No More Onion Bags

Happy New Transfer Window!

// January 4th, 2010 // Uncategorized

For soccer fans, the excitement of January 1 is not that wonderful hangover, but the flurry of rumors and dealmaking news that happens once the new calendars get tacked on to the wall.  Supporters of teams that are floundering  get a chance to dream about those one or two players that will get them back on track, teams that are surprisingly in the hunt get to make that buy that says “we’re here to stay”, and leaders get to waste more money on players who probably won’t play, anyway.  Oh yeah, and Everton gets to sign Landon Donovan.

To top it off, this is an African Nations Cup year – many good sides will be without key players for a month or so, which means that there might be some head-scratching signings made by short-term-minded coaches.  The coaches have no incentive to think anything but short-term.  It’s not their money, and they just need to win now.  Harry Redknapp is always good for these types of moves.  On the last day of this past summer’s transfer window he bought Niko Krancjar to replace Luke Modric who had just gone injured.  But now Modric is back, and although Kranjcar is a great player and had a few nice games, it’s hard to see how he’s going to get that much burn for the rest of this year. 

Buying a star in midwinter as a reaction to a short-term problem tends to be a bad idea (see Robbie Keane to Tottenham and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to Madrid last year).  There are good winter signings that can happen, but these tend not to be of the spectacular variety. See Man City’s signing of Craig Bellamy.  (Every rule needs a good exception — in this case it’s Andre Arshavin).  Barcelona are known for grabbing an almost-over-the-hill midfielder every other year, who, for little cash, gives them that extra cover, experience and oomph.  First it was Edgar Davids, then Demetreo Albertinio, and now it might be Patrick Vieira.  Seems like a good idea to me.

Maybe it’s the economy, but I’m hearing less chatter than usual about transfers this winter.  It’s particularly surprising given that it’s an African Cup year, and that the English league is more up for grabs than ever.  Sadly, it’s hard to get excited about Serie A, what with Inter’s eight point lead.  Things are tight in Spain, but only for the top two.  But you would think that English teams would be in a free for all.  Fricking economy.

Posted by Lazar