Fulham's new man Bryan Ruiz
FULHAM
Ins: Marcel Gecov (Slovan Liberec – £700k), Zdenek Grygera (Juventus – free), Pajtim Kasami (Palermo – £3.5m), John Arne Riise (AS Roma – £2.4m), Bryan Ruiz (FC Twente – £10.6m), Orlando Sa (free), Csaba Somogyi (Rakospalotai – free)
Outs: Kagisho Dikgacoi (Crystal Palace – £500k), Zoltan Gera (West Bromwich Albion – released), Jonathan Greening (Nottingham Forest – £600k), Eddie Johnson (released), Diomansy Kamara (Eskisehirspor – released), John Pantsil (Leicester City – released), Pascal Zuberbuhler (released), Lauri Dalla Valle (Dundee United, six-month loan), Carlos Salcido (Tigres, season-long loan), David Stockdale (Ipswich Town, season-long loan)
Looking at those incoming transfers, it’s clear Fulham have quietly spent a lot more than anyone expected, and made a splash on deadline day by paying £10.6m for Twente’s Bryan Ruiz. The Costa Rican striker didn’t quite cost enough to break their record fee paid and exorcise the unpleasant memory of Steve Marlet, but Martin Jol will know a bit about him having managed in the Dutch top tier during Ruiz’s first season there. The 6’2″ centre-forward has a good goalscoring record in Holland, but I hardly need to remind you that Mateja Kezman’s record there was phenomenal. Ruiz also has the disadvantage of looking like Georgios Samaras. He’s a gamble, but age is on his side and Jol clearly has faith in him. If he can’t offer more of a goal threat than Andy Johnson then they’re in trouble, though. Other incoming transfers are the returning John Arne Riise, who joins from Roma after a three-year exile from the Premier League. Left-back was a problem area for Fulham last season with the erratic Carlos Salcido and the inexperienced Matthew Briggs representing a weakness in the side. Riise is a solid defender and might weigh in with a few goals too, so that £2.4m could be money well spent. Two more players have signed from Serie A, experienced Czech defender Zdenek Grygera joining for free from Juventus and Pajtim Kasami joining from Palermo for £3.5m. The 19-year-old Swiss midfielder is quite highly rated but I’d be wary of why Palermo allowed him to leave for such a relatively small transfer free. He has plenty of time, though. They’ve managed to get rid of a lot of deadwood, with Jonathan Greening, Salcido, Pascal Zuberbuhler, Diomansy Kamara and the awful Eddie Johnson all allowed to leave. Zoltan Gera is the only decent player on his way out. All in all a discreetly productive transfer window for the Cottagers.
Transfer business mark: 7/10
LIVERPOOL
Ins: Charlie Adam (Blackpool – £7m), Craig Bellamy (Manchester City – free), Villyan Bijev (California Odyssey – undisclosed), Sebastian Coates (Nacional – £8m), Alexander Doni (Roma – free), Stewart Downing (Aston Villa – £20m), Jose Enrique (Newcastle United – £7m), Jordan Henderson (Sunderland – £14m)
Outs: Daniel Ayala (Norwich City – undisclosed), Emiliano Insua (Sporting Lisbon – undisclosed), Milan Jovanovic (Anderlecht – free), Paul Konchesky (Leicester City – undisclosed), Sotirios Kyrgiakos (Wolfsburg – undisclosed), Raul Meireles (Chelsea – £12m), David Ngog (Bolton Wanderers – £4m), Christian Poulsen (Evian – undisclosed), Alberto Aquilani (AC Milan, season-long loan), Villyan Bijev (Fortuna Dusseldorf, season-long loan), Joe Cole (Lille, season-long loan), Stephen Darby (Rochdale, season-long loan), Peter Gulacsi (Hull City, season-long loan), Daniel Pacheco (Atletico Madrid, season-long loan)
Aquilani: Gone
Liverpool’s transfer dealings have been some of the most high profile of the summer, and the lavish fees they have freely been spending have invited plenty of analysis and criticism. The emphasis on domestic players, experienced in the Premier League, is fairly obvious on paper. Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam and Craig Bellamy have joined from other Premier League teams. The reason for this is that Kenny Dalglish is a racist. No, it isn’t, it’s because he wants to use players he knows can do it in the Premier League. The last time he was successful as a manager was with Blackburn in 1994-95, when the team was built almost exclusively by British players. Ditto his long, successful spell at Liverpool in the late 1980s. At Newcastle, when he was turfed out after an unspectacular eighteen months in charge, his squad was packed with crap like Didier Domi, Stephane Guivarc’h, Georgios Georgiadis and Silvio Maric. