Premier Transfer Roundup

Well, it has been a long time since I did anything for my loyal followers so...
The Transfer Deadline day has always intrigued me, I have never understood why so many clubs leave their business until literally an hour before the window shuts. It's weird.
Anyway, I thought I would whiz through all the 20 premier league clubs evaluating their success this transfer window...

Manchester United:
Bought early in the window to allow their new stars to settle and bed into the team, and what a success their new purchases have been...
De Gea made a name for himself as the next Casillas. Not a bad player to be a compared to is it?
Phil Jones was solid all season for blackburn last season, and despite his youth he has shown himself to be more than competent.
Ashley Young is arguably one the best wingers about at the moment, and has been ever present for Villa for the last few years, a great signing for Fergie and his reds.

Manchester City:
Nasri was the latest in a summer of high spending from the richest club in the world, and the attacking flair he provided at Arsenal will certainly not go a miss in the Citizen's vast squad of attacking talents.
Speaking of attacking talents, City also signed Sergio Aguero from Athletico Madrid, and the highly-rated striker will be another great purchase for Mancini.
Mancini Also picked up Owen Hargreaves on a free from Manchester United, if he can get him fit and back to his best, he has the potential to be one of the best central midfielders in the world.
Gael Clichy was also brought in from Arsenal to help balance the squad of attackers Mancini drafted in his experience at the back will be invaluable.

Liverpool:
A very busy transfer window indeed for Kenny, trying to build a squad of British players to compliment the £35m splash out on Andy Carroll.
Kenny bought in 3 of the best midfielders from last years premier league: Jordan Henderson from Sunderland, Charlie Adam from the relegated seasiders and of course Stewart Downing from Aston Villa, these signings will help Liverpool try to establish themselves once again as champions league candidates, and will slot in well once Steven Gerrard is back to full fitness. They also purchased Roma goalkeeper Doni, and impressive wing back Jose Enrique from the toon. When everyone thought liverpool were done with their signings, they picked Craig Bellamy up from Manchester City. The Striker can do well for Liverpool, of course having already played for them in the past.

Chelsea:
Chelsea chased Spurs' highly-rated midfield star Luka Modric for most of the transfer window, however, Tottenham managed to keep their man, Chelsea instead turning to Valencia's Juan Mata and a last minute swoop for Liverpool's Portuguese star Meireles. The new signings will help strengthen the midfield of an already very strong Chelsea team, to help their push to regain the Premier League crown, they also signed Romelu Lukaku, a hot prospect for the future.

Wolves:
Wolves had a rather quiet tranfer window, only signing 3 new players, ex birmingham Roger Johnson will help Mick McCarthy's men stiffen up their defense, and Jamie O'Hara from Spurs' is a very shrew purchase for just 5m, he is a very good midfield player. Wolves also picked up De Vries on a free from newly promoted Swansea.

Newcastle:
I'm afraid Mike Ashley has not followed through on his promise to spend the £35m for Andy Carroll on the squad, picking up Gabby Obertan from Manchester United for a cheap 3m, and also picking up Demba Ba on a free, who played in the Premier League last year with West Ham. The Toon did however pick up a very promising young Full-back from Inter-Milan by the name of Davide Santon. However, after losing Andy Carroll, Joey Barton, Kevin Nolan and Jose Enrique I can't help but to have a negative feeling about this year for the Geordie club.

Aston Villa:
Haven't done badly at all in this years transfer window, although they lost two key in the form of Young and Downing, they have signed international keeper Shane Given, the outstanding Charles N'Zogbia (particularly last season), and two Spurs' players in the form of full-back Alan Hutton and creative attacking midfielder Jermaine Jenas. Very shrewd signings from Villa's new boss, they should help Villa push towards the Europa league spots this season.

Wigan:
A rather disappointing transfer window for Martinez, after losing Charles N'Zogbia to Aston Villa, no real attempt seems to have been made to replace him, however, the latics have signed Celtic's industrious midfielder Shaun Maloney, they have also secured Ali Al Habsi permanently from Bolton following last year's loan spell with the club.

