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On the last Friday of July, most teams around Europe will be looking at their squads as being pretty much ready for the new season ahead. With the elite European leagues starting in two or three weeks time and pre-season well under way, now is a good time to reflect on which clubs are having the best and worst time of it in the markets this summer. Barring some rapid accelerations in developments with certain deals and the usual transfer deadline day madness, the bulk of the work has been done.
I’ve looked at teams having a good window, now it’s on to clubs not going so well.
Major Ins: Yaya Sanogo (Auxerre, Free)
Major Outs: Andrei Arshavin (Zenit, Free) Vito Mannone (Sunderland, £2.5m) Andre Santos (Flamengo, Free)
Summary: Arsenal entered this summer as one of only two major European clubs that would have the same manager in place. Allied to increased financial confidence because of an easing in the repayments schedule on the stadium and a change in financial fair play rules, confidence was high that they would finally sign big names rather than sell them. The likes of Jovetic, Rooney, Fellaini and Higuain were all reputed to be realistic targets. But nothing has happened. The season ticket renewal deadline came and the big talk died down immediately. A deal for Higuain was supposedly close, although in reality it probably never was. They could have gotten the Argentine for £32m but are now embroiled in going after Luis Suarez in a deal that could cost them over £50m for a player they can’t use domestically until late September. The squad isn’t lacking quality, but considering what they said they were going to do, it’s very disappointing.
Major Ins: None
Major Outs: None
Summary: Although Wilfried Zaha has joined up with the squad after his January move, it has been a window of frustration and out of character openness for United. Whether or not they actually bid on Thiago Alcantara and Kevin Strootman or not, they still missed out on them, choosing instead to focus on the much harder, if not impossible to get, Cesc Fabregas. United have made it clear that they want to support David Moyes by giving him a star player as a welcome present but they so far haven’t managed that and options are looking increasingly limited. Although they could turn to Marouane Fellaini, it probably wouldn’t look great for Moyes if he can only sign one of his ex-players. There’s also the rumbling Rooney situation which is frustrating for all involved.
Stoke City
Major Ins: Erik Pieters (PSV, £3m) Marc Muniesa (Barcelona, Free)
Major Outs: Dean Whitehead (Middlesbrough, Free) Michael Owen (Retired)
Summary: The early moves for Pieters and Muniesa attracted positive attention because they were of more footballing stock than Stoke’s usual targets. But the one area of the team that, left back aside, has been very strong for a number of years is the defence. The problem for Stoke is the attack and the general lack of inventiveness or creativity that last year saw them only score 34 goals in the league. But this hasn’t been addressed so far at all. The likes of Scott Sinclair and possibly even Demba Ba are seemingly available to offer Stoke some punch in attack but they’ve not made those moves. Even with some tactical tweaks which Hughes is working on he still has the same attacking personnel. The lack of goals nearly dragged Stoke down last year and not doing anything about it is baffling.
Freiburg
Major Ins: Gelson Fernandes (Sporting Lisbon, 290,000) Francis Coquelin (Arsenal, Loan) Mike Hanke (Borussia Mönchengladbach, Free)
Major Outs: Max Kruse (Borussia Mönchengladbach, £2m) Cedric Makiadi (Werder Bremen, £2.5m) Daniel Caligiuri (Wolfsburg, £2m)
Summary: Last season, Freiburg finished 5th and qualified for the Europa League against the odds. But perhaps not used to being in such a lofty position, they have already sold three key men for less than their true value. Attacking midfielder Max Kruse scored 11 and set up eight goals last season but has been gifted away for £2m. That’s about £4-6 millions less than they should have been getting for him. Caligiuri scored five and made five and provided a key pacey outlet in left midfield but likewise has been sold way under value. Perhaps their inexperience at operating at such a level has caused them to do this but they’ve cost themselves the best part of £10m by under selling, and this is reflected in their buys. A series of bits and pieces, headlined by Mike Hanke who as a striker, hasn’t got to double figures since 2008 when even then he only managed 10. A big step backwards this summer and completely of their own doing.
PSV Eindhoven
Major Ins: Jeffrey Bruma (Chelsea, Undisclosed) Stijn Schaars (Sporting Lisbon, Undisclosed) Adam Maher (Twente, £6.7m)
Major Outs Kevin Strootman (Roma, £13m) Dries Mertens (Napoli, £9m) Jeremain Lens (Dynamo Kiev, Undisclosed) Erik Pieters (Stoke £3m)
Summary PSV went in to the summer acknowledging that they were going to be losing Lens and possibly Mertens. But the killer blow here is losing Strootman too, although Maher is a fabulously talented young man who can offer similar output to Mertens. But the Strootman to Schaars move is a huge downgrade and Lens’ goals haven’t been replaced. The players that have come in have made them weaker, and for a club that is already behind an Ajax side who haven’t lost any stars it’s not great. Even more worrying is the prospect of the club jumping in to bed with a third party ownership operation that could involve them losing out on percentages of sales in future. Hard to see what the plan is right now.
Dishonourable mentions
Sevilla Their two club icons have both been sold and only replaced with a variety of bits and pieces. The great rebuild that was promised has been uninspiring so far.
West Ham Carroll has been brought back in for an inflated £15.5m but left back Razvan Rat aside, it will be the same team as last season. They were talking about trying to push on next year but haven’t signed the required players to do so.
Hamburg They’ve lost their best player Son Heung-Min who could yet be followed by more and they’ve not brought in quality. It says a lot if Johan Djourou is one of your key signings. A bad year last year could get worse.
Cardiff City Promoted to the Premier League with a £25m transfer budget but only two players have come in so far, and neither have ever played in the Premier League. Have missed out on Tom Ince and Victor Wanyama to add to the frustration.
