That’s it! The January sales are over for another year! Clubs have ‘invested’ a few million again and will discover, over the remainder of the season, whether it has been money well spent or not.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Arsenal’s new party-loving signing
Arsenal would seem to have slightly improved their lot having signed Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund respectively.
The two ex-team mates will now renew acquaintances with each other at The Emirates.
Hopefully the Gabonese international will still be happy with his move when he finds out that Arsenal aren’t really in the Champion’s League, are out of the FA Cup and won’t finish in the top four of the Premier League this season. Whoever tells him may need to leave the room quite quickly shortly afterwards!
On the down side they sold Alexis Sánchez because he wanted to leave and their super-sub Olivier Giroud who wanted to play more games. The question now is; who is going to come on for Arsenal for the last fifteen minutes and get them the required goals? Certainly not the departed Frenchman who will probably have the same role at Chelsea but be paid more money.
One man who has remained at Arsenal despite his staying being against the wishes of many fans is their manager. Stubborn Old Man seems determined to plumb new depths before his contract expires in sixty years.
Michy Batshuayi – Part of the eternal triangle with Arsenal and Dortmund!
Chelsea have loaned Michy Batshuayi to BorussiaDortmund which allowed Aubameyang to move to Arsenal thus permitting Giroud to hop on the bus to Stamford Bridge! In other words, Batshuayi is a replacement for Aubameyang who is a replacement for Giroud who is a replacement for Batshuayi.
Confused? You will be! The questions we have at this point are these; do Chelsea think Giroud is an upgrade on Batshuayi; do Arsenal think Aubameyang is an upgrade on Giroud and do Dortmund think Batshuayi is an upgrade on Aubameyang? If the answer to these questions is ‘No’ then why have they moved at all?
If, however, the answer to these questions is ‘Yes’ then it just shows how different clubs completely disagree about the value and worth of some players.
Chelsea have also signed Emerson Palmieri from Roma for £17.5 million. They were hoping to sign Edin Džeko from the same club but the Bosnian didn’t quite see the logic in giving up his starting berth and Champion’s League participation with Roma for a place on the bench and no European involvement with Chelsea.
Virgil van Dijk – Did Liverpool need him more than a new goalkeeper?
Liverpool, as everybody is aware, finally signed Virgil van Dijk who has already impressed with his different roles in the first three games since his arrival. He has scored the winner, assisted the winner, (for Swansea), and sat on the bench, and all for only £75 million, what a bargain!
If he wanted diversity, he has certainly found it at Anfield under Jürgen Klopp who’s more pressing need is still a goalkeeper, although the German seems blissfully unaware of this fact!
The milestone purchase of van Dijk was achieved having successfully achieved a milestone sale – that of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona.
Manchester City have bought Aymeric Laporte because they only had four international centre backs before. In a situation similar to the full-back position, Pep Guardiola has decided he needs a collection in case of injury or suspension.
Riyad Mahrez – A late solution for City?
Many people, however, expect Eliaquim Mangala to leave either on loan or permanently but, as of writing, he is still there.
So what happens? Wouldn’t you just know it one of his wingers goes and gets himself injured! How thoughtless! Pep hadn’t made any allowances for that eventuality!
Not to worry, City will just throw a bundle of money at Leicester City who, in return will bundle Riyad Mahrez into a waiting car and set the GPS for East Manchester. Or not as turned out to be the case.
Manchester United had a quiet January, only signing Alexis Sánchez as part of the deal which took Henrikh Mkhitaryan, begrudgingly, into the arms of the team he had always dreamed of playing for.
The two JM’s also signed extensions to their contracts, Mourinho and Mata agreeing to an extra year being added to their stay.
So despite a lack of quantity this time out there can certainly be no argument that there has been a lack of quality brought in to the club. Alexis Sánchez alone is better than ANY of the Louis van Gaal signings!
Lucas Moura – Needs to show Tottenham his true value
Tottenham Hotspur signed Lucas Moura who said he would only leave PSG for Manchester United. Strangely enough, this quote is now very difficult to find anywhere but we managed it. Here is the report from the Manchester Evening News who quote the French outlet Telefoot.
If Mauricio Pochettino can restore Moura to his best then he will have signed a very good player for a very good price, (£25 million),and the player himself has expressed a wish to get back into the Brazil team for the World Cup.
Spurs, however, need more than one new player if they are to seriously challenge for the major honours.
So that’s the transfers done and dusted and all that remains, between now and the summer window, is to try and find some newsworthy stuff to write about.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 