Stoke City:
Stoke City have had a very productive transfer window, shattering their old transfer record to sign unwanted Spurs' Striker Peter Crouch, Stoke picked him up for 10m, and you would the 6ft 7 striker would be a perfect pawn in Pulis' long ball strategy. Stoke also toughen up their already tough defense with the signings of Woodgate and Upson, very experienced and established defenders who will help Pulis' Europa adventure more succesful you would think. However, that's not all, Stoke also snatched up Spurs' Wilson Palicios, and Birmingham's Jerome who netted 6 times in 4 appearances against stoke, which is why Pulis was so determined to land him.

Bolton:
Have bought in many new faces over the window, including ex Stoke midfielder Tuncay Sanli on loan, David N'gog from Liverpool, Gael kakuta on loan from Chelsea, 2 Burnley boys in Chris Eagles and Tyrone Mears, Nigel Reo-Coker on a free, Dedryck Boyata on loan from Manchester City and Darren Pratley from Swansea, its hard to see the benefit that these signings would bring to the club, more quantity than quality for me in this window, but we shall see as Bolton seek to pull themselves up the table towards the Europa Allocations.

Everton:
Poor cash-strapped Everton haven't been able to bring anyone in this summer due to their debts, however they have lost star player Mikel Arteta to Arsenal, and James Vaughan to Premier League new boys Norwich City, also reportedly striker Beckford has joined Leicester. Could have been worse for the Tofees though as Stoke City looked to lure away impressive midfielder Cahill.

QPR:
The Championship Champions have had a very productive transfer window bringing in no less than 8 new faces to Loftus Road. Nippy winger Shaun Wright-Phillips was the latest in many quality purchases from the London club - Arsenal Full-back Armand Traore, Aston Villa's other Young - Luke, Creative Flair-filled midfielder Joey Barton, Ex-seasiders' striker DJ Campbell 2 West Ham players in Danny Gabbison and Kieron Dyer and Finally Jay Bothroyd from Cardiff. Hard to see clarity when so many individuals are bought at once, but their is a lot of quality in Warnock's purchases and we should see at least mid-table security from the capital-based club.

Sunderland:
Sunderland have also been very active in this year's summer transfer window, signing 10 players, that's right. TEN. most high-profile of course will be the double purchase of O'shea and Wes Brown, but they also signed Arsenal striker Bendtner on loan, Blackpool's Vaughan, experienced midfielder Seb Larsson, Kieran Westwood from Coventry, very promising young finisher Connor Wickham, Birmingham's Craig Gardner, Elmohamady from an Egyptian side, and an unknown (to me at least) Ji Dong-Won from Chunnam Dragons? I think that's right... Steve Bruce and the Black Cats had a very successful season last season, and with some quality new signings (such as Bendtner, O'shea and Brown) I can't see why the club can't build on that.

Norwich:
Norwich have bought from the lower leagues (an interesting, untested method) but you shouldn't argue with a man who takes a club through two successive promotions to the Premier. Bringing in on loan defender Kyle Naughton, ex-Evertonian striker James Vaughan, and a small host of lower league players - Anthony Pilkington (Hudderfield), Bradley Johnson (Leeds), Elliot Bennett (Brighton) and Steve Morison (Millwall), who knows want Paul Lambert is capable of? I'm going to reserve judgement about these signings, because the truth is I know very little about them, good luck to them nevertheless.

Swansea:
Only signed 3 players this transfer window, which is strange considering the lack of depth at the Liberty Stadium, good signings though! Reading's experienced yet hot striker Leroy Lita, 26 year old Wayne Routledge from the toon, and Watford Striker Danny Graham. I can't see Swansea doing too much with these signings, it will be tough for them to avoid the drop, but I do think that they're good signings, I just think that the club generally lack the depth of quality needed to stay afloat in the Premier.

