is a substantial hole in the "midfield destroyer" spot at the Britannia. For his part, Jedinak looks to be the odd man out under Allan Pardew with James McCarthur and Yohan Cabaye the first choices to man the "2" in Pardew's 4-2-3-1 formation. The rumor was that the deal fell through over personal terms. Hopefully, Jedinak and his money will be happy on the sidelines watching his Crystal Palace teammates continue their strong early-season play. I know that Premier League fans would be far happier watching Jedinak as the backbone and platform for Shaqiri and Bojan to create some entertaining football at the Britannia.
Winner: Aaron Lennon
Buried on the bench at Spurs, a likely starter at Everton. He played well for the Toffees on loan over the second half of last season and we look forward to more of the same now that he's a Toffee on a permanent basis.
Loser: Emmanuel Adebayor
Another one that seems to have stalled over personal terms. Whether it was going to be West Ham, Aston Villa or even Manchester United (OK, it was never going to be Manchester United), the Premier League would have been more interesting if Adebayor had found a compromise with Spurs on some sort of payoff and gone somewhere he might actually plan. Instead he will sit on the bench and Spurs will end up paying the same amount of money (the balance of his contract) that Adebayor was asking Spurs to pay for him to leavel. Remember that part about trying to be Arsenal-in-front-of-net perfect in the transfer market, Spurs were at it again here.
Loser: Chelsea
With John Stones apparently not for sale, Chelsea made a couple moves for defenders who look like they fit the dictionary definition of squad depth. In the role of "inexpensive foreign import who might start a few times but is certainly not a long term answer for any need a title contending team has" we have Papy Djilobodji. In the role of "yet another young guy who will probably be loaned out for a year or two before being sold at a modest profit to game the FFP system" we have Michael Hector coming in from Reading. Nothing wrong with either signing but given how dire Chelsea have looked over the first four weeks, there's also nothing there that will help turn things around.
Winner: Nathan Dyer
The former Swansea right midfielder/attacker looked to be buried on the bench behind signing-of-the-summer Andre Ayew. His move to Leicester City could give him new life and a chance to start on another team that is exciting going forward. Dyer will certainly not be handed a job with the current Foxes attack firing well but he is more likely to get a shot from Claudio Ranieri than he would have of unseating Ayew.
Loser: Arsenal
Are Arsenal ever NOT losers on deadline day? Regardless of what they do or don't do, the perception is always that there should have been more done. Should they have acted earlier and tried to land a Bafetimbi Gomis or Christian Benteke? Maybe tried harder on Jackson Martinez? Morgan Schneiderlin certainly hasn't been "the answer" at Manchester United but the feeling is that he would have been just what the doctor ordered at the Emirates. Might a move for some depth in the form of someone like Mile Jedinak have been a solid improvement even if it wouldn't have been a game-changer? It feels like there was never much chance the Gunners were going to do anything today but rather that the opportunities that could have been good ones went by the wayside weeks and weeks ago.
