Tuesday 1 February 2011

Whirlwind return for me amidst the bedlam of the transfer window.....

Well well well......three weeks out of the country and the whole worlds gone mad?!?!?!?!?!
Or to the normal everydayer this is the English January transfer window......comparable to the Mad Hatters tea party if you like.
Last season's January window saw just short of 30 million squidlies splashed on players as the merry-go-round didn't really get going, what a difference a year makes it seems!!!
Manchester City pretty much got the ball rolling early doors with the £27 million signing of Edin Dzeko, this then has prompted them to release Adebayor to Real Madrid to link up with Jose 'the special one' in Spain.
not much else seemingly was going to transpire, but that is not how this window usually works, and it stayed true to its history again this year.
Deadline day yesterday saw one of the busiest days ever in a January window, with all sorts of comings and goings, too-ing and fro-ing's.
The major story developing was the transfer of Fernando Torres from Liverpool to rivals Chelsea.
A bid of £35 million was made and instantly turned down by the merseyside club, then a re-buffed offer was again turned down. Torres then handed in a transfer request which Liverpool also declined.
To even the most un-educated football follower it is plain to see that there had been foul play from the London club, an accusation of 'tapping up' was oozing out of the Liverpool hierarchy as Torres' agent insisted they listen to Chelsea's offer.
In my opinion this is what followed.....King Kenny met with the bosses and thrashed out a plan consisting of letting their star striker go if he was no longer committed to the cause 100% which Torres clearly wasn't but only if the price was on the reds' terms.
A price tag of £50 million emerged as the golden number that they would reluctantly accept as good business for the Spanish world cup winner.
I personally believe Dalglish earmarked this amount as adequate and in turn gave his executives a list of players he would want if the Torres deal went through, and only on those terms would they let the striker go.
Chelsea knew their price and a package of £100 million was readied by Chelsea in expectation of the deal going through.
Liverpool had already obtained the services of Ajax's captain and star striker Luis Suarez for £22.8 million, supposedly to partner the Spaniard, not to replace him. The Uraguan only had to complete a medical so that deal was always going through.
So how were the reds going to replace 'Nando'????
Signs were instant, a £30 million bid for Newcastle's own star striker Andy Carroll was tabled, surely they would gain the services of the 22 year old for this monstrous bid.....not to be. Newcastle's business minded owner the love/hate figure of Mike Ashley rejected Liverpool's bid, probably knowing the full £50 million they were imminently getting from the London club would act as a bargaining chip for the Geordie club.
Discussions were rife at Liverpool headquarters weighing up another bid for the trouble-some Carroll.
Indeed another bid followed as the reds tabled £35 million.....yes this is for a striker that has only been in the top flight for 6 months.....madness but it seemed there was no other options, and as staggering as that bid was Newcastle still turned it down!!!!!!
Enter the big twist, as it did in the Torres saga, Carroll was forced to hand in a transfer request of his own in order to seal his dream switch to one of the worlds most decorated clubs.
As with Torres this was enough for Newcastle to re-think their position as a slightly improved deal was worked out with Liverpool and duly Carroll made his way to the north west for his own medical.
With Carroll all but sewn up, Torres was then granted permission to go ahead with his own travel arrangements and eventually both deals went through with minutes to spare.
So Andy Carroll £35 million, club record signing for the reds, and an enormous British transfer record £50 million for Fernando Torres as he joined Chelsea.
I personally think the business done by Liverpool is better than what Chelsea got out of the money, but as always time will tell in the battle of the strikers.
The two teams meet this Sunday so could be a heated encounter.....
Chelsea didn't stop there, they also sanctioned £22 million for David Luiz from Porto taking the final spend for this seasons January transfer window a gargantuan £218,525,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm still in shock but I now have no doubt in saying there are no players who are truly loyal anymore, maybe its a sign of the times but the likes of Carragher etc are a dying breed.
And with a spend of nearly £220 million in just one month, its scandalous considering we are in a so called recession eh?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

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