Transfer News: The Biggest Winner Among Title Contenders – Spurs?

Hard to admit it but it isn’t Manchester United that is doing the majority of the transfer (significant transfer) but it is Tottenham Hotspurs instead. Never mind Gareth Bale, Spurs’ signing is more than half of their possible starting XI. From mid table onwards teams like Everton and Crystal Palace (and even Liverpool) also did well in the transfer windows.
Of the two top title contender – Arsenal and Manchester United were the ones criticized – by their own fans prior to the deadline for lack of significant signing. Manchester City and Chelsea did their part early and seems happy with their new signings – at least their fans are not making noises. Tottenham Hotspurs fans should be the happiest of the lot despite losing their star player Gareth Bale.

Arsene Wenger however redeemed himself and Arsenal by signing German playmaker Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid on the transfer deadline – down to the last few hours. Ozil’s arrival mean Arsenal broke their club’s transfer record. His wages are not low either but this is seen as a coup, even by rival clubs – Jose Mourinho even blocked out of favour striker Demba Ba loan move to Arsenal for fear of making the Gunners even more potent title rivals after the arrival of Ozil at Emirates. Even the signing of former player Mathieu Flamini on a free transfer also goes down well with football pundits. With these two key signings, Arsenal’s title chances have increase significantly.

At Manchester United, the only significant signing is Marouane Fellaini from Everton. Although not in the mould of Mesut Ozil, Fellaini’s signing is also welcome by United’s fans – except the small issue of having to pay £4 million more. Fellaini is a versatile midfielder, able to play different midfield roles from holding to attacking. He is also a good aerial threat particularly in set pieces. Already there are comparisons between Fellaini and Eric Cantona – in terms of the Belgium’s potential. However aside from Fellaini there are no others, not that United is not making the efforts but rather the efforts failed – badly. Athletico Bilbao’s Anders Herrera, Real Madrid’s Sami Khedira and Fabio Coentrao are the bids United also put in on the last day of the transfer window but none of the above materializes. David Moyes priorities has been two midfielders and a leftback/ defender so in terms of objectives, Moyes did not get what he wanted. The plus side for Moyes is that he inherited a title winning squad, with the majority of the squad multiple winners who are still showing the hunger for more – hence he had at his disposal a squad way better in qualities compared to his Everton’s day. As a new manager at the hottest seat in club football, the smartest thing to do is not to go out and make new signings like how Spurs did – especially it is a title winning squad. Rather Moyes prefers to use the existing squad and built from there knowing that it would take time (at least two years according to Moyes) to mould a United team in his style. Therefore United title chances remains there but it will take all of Moyes’ football knowledge and abilities to guide the team to another trophy.

Chelsea and Manchester City are the two title contenders that remain quietly confident with their squad and new signings. At this point of the season, the new signings from City and Chelsea has yet to show their worth but on paper these are seen as the two strongest squads by pundits, bearing in mind the ‘manager factor’ are also taken into considerations.

Tottenham Hotspurs meanwhile lose their star player Gareth Bale – not before plunging into the transfer market buying more than half of a starting XI. With Daniel Levy at the helm, Spurs did well to pocket £86 million from Bale’s transfer to Real Madrid. In the process they brought in Roberto Soldado, Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen, Paulinho, Etienne Capoue, Nacer Chadli and Vlad Chiriches. Aside from Soldado, all the other signings are not household names but rather highly rated quality emerging players. It is now up to Andre Villas Boas on how to use these qualities and transform them into winning combinations.

In terms of new signings Tottenham Hotspurs wins hands down – or rather Daniel Levy did well compare to other title contenders, better than Chelsea and Manchester City. Losing their star player was bad but the manner in which Spurs went on and try to replace him quickly or rather smartly was the key. Gary Neville once remarked that the deadline signings may highlight how badly a club is being run and he is not wrong on certain aspect – particularly those involving his former club. New signings can be a breath of fresh air for most clubs and can take clubs to a new level, which is why so much effort was taken by football clubs during the transfer windows.

In theory, while most experts and pundits agreed that new signing is important for any team, there are also risks involved, such as the risk of ‘disturbing’ the balance of the existing team with too many new signings at one time. Arsene Wenger called this risk ‘technical risk’ and in this sense, while Spurs has the best summer transfer activities, they are also in danger of having an unbalanced team due to so many players arriving at one time.

Now that the players are in and the season started, it is the managers’ turn to show their ‘stuff’. The real test will comes in 2 separate periods – first during the hectic winter months and secondly during the run-ins towards the end of the season. It is now up to the managers to ‘walk the talk’ – especially Andre Villas Boas.