Transfer Round Up #7

In my final instalment for this transfer window, I look at 7 transfers instead of the usual 5.

Fabian Delph – Aston Villa to Manchester City - £8m

Days after committing himself to Aston Villa, Fabian Delph turns from captain to villain as he agrees a deal with Manchester City. With City in dire need of home grown players to fulfil the quota set by the FA, Delph may only end up being a bit part player but he has the potential to be the new James Milner. Last season, City were often out of form in the middle of the park, with Fernandinho, Fernando and Yaya Toure all being a bit underwhelming. With Delph, he will bring energy in the engine room for when he comes on off the bench. This transfer can go one of two ways. It could go down the gutter and he will be sold at the end of the season for a cut price or he could be one of City’s unsung heroes.

Iker Casillas – Real Madrid to FC Porto – free transfer

I was shocked when I heard that Casillas who I used to label “Mr Madrid” had left for Porto. At 34 years of age, I was expecting the former Spanish keeper to retire in the capital city but a mixture of fan pressure and that of Madrid President Florentino Perez left the goal keeper no option but to leave the club. Particularly disappointing was the reception the veteran was given throughout the season and will surely taint one of the great teams of world football. Casillas was a stalwart in nets over the past decade and will be a major coup for the Portuguese club.

Kieran Trippier – Burnley to Spurs - £3.4m

Along with Danny Ings, Kieran Trippier was one of the major positives in Burnley’s relegation season last year. The full back provided the most key passes from a defender last season behind Leighton Baines as well as featuring in all 38 games. His crossing ability is second to none, completing the most successful crosses last season than anyone in Europe’s top five leagues with 91. He is everything you want in a full back, someone who can be rock solid defensively as well as equally adept offensively. He will go down well at his new club.

Sergio Romero – Sampdoria to Manchester United – free transfer

I’m positive that Louis Van Gaal was expecting David de Gea and Victor Valdes to be leaving this summer when signing the Argentine number 1. This was greeted with criticism as he was struggling to hold down a first team spot at his former club, Sampdoria, however I don’t think this is a bad move from the side. In his opening games, yes he has made some mistakes and looked uneasy on the ball, but so did David de Gea when he arrived in Manchester. With de Gea staying at Old Trafford, it will be interesting to see if he can retain the goal keeping spot.

Ibrahim Afellay – Barcelona to Stoke City – free transfer

Mark Hughes and Stoke City have been busy in the transfer market, bringing in some players that definitely do not conform to the ‘Stoke stereotype’. Ibrahim Affelay is one of them. Like Bojan the season before this is a risky signing, particularly due to his horrendous injury record. With the amount of injuries this player receives, it will not surprise me in the slightest if Stoke have to take out Wonga loan to pay his medical fees. He does have talent and can beat a player. Mark Hughes has signalled a new era in Stoke, and I'm looking to see how it unfolds as the season progresses. Keeping him and Bojan on the pitch will be difficult, but if they can, then they will definitely improve on last year’s position. 

Xherdan Shaqiri – Inter Milan to Stoke - £12m

Around the time of this transfer I read a piece stating that Xherdan Shaqiri’s career is like the Goal movies only in reverse, and it’s totally true. Shaqiri is a big player and will please Stoke supporters and Premier League supporters alike seeing him in England. In half of a season for Internazionale last year, he created 29 chances as well as completing 16 out of 23 of his take ons. While only registering 67 league appearances over the last 4 seasons, Shaqiri is still young enough to make himself a worldwide name. During the last World Cup, only Lionel Messi made more key passes than the Swiss international. It may be a baffling transfer for the neutral to comprehend, but it’s an excellent one for everyone connected to the Britannia Stadium.

Anthony Martial – Monaco to Manchester United - £36m

Last on my list is deadline arrival to Manchester United, Anthony Martial. Now the most expensive teenager in the world, this transfer caught everyone off guard. Tipped as a future Thierry Henry by the French media and Old Trafford, he has a clause for the Ballon D'Or inserted in his contract, showing how highly he is thought of. Last season for Les Monagasques, Martial netted 9 goals and also created 12 chances. Similar to Manchester City who paid £50m for the potential of Raheem Sterling, United are doing the same with Martial. Sterling v Martial could be the battle that flourishes as both get older.