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s stewed on those failed gambles for the best part of a decade, which is why he’s now willing to pay the English premium. £20m for Downing and £14m for Henderson is definitely steep, but it seems he has a game plan – he wants the ball in the box for the £35m Andy Carroll to convert. Adam is probably the biggest gamble, playing in a totally different side to the one he shone in at Blackpool last season, but Dalglish has looked abroad to identify a long-term successor for Jamie Carragher in Sebastian Coates, the young Uruguayan centre-half. £8m is a lot for an unproven player but he won’t be relied on from the start and I’m sure Dalglish will handle him with care. The outgoings are notable too – definitely an emphasis on shifting the deadwood, as Paul Konchesky, Milan Jovanovic, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Emiliano Insua, Joe Cole, Christian Poulsen and David Ngog were all cast aside; all players who have been heavily criticised in recent years. In fact, with the £16m exit of Raul Meireles, everyone who was signed by Roy Hodgson has now been sold. Last summer and last season’s dismal consequences are forgotten, with Dalglish taking it upon himself to give Liverpool a new start. I think it’ll be much more fun to be a Liverpool fan this season, which will make fans swiftly forget the odd bit of overspending.
Transfer business mark: 7/10
MANCHESTER CITY
Ins: Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid – £38m), Gael Clichy (Arsenal – £7m), Owen Hargreaves (free), Samir Nasri (Arsenal – £25m), Stefan Savic (Partizan Belgrade – £9m)
Outs: Craig Bellamy (Liverpool – free), Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich – undisclosed), Shay Given (Aston Villa – undisclosed), Jo (Internacional – undisclosed), Shaleum Logan (Brentford – free), Patrick Vieira (retired), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Queens Park Rangers – undisclosed), Emmanuel Adebayor (Tottenham Hotspur, season-long loan), Dedryck Boyata (Bolton Wanderers, season-long loan), David Gonzalez (Aberdeen, six-month loan), John Guidetti (Feyenoord, season-long loan), Michael Johnson (Leicester City, season-long loan), Ben Mee (Burnley, season-long loan), Roque Santa Cruz (Real Betis, season-long loan), Vladimir Weiss (Espanyol, season-long loan)
City don’t do things by halves, whether it’s paying transfer fees or ignoring injury records. The extraordinary signing of Owen Hargreaves, who in November 2010 had to be substituted six minutes into his first start in two years, is a gamble City can clearly afford, but every sensible part of my brain tells me that it isn’t one worth taking. Hargreaves was a very good player in his prime and would have been a bargain if he hadn’t suffered such terrible luck, but the leap of faith flies in the face of his appalling appearance record since his first season at Manchester United. He’s good enough; he’s just not reliable enough. Still, it won’t affect them much in the long term. The marquee signing is Sergio Aguero, the electric Argentine costing £38m from Atletico Madrid. With Carlos Tévez cutting a forlorn figure this summer, Aguero will likely be relied upon to fill in for his countryman, who was very much their talisman last season. Luckily for the youngster, Edin Dzeko has started the season in fantastic form. Samir Nasri is a proven midfield schemer, while Gael Clichy and Stefan Savic both represent risks in different ways. On the way out, a lot of players who helped City make the step up but aren’t quite good enough to carry them through their Champions League campaign. Emmanuel Adebayor, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Jerome Boateng, Shay Given, Craig Bellamy… and Roque Santa Cruz, who admittedly helped them do nothing. All in all, City have strengthened and don’t seem to have made any major errors – that’s worrying for United and Chelsea.
Transfer business mark: 8/10
The only player who actually needs his name on the back of his shirt
