Despite the hype preceding it, the January transfer window has, until this point, been something of an anti-climax in terms of actual deals done.
I doubt you would find a fan of football betting anywhere that would have placed any bets on their being so little activity.
It has only been in the past week or so, with Manchester United tying up a deal for Fulham defender Chris Smalling for example, that things have begun to happen in earnest at many clubs.
Certainly there has been none of the ‘galactico’ style transfer that we were led to believe were on the horizon in January.
Chelsea who, due to their potential transfer ban, were expected to spend big this month, have been extraordinarily quiet, with the only talk being of sorting out a new deal for Joe Cole and the refusal to let Juliano Belletti leave the club to join Flamengo.
That’s a long way from making bids for Sergio Aguero, Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and pretty much any other half decent player in world football.
So far the biggest deals have consisted of Roberto Mancini’s puzzling acquisition of Patrick Vieira, Liverpool taking Maxi Rodriguez on a free from Atletico Madrid and last weekend’s deal which saw young Fulham defender Chris Smalling join Manchester United, who gazumped Arsenal to snap up the talented 20 year old.
For sure, there have been deals by some of the other lesser lights in the Premier League, but not one that has set fans pulses racing in expectation of a better second half of the season.
Indeed some of the deals made have been baffling to say the least.
Can anybody fathom out why Roberto Martinez is spending £7m of Wigan’s money on a striker who has been unable to get into the Villarreal first team and has spent most of the season in the reserves? I can’t.
However it does look like that in the next few days things may well hot up.
West Ham and Tottenham are believed to be battling each other for the signature of former Chelsea and Barcelona striker Eidur Gudjohnssen and there is talk today that Gianfranco Zola, with the blessing of new Hammers owners, the two David’s; Gold and Sullivan, want to agree some form of deal with Spurs for David Bentley and Alan Hutton.
Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce has made a shrewd signing in taking the talented Yildiray Basturk on loan from VfB Stuttgart.
Ryan Babel seems set to leave for Birmingham, according to Telegraph.co.uk, with rumours also that a deal with Arsenal could be struck.
Manchester United midfielder Anderson, who has fallen out with Sir Alex Ferguson over missing a training session, is believed to be trying to engineer a move for himself back to Brazil while my favourite rumour of the weekend is that Roberto Mancini is set to spend £95m (yes, you did read that correctly) on injured Liverpool striker Fernando Torres. Whoever dreamt that one up seriously needs help in my opinion.
In addition to that, Everton are believed to be hunting down Klaas Jan Huntelaar from AC Milan on a loan deal until the end of the season.
Birmingham boss Alex McLeish has reportedly told his board that he wants to buy at least one striker in the next few days (the smart money being on a move for unsettled Spurs striker Roman Pavlyuchenko and a cut price move for cash strapped Portsmouth’s Ivory Coast international striker Aruna Dindane.
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce meanwhile is being strongly linked with a £10m move for Portsmouth defender Younes Kaboul.
So while it has been a quiet month thus far on the transfer front and none of the deals above would be termed “Galactico” deals by any means, it is, as any punter would put it, at best odds on that it will be a busy few days before the January transfer window ends.
I doubt you would find a fan of football betting anywhere that would have placed any bets on their being so little activity.
It has only been in the past week or so, with Manchester United tying up a deal for Fulham defender Chris Smalling for example, that things have begun to happen in earnest at many clubs.
Certainly there has been none of the ‘galactico’ style transfer that we were led to believe were on the horizon in January.
Chelsea who, due to their potential transfer ban, were expected to spend big this month, have been extraordinarily quiet, with the only talk being of sorting out a new deal for Joe Cole and the refusal to let Juliano Belletti leave the club to join Flamengo.
That’s a long way from making bids for Sergio Aguero, Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and pretty much any other half decent player in world football.
So far the biggest deals have consisted of Roberto Mancini’s puzzling acquisition of Patrick Vieira, Liverpool taking Maxi Rodriguez on a free from Atletico Madrid and last weekend’s deal which saw young Fulham defender Chris Smalling join Manchester United, who gazumped Arsenal to snap up the talented 20 year old.
For sure, there have been deals by some of the other lesser lights in the Premier League, but not one that has set fans pulses racing in expectation of a better second half of the season.
Indeed some of the deals made have been baffling to say the least.
Can anybody fathom out why Roberto Martinez is spending £7m of Wigan’s money on a striker who has been unable to get into the Villarreal first team and has spent most of the season in the reserves? I can’t.
However it does look like that in the next few days things may well hot up.
West Ham and Tottenham are believed to be battling each other for the signature of former Chelsea and Barcelona striker Eidur Gudjohnssen and there is talk today that Gianfranco Zola, with the blessing of new Hammers owners, the two David’s; Gold and Sullivan, want to agree some form of deal with Spurs for David Bentley and Alan Hutton.
Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce has made a shrewd signing in taking the talented Yildiray Basturk on loan from VfB Stuttgart.
Ryan Babel seems set to leave for Birmingham, according to Telegraph.co.uk, with rumours also that a deal with Arsenal could be struck.
Manchester United midfielder Anderson, who has fallen out with Sir Alex Ferguson over missing a training session, is believed to be trying to engineer a move for himself back to Brazil while my favourite rumour of the weekend is that Roberto Mancini is set to spend £95m (yes, you did read that correctly) on injured Liverpool striker Fernando Torres. Whoever dreamt that one up seriously needs help in my opinion.
In addition to that, Everton are believed to be hunting down Klaas Jan Huntelaar from AC Milan on a loan deal until the end of the season.
Birmingham boss Alex McLeish has reportedly told his board that he wants to buy at least one striker in the next few days (the smart money being on a move for unsettled Spurs striker Roman Pavlyuchenko and a cut price move for cash strapped Portsmouth’s Ivory Coast international striker Aruna Dindane.
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce meanwhile is being strongly linked with a £10m move for Portsmouth defender Younes Kaboul.
So while it has been a quiet month thus far on the transfer front and none of the deals above would be termed “Galactico” deals by any means, it is, as any punter would put it, at best odds on that it will be a busy few days before the January transfer window ends.
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