Fulham:
A relatively quiet transfer window and seemed to reached it's pinnacle right at the beginning, Fulham signing ex Liverpool player John Arne Riise from AS Roma, however just as big ben chimed the transfer window shut it emerged that Fulham had made 2 new signings - Orlando Sa the Porto striker and the highly rated attacking all-rounder Bryan Ruiz for just over 10m, not a bad buy at all for Martin Jol. We will first have to see how his new signings settle into the Premier, but I think Fulham should be ok with Jol at the helm.

Arsenal:
Well, it appeared hope at faded when Arsenal lost Nasri, Fabregas and Clichy - especially when Arsene failed to replace them. He seemed to have left it until the final day to make his flurry of signings, some of them not too shabby either! On top of the transfers we already knew about before Manchester United basically humiliated them: Jenkinson, Gervinho, Chamberlain, and Joel Campbell. It seemed a lot of work would have to be done if Arsenal were to get near the Champions League places this year. So they sign: Mikel Arteta, Yossi Benayoun, Per, Mertesacker, Andre Santos and Park Chu-Young. 3 very established midfielders in there, to hopefully clog the void left behind by the loss of Fabregas and Nasri. Not a bad transfer window in the end then from Arsene considering all, I still don't believe that they will have the squad to match Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City though (looks like Europa next season for me).

WBA:
There have been some good signings this window at the Hawthorns, namely Shane Long from Reading, it would be a crime for me to not mention him, as I think he will be one of the best signings of the season, scoring on his first two games for the club against the current champions Manchester United, and last years runners up Chelsea. West Brom have also signed ex Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster who player fantastically last season for Birmingham in the Premier League. Zoltan Gera from Fulham is also another good signing for Roy, a very experienced midfielder will offer WBA a bit of leadership in the middle of the park.

Blackburn:
Seemingly quiet. The main word I would use to describe Blackburn's transfer activities this window. However, it seems I am wrong and they have bought in four new faces slightly 'under the radar'. Birmingham's highly rated centre-back Scott Dann has been drafted in by Steve Kean, clearly he will be a good replacement for the departed Phil Jones. Blackburn have also brought in Montenegro midfielder Vukcevic, Serbian midfielder Petrovic and Dundee United's Goodwillie. I'm undecided on these signings, I think that Scott Dann will be a very good signing, and I would like to say that Blackburn will be safe this year, but I don't think that Steve Kean is the man that can get them to safety.

FINALLY!
Tottenham:
Very sluggish start to the season against both Manchester clubs (losing 3-0 and 5-1). You may expect the del-boy like Harry Redknapp to have pulled a bunny out of a hat, much like the signing of Van Der Vaart last season, but apparently Harry has ran out of magic dust in this transfer window. Losing many players (Crouch, Palacios, Hutton, Jenas, Bentley, Keane, and O'hara) and only bringing in 3, is an easy way of trimming your squad I suppose, this season Harry got rid of the dead-wood if you will, and bought shrewdly, bringing in top shot stopper Brad Friedel for free, Unwanted striker Emmanuel Adebayor on loan and England-capped Midfield maestro Scott Parker from relegated West Ham. Not too bad from Harry, but with his reputation and money generated from the transfers, I was expecting something magical - possibly Ronaldo or Kaka.

Well there it is folks, the complete rundown of the transfer window for the Premier League, running up a total bill of around £466,000,000 which is around about Manchester City's wage bill per week. Just for a bit of fun I thought I would predict the league table at the end. Of course I will be no where near accurate, and you are welcome to submit to me your own predictions in the comments? why not It's just a bit of fun...

1 Man United
2 Man City
3 Chelsea
4 Liverpool
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5 Tottenham
6 Arsenal
7 Sunderland
8 Stoke
9 Aston Villa
10 QPR
11 Newcastle
12 Wigan
13 WBA
14 Bolton
15 Fulham
16 Norwich
17 Everton
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18 Blackburn
19 Wolves
20 Swansea

Ok, thanks for reading. I will try to write more sometime soon, when I do I will spread to all my social networking sites to try and bump so you may see it. Thanks again guys.