That's all for this window. As always, feel free to comment your opinions on who could be a hit with their respective clubs or who will flop.

Season Review

Another English season draws to a close. Chelsea were crowned deserving champions, while QPR, Burnley and Hull face the disappointment of playing in the Championship next season. Let's look at the key performances that made this season so special.

The Champions

Chelsea record their fourth Premier League title and third under Jose Mourinho. Being honest, they were never really troubled in their victory with the competition dying in various stages of the league season. At the beginning of the season, Chelsea played some nice football to build up a bit of a lead. With Jose the master of defence, the title wrapped up once Mourinho deployed his conservative tactics. The whole Chelsea team did their bit this season. John Terry and Gary Cahill formed a formidable partnership at the back, while the void left by Frank Lampard was quickly forgotten with the signing of Cesc Fabregas. Nemenja Matic was the rock in the Chelsea midfield and played a vital role in Chelsea's success, the extra man in front of the defence repelled so many attacks, as well as launching some of his own.

The Runners up

Manchester City just weren't good enough when it mattered to challenge for the title, and at one stage, looked like it was possible that they were going to finish as low as fourth. City need a massive clear out of all the deadwood in the squad. Yaya Toure hasn't been the same player since the cake-gate scandal of 2014, and neither has Vincent Kompany. With an average age of 29, youth will be the starting point for the manager at City in the summer. While they do need to bring in players, splashing the money will not solve the void. Elaquim Mangala, Fernando are examples of money being spent poorly last summer while Stefen Jovetic and Alvaro Negredo were bought the season before but have sunk into the abyss through injuries and poor form. On loan at Valencia, I doubt Negredo will ever feature in a Manchester City shirt ever again, particularly with the arrival of Wilfried Bony in January. Now, City are in pursuit of Liverpool's Raheem Sterling in order to bring the average age down, among other young English hotshots.

Relegation

In my season preview, I tipped Aston Villa, Sunderland and Crystal Palace to make the drop, and I couldn't be further from the truth, with Palace breaking into the top 10. As for the unlucky contingent of Hull, QPR and Burnley, over the course of 38 games, they were the 3 teams that deserved to be relegated. Hull saw themselves hit 10th position at the end of October, but this took a turn for the worst and culminated in an 18th placed finish with 35 points. For Burnley, they were the favourites for the drop when the season commenced (except mine!) and they fulfilled everyone's prediction. As for QPR, they flirted with the danger zone for too long and were eventually sapped into a battle that they could not win. QPR where heavily reliant on Charlie Austin, who grabbed 18 goals - the fourth best in the league - which shows where the London side would be without their star man. Similarly, Burnley relied on the prowess of Danny Ings who netted 11 times this year. With Ings already sealing a move to Liverpool and Austin looking ever more likely to leave QPR, it could be a struggle to get back into the top tier of domestic football for both sides.

The Golden Boot

With 26 goals, Sergio Aguero leads the way for the first time since his arrival in England. Even with missing the majority of December due to a ligament injury, Aguero was able to help Manchester City secure their 2nd place spot. English protege, Harry Kane, came in behind with 21 goals, which isn't a bad way to introduce yourself to the English nation. A roaring start sent the young Spurs man on his way and he collected a staggering 12 goals in the winter months as his performances help secure notable wins over Chelsea and Arsenal. Diego Costa achieved third place despite only featuring in 26 games. We know Costa is a goal scorer, so when he features for a whole season, it'll be scary to see what the adopted Spaniard can do.

