The Premier League transfer window slammed shut on Wednesday night, with a flurry of last minute wheeling and dealing (TM H. Redknapp) taking place right up until the deadline. With the international break providing a breather from league action and an opportunity to let the smoke clear and dust settle on the last minute deals that did take place, CollinsBeans reflects on who were the key winners and losers on deadline day
Winners
1. Queens Park Rangers
The most positive piece of news that QPR fans heard during the window, and arguably their best addition was the takeover that now finds Tony Fernandes in charge. One of the main factors in seemingly prohibiting the club from taking sizeable steps to achieving survival this season was the mad cap, out of touch owners that knew little, too anything about game of football. Despite having some of the richest men in the world, with the deepest pockets sitting on their board, signings over the summer so far had been distinctly underwhelming, with a somewhat ‘bargain basement’ look to them. Now backed by the significant Fernandes funds on deadline day, the men from Loftus Road went out and did some very astute pieces of shopping.
Shaun Wright-Phillips was never Chelsea standard, nor has he ever been England standard. At Manchester City, he quickly fell down the pecking order when the really big marquee names started to appear. However, that is not to say that he is not a decent Premier League player, and given responsibility, an arm round his shoulder and a regular first team starting place, there’s a very good chance that he will contribute significantly to goals, assists and a whole load of excitement.
Other arrivals look equally astute. Luke Young is a solid and dependable acquisition at full back and gives a bit of a ‘top flight’ look to Rangers defence. The acquisition that has really got people talking though is everyone’s favourite Twitter philosopher Joey Barton. As ever with Barton, the move got prove to be a triumph or disaster, but it’s clear that when his head is switched on (no jokes please) and then when he feels he has something to prove, that he is able to produce drive and verve from midfield. Last season, playing from the right wing, he was one of the primary reasons behind Newcastle United comfortably staying up.
With Barton on board it will unquestionably be a controversial ride; however you just feel that with their deadline day signings, QPR look a far better prospect for survival.
2. Stoke City
Whisper it quietly but Stoke could quite conceivably finish in the top seven or eight in the league. Then again, maybe that’s not quite the stretch it would have been a few years ago, given that they are now very much a Premier League mainstay, they reached the FA Cup final and they are currently enjoying a European adventure. With all that in mind, it’s hard not to see Stoke as a deadline day winner given their squad looks even stronger going forward.
It’s fait to say Tony Pulis’ side are not the most expansive, not does their creativity stem from the centre of midfield. They are far from the prehistoric nightmare that they are perceived to be, but the invention in their team, in the main comes from the wide positions and their exciting wingers. Signing Winston Palacios from Spurs will not give them an exquisite playmaker, but it will give them a significant upgrade to their central midfield positions and gives them a further strengthened spine. In his first year at White Hart Lane, the Honduran set a consistently high standard and he should prove his worth very quickly.
The other big arrival was another man from Tottenham Hotspur and big is the word, given that it was Peter Crouch. Now, this particular football fan has never been the biggest Crouch fan, and while I don’t think he is off the highest standard, he is still a man with an international and Champions League pedigree. Many have said that he should fit in perfectly at the Britannia given his height however they seem to have never watched the man, with his heading arguably the weakest part of his game. Contrary to appearances, Crouch should bring an extra dimension to Stoke and is a significant upgrade on their current crop of front man. In a way, his signing is an excellent representation of how far the club have come in recent years.
3. Sir Alex Ferguson
This might be an odd one too many, given Manchester United didn’t really engage in any business on deadline day, but that in itself shows the expertise of the man who continues to set the standard when it comes to being a Premier League manager. While his rivals, and others scrabbled around trying to find those last minute deals that might improve their squads, Ferguson could out his feet put and enjoy the proverbial glass of red wine. Manchester United did all their business early, and the result has been a young and dynamic team that have hit the ground running. Do your business, swiftly and early and then you have all summer to work with your team, it’s one of the (many) reasons why he is still the master.
Losers
4. Tottenham Hotspur
Harry Redknapp is known to hate the fact that when it comes to using the transfer system he is known almost universally as a ‘wheeler dealer’, so it was maybe with the mind to losing that tag that the Tottenham manager was fairly inactive in the window. That is to say that he was fairly inactive when it came to bringing players in, additions that many (in particular Spurs fans) would argue were imperative.
Tottenham’s start to the season has been slightly misleading, with their pointless position being down to the fact they’ve played a game less than everyone else and that the two games they have played have been against the two early pacesetters from Manchester. However, it’s clear the squad needed strengthening, with the lack of goals and a load of misfiring strikers being the primary issues. Moving on Peter Crouch and Robbie Keane for good money were positive moves, but replacing them with no-one else looks to have left a gap at the top of the pitch, where the club must be hoping Jermain Defoe lives up to the vastly overrated reputation he’s somehow been able to accrue over the years.
It’s harsh in a way to put Tottenham here, as moving on a lot of deadwood; the afore mentioned pair of strikers, Winston Palacios, Alan Hutton and Jermaine Jenas and the addition of Scott Parker is all sound...however, the lack of goals issue has not been solved. On top of that, when it comes to Luka Modric, while they have retained a hugely talented player, as well as retained face, would they perhaps have been better off cashing in rather than having an unhappy player whose ‘head isn’t in the right place’. As I say, a bit harsh to put them in this category, but you feel that on deadline day, they only did half the job.
5. Everton
This almost feels like kicking a man while he’s down but you really have to feel (or should that be fear) for Everton given that a wholly underwhelming summer was capped off by a wholly underwhelming deadline day of transfer activity, or rather lack of it (activity that is). Now I watch more football than is probably healthy but I haven’t heard anything of new Argentinean loan ‘star’ Denis Stracqualursi. Doing my research, he has a fine scoring record in both his home country but it’s fair to say that this was hardly the big name that Everton fans were really hoping for to start to kick start it in the right direction. I do know more about the other loan arrival from Real Madrid (don’t let that fool you) Royston Drenthe, enough to say that this is really unlikely to be the answer...to any question.
Furthermore Stracqualursi’s (try saying that after a few ales) arrival only seems to cover the departure to Leicester of fellow front man Jermaine Beckford. Whilst it’s fair to say that the former Leeds man hadn’t convinced a whole load of people that he wasn’t anything more than Championship standard, he was a useful hand, and at least in this humble football watcher’s opinion, he was definitely showing signs that in the long term he could have really been an asset.
It’s been a long hard summer for Evertonians and deadline day was hardly going to improve things, given that the major news was a departure rather than an addition. Debts in football are not sadly anything new nor nothing uncommon but Everton’s chronic lack of funds for transfers meant cashing in on playmaker Mikel Arteta. The Spaniard might not have had his best season last time out, still recovering from the injuries suffered last year but he was still the heartbeat of the side and losing him to Arsenal when there was no replacement in sight leaves the squad at Goodison as close to breaking point as it has been since the heady days of Walter Smith’s reign. It’s clear this season that David Moyes will need all of his motivating power to ensure that the club are able to make progress this season.
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