Looking at my summer signings and how they were bedding in,
it was a mixed report.
Bernardello at DMC was proving a huge success. I needed a
decent anchor man whether playing 4-1-2-1-2 or
my 4-1-3-2 with wingers, and he was more than decent. He was the model
of consistency and professionalism, a real hard worker and always coming up
with key tackles. For most countries he surely would have got more than his solitary cap earned for Argentina.
Charlie Adam was doing okay, though he was inconsistent, and
of course since our move to wingers rarely got a game. Given his high wages, I
wasn’t sure of his long term future.
Iwan Somai looked like a great prospect for the future,
terrifying defenders when he ran at them. His issue was he was injured so
frequently he couldn’t get many games under his belt. I would have loved to
sign him but I balked at 11 million for a player so injury prone.
Perisic was real class, and I was desperate to sign him. The
agreed 6 million fee seemed like a bargain, so I determined to turn the loan to
a purchase before the loan expired.
Riise was strong and consistent, and though his wages were
perhaps too high for a second choice left back, I couldn’t complain about his performances
or his effort.
Whisper it, but Arshavin's career is over
Kakuta was proving a great player, regardless of fee, but
for 180,000 he was an absolute steal. My coaches were really helping him fill
his potential and at his young age he was developing quickly.
Lacina Traore was
also doing well, though through no fault of his own, he wasn’t really getting a
good run of games.
Brahimi was clearly an underperformer. I knew this when I
bought him, and it wasn’t his fault that our change of formation gave him a key
starting role at AML which he clearly wasn’t up to.
Simao’s reckless aggression had led to our big row and he
was now loaned out to Fulham
Loanees Jonathan Viera and Jonathan Dos Santos had been returned, indicating
their performance, Carroll was as
excellent as last year, as was Paloschi but also just as injury prone. Jeffrey
Bruma was proving a very capable centre back and his homegrown status was a big
asset.
Aboubakar I saw as one for the future, but he felt he was
ready. When no-one came in to loan him, he asked for a transfer. I granted his
request and moved him to the reserves.
Arshavin and Green were sadly past their best, and Arshavin
was indeed out for the rest of his contract with a serious injury that would
see him choose to retire gracefully at season's end.
As the transfer window started, even I realised that 7
strikers was farcical, and I made the decision to sell Kweuke.
Kweuke had had almost a year of poor goalscoring form, and
though his average ratings were consistently high, I couldn’t afford to pay him
his £40,000 wages without goals in return. So he was transfer listed.
A loan again, naturally! James Rodriguez comes in at AMC
One reason I’d got him for a bargain £2.9 million (which was
every penny of transfer budget I had left) was that I offered Sparta Prague 50%
of the sell on fee. It was a last ditch effort at the time to get them to
accept the bid. Had the board given me
the extra million Sparta had wanted
at the time, they wouldn’t have had to watch 50% of the sell-on fee
disappearing to Sparta . I got 10
million for him, but added a 50% sell on fee of my own, which I hope should
yields some money a season or two down the line.
Early in the transfer window I terminated the loans of Jon
Viera and Jonathan Dos Santos. Both
seemed surplus to requirements. Then
Fulham came in to take the still sulking Simao off my hands on loan leaving me
with one DM, and Arshavin suffered a season ending injury, meaning I had to
move Kakuta to AMR. I still had options for AMC: Howson, and sometime Perisic, though as
Brahimi was not really cutting it at AML, Perisic was making that spot his own.
I began training up Jenssen as an AMC. Jenssen had not
fussed or complained despite the fact that our 4-2-4 meant he wasn’t getting
any games, but he was already a competent AMC and if I could train him up to be
accomplished there, I could keep a very good player onside.
Looking at players listed for loan, I spotted James
Rodriguez of Porto. He was amazingly talented,clearly better than anyone I had
in the team, but Porto wanted 1 million a month to loan him. Yes, you did read
that correctly. One million a month.
However IF his performances turned draws into victories, and enabled us
to qualify for Europe I thought it would be worth it.
I negotiated Porto down to 800K per month and agreed a 3
month loan.
The new DM: Karim Guede arrives from Gladbach
As for the DM position, I bought in Karim Guede for 400k
from Gladbach. The only issue he would have was the brilliant form of
Bernardello, more of which later.
I also bought promising young midfielder Marico and goalie
Iroindo for a combined 500k as clearly I didn’t have enough promising
youngsters!
I also did my annual bargain shop of players whose contracts
expired in the summer and signed pre-contract deals with
Bruno Manga (DC) from Lorient ,
a very good purchase as he would certainly got straight into the first team.
Scott Carson (GK) from Bursaspor. A much better back up
goalie than Rob green whose contract expired in the summer.
Ryad Boudebouz (AMR)
from FC Sochaux. A natural AMR, which we badly needed
Dusan tadic (AML)
from Twente. A much better AML than any we owned.
Those were my strong, sensible acquisitions.