The Race for Europe

Arsenal and Manchester United completed the top 4, leaving Tottenham, Liverpool and Southampton to content with the Europa League. Arsenal finally broke their duck of being unable to break into the top 4, with thanks to world class performances from Alexis Sanchez. I've always said that if Arsene gets his summer signings spot on, then the team from North London could be in for a very special year. United achieved their goals, nothing more but nothing less. After spending £150m in the summer, a fourth spot was the bare minimum in terms of expectations. The wait for Champions League football continues for a another year at White Hart Lane. It will be an interesting summer for Mauricio Pochettino as he aims to clear out the deadwood in the Spurs squad. Liverpool endured a testing spell after selling their superstar for £80m last season and will be glad that this is over. Having already dabbled in the transfer market to buy Danny Ings, Adam Bogdan, James Milner and Joe Gomez, Brendan Rodgers needs to have his signings spot on,

Notable Mentions

I purposely didn't mention Southampton under the previous heading as I want to focus on them now. Having sold key individuals last summer, many tipped them to struggle, with some thinking they will be doing well to survive relegation. Ronald Koeman took over as manager, and his signings have secured a memorable season for the southern side. Sitting inside the top 5 for a large chunk of the season, they surprised many people and fully deserve their season in Europe next year,

Both Swansea and Stoke achieved their highest position in the Premier League, finishing 8th and 9th respectively. Garry Monk is quietly building a strong squad off the back of the sale of Wilfried Bony for £28m. This year, Swansea became the first ever side to record away wins at both Manchester United and Arsenal in the same season. Having represented Swansea in 4 tiers of the English leagues, and also as a manager in the Premier League, Monk's regard for the club cannot be questioned, as he aims to push on for European spots in the next seasons.

A similar story is shaped at Stoke by Mark Hughes. His work at the Potters has largely gone under the radar. Largely inconsistent in the opening stages of the season, they recorded just one win in the month of November and also went on a 3 game losing streak at the end of March. Hughes has been shrewd in the transfer market and has acquired talent through former Barcelona man Bojan Krkic, who delivered performances until he ruptured his cruciate ligament against QPR and ruled him out for the rest of the season. Like Monk, Hughes is building a squad and will hope to maintain performances having sealed another 3 year contract at the start of the calendar year.

It has been a very intriguing year with many talking points occuring. Chelsea rule victorious while QPR get the wooden spoon along with Burnley and Hull. We can only hope for more thrills and spills to this calibre in the incoming season.

The Curious Case of Arsene Wenger

Take yourselves back to the 2003/2004 season. Arsenal went one nil down to a Paul Dickov header half way through the first half, before a Ashley Cole earned his team a penalty after a majestic pass from the non-Flying Dutchman, Dennis Bergkamp. Theirry Henry found the net from 12 yards to become the first Gunner to net 30 league goals in a season since Ronny Rooke. Wenger flicked the switch and the style was turned on. Yet again, Bergkamp assisted Patrick Vieira who scored the winning goal and sent Arsenal into the history books as the only English team to have gone unbeaten in a single league season. Those were the days for Arsene Wenger.

Now, over a decade on, Arsene Wenger has a new dose of problems to contend with. His failures in the transfer market have worried the fans even though the victory in the FA Cup Final softened the blow. Even if we rewind a year, Wenger was sitting pretty at the top of the table 5 points ahead of Liverpool but the lack of a striker and a defensive midfielder allowed Arsenal to peter out of contention.

On Saturday 8th, Wenger faced something that he has never occurred to him in his years as Arsenal manager before, his own fans hurling abuse as he boards a train back from Stoke. Looking at the match, Arsenal were very poor. Defensively they were all over the place and could have easily been four down if Anthony Taylor had allowed Bojan Krckic's second goal to stand. Peter Crouch bossed Mertesacker off the park, and at set pieces, five Gooners were unable to prevent the former Spurs man from directing a header towards Jonathan Walters to make it 3 nil. Although it Arsenal were able to make the score look respectable, it was to no avail.

What followed after the match is what I am particularly interested in. I'm sure everyone reading this article will be aware that a small group of Arsenal fans gathered at the train station as they were preparing to head back down to North London. They waited and ambushed Wenger to a torrent of abuse, as well as telling Joel Campbell to 'escape' while he can. Was the abuse just the heat of the moment after a very disappointing abuse? Does Arsene need to leave for the benefit of his reputation and the club? I'll give you my opinions, but I would also like to hear yours.

