Jose Mourinho will be rather forlorn after a disappointing transfer season by his standards. Petr Cech, who spent almost the entirety of last season on the bench as understudy to Thibaut Courtois, moved to north London in search of a starting spot and Mourinho was quick to replace the Czech ‘keeper with former-Stoke City man Asmir Begovic. Radamel Falcao, who had a dismal record last season on-loan at Manchester United, penned another loan deal, this time with the Blues. After letting Spanish left-back Filipe Luis return to Atletico Madrid only after a year at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho signed long-term target Abdul Rahman Baba from Augsburg for a reported fee of £22 million. After Chelsea’s hot pursuit of John Stones finally came to an end on deadline day, even though the English defender handed in a formal transfer request, as Everton rejected all bids for the promising young centre-back. In the absence of Stones, Chelsea completed the signing of Nantes defender Papy Djilobodji for £2.2 million, which shows signs of despair and desperation, as Mourinho looks to stabilize a leaky back-four after beginning their title defence in horrifying fashion. Although they were linked with the likes of Paul Pogba, Nicolas Otamendi, Kevin De Bruyne, Marquinhos and Ezequiel Garay, things never really materialized into concrete deals but Mourinho shocked the footballing fraternity when he snapped up Pedro for a whopping £28 million from Barcelona, who was almost certain to join rivals Manchester United.
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Liverpool weren’t laidback in their transfer plans either, signing 3 players – Adam Bogdan, Danny Ings and James Milner for free from Bolton, Burnley and Manchester City respectively. Adam Bogdan will play as standby for their number one Simon Mignolet, while Danny Ings will provide that attacking edge up-front. Milner was signed particularly to fill the void left by Steven Gerrard’s departure, while Roberto Firmino arrived from Hoffenheim in a £28 million deal to perhaps replace Raheem Sterling, following his bumper move to Manchester City. The Reds strengthened their faltering defence, singing Nathaniel Clyne for £12.5 million from Southampton, along with teenage revelation Joe Gomez from Charlton Athletic. But undoubtedly the biggest transfer is the one of Christian Benteke from Aston Villa for an astounding £32.5 million, a close second in the most expensive Liverpool buys, just beneath royal flop Andy Carroll, who was also incidentally a towering front-man. The exciting Belgian winger Divock Origi, who spent last season on-loan at Lille, was brought back into the side and is likely to feature in the manager’s plans sometime soon. Last season, Rodgers frantically signed a host of players to replace the Barcelona-bound Luis Suarez, which proved to be a costly error, as none of the signings had successful campaigns other than the gifted German midfielder Emre Can. This time around, Brendan Rodgers was quick to complete the signings, as most of the new boys travelled to Asia and Australia for pre-season, where they were unbeaten in 7 games. Despite starting the season on a positive note, with 7 points from 4 games, the Reds definitely don’t have title-winning squad and are certainly beatable but will look to secure a place in the Champions League.
Swansea City have yet again done some clever business in this window, signing Andre Ayew from Marseille for free, in which is undoubtedly on the deals of the season, as Garry Monk’s side are unbeaten in the league following another win against Manchester United.
Stoke City are on the road to bigger and better things and this summer window is a testament to that fact. Xherdan Shaqiri is arguably their biggest signing ever, while midfielders Marco van Ginkel (on-loan from Chelsea), Joselu and Ibrahim Afellay have filled the void left by Steven N’Zonzi.
Saido Berahino was miffed after his move to Spurs fell through at last, after the Baggies publicly rejected his transfer request and 4 bids from Tottenham. Although West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace put a £25 million price tag on the U-21 striker, Tottenham repeatedly asked the price to be lowered but Peace held firm and as it turns out, Berahino is going nowhere. The visibly chagrined Englishman took to twitter to express his anger, as he tweeted – “Sad how I can’t say exactly how the club has treated me but I can officially say I will never play Jeremy Peace.” A move looks highly unlikely now that the deadline has passed and it seems, Berahino has no choice but to rebuild his broken relationship with West Brom hierarchy.
Newcastle United finally made some credible buys after years of buying relatively unknown talent, with the likes of Georginio Wijnaldum from PSV for £14.7 million and Florian Thauvin for a neat £12 million from Marseille. Steve McClaren also roped in Anderlecht duo Aleksandar Mitrovic and Chancel Mbemba and although the former has only accumulated bookings and a red card in his appearances for the Magpies, he is a promising prospect.
Tags: Summer Transfer