My first reaction was that this was an abomination to Arsene Wenger and Arsenal Football Club, but as I'm sure you're all aware, if you delve deeper, then there is always another side to the story. I thought the actions showed a complete lack of respect to a man that has achieved plenty of trophies with side that went unbeaten an entire season that I have already pointed out. Because the man has led Arsenal to glory, then he should receive criticism in a more dignified manner.

Wenger led Arsenal to arguably their most successful era between his arrival and 2005, battling it out with Sir Alex Ferguson. In that time they netted no less than 11 trophies, before he added another 2 in the past year. Surely for all the good times that Wenger has given Arsenal fans he should be given respect? It must have been sole destroying for the Arsenal manager, who has dedicated over half of his managerial career at the club, to see fans hurl insults at him after all he has achieved at the club. During the time when the club was in the process of relocating to the Emirates from Highbury leaving Arsene to operate on a low budget, yet he still ensured that the North London club were consistent Champions League contenders.

On the other hand, Wenger has made so vital managerial errors over the past few years. The world and his granny knows that Arsenal need a defensive midfielder, yet Wenger seems to be blind to this fact. In addition of the midfield problems, Arsenal have a lack of depth in the centre of defence, so it was baffling to see him give up club captain Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona so easily. This season, Arsenal have looked vulnerable from set pieces, whether this is due to a lack of quality or a lack of height leaves me questioning and this was epitomised by the first half performance at the Brittania Stadium.

Rumour has it that Cesc Fabregas had a buy-back clause inserted in his contract when he left for Barcelona, so when he was deemed surplus to requirements at the Nou Camp in the summer, I was amazed that he seemed to pass up the opportunity to bring an Arsenal legend back to the club. While the capture of Alexis Sanchez can be considered a coup for Arsenal, Wenger has been less than impressive with his dealings in the transfer market over the last few years.

We are forgetting that a managerial career is a heated environment and I reiterate the things I said in the article about Brendan Rodgers. Managers always come under criticism and they have to respond in a way that silences their doubters and Wenger has done just that. I thought he made a very honest and clever reaction to the events by asking the Arsenal fans to "judge him in May, not at Christmas." This leads me to believe that if he is unable to turn Arsenal's fortunes around, he will step down as manager at the end of the season.

The fans have every right to be upset with Wenger's management, as he has broken countless promises to the fans as well as suffered embarrassing defeats to Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea in recent years. Some would say that the fans have every right to have a go at Wenger as would those humiliating defeats have caused 'harassment' for the Gooners on the receiving end of it? I think it would have. No matter what club it is, the fans always reserve the right to call the manager out on mistakes that have been made. The fans pay money to see their beloved club play so they should have a say in the club that they support. 

Talking about silencing his critics, Wenger's Arsenal have recorded to astounding victories over Galatasaray and an inform Newcastle side. The 4-1 result against Galatasaray would have pleased the fans particularly as Turkey can be a very difficult place to go and play. At the weekend, Olivier Giroud produced a solid performance as he aims to show Wenger that he is a proven goal scorer and that he has fully recovered from his injury that kept him out since August. The score finished 4-1 to Arsenal which included a deft panenka penalty from Santi Cazorla. I doubt that these results will have changed the thoughts of the fans that were at the train station, but they could go along way to restoring confidence in Wenger's abilities. Wenger takes his troops to Anfield on Sunday and will be hoping to banish thoughts about what happened in this fixture last year.

It is truly a curious case for Arsene Wenger. He wants to be judged in May, and I think he should be given the time to prove his worth, but this must start with a successful Christmas period and a spending spree in the transfer market to strengthen in defensive areas. In short I believe that Arsene Wenger should have left at the end of his FA Cup win with his pride intact as everyday longer he stays, he seems to be turning Arsenal fans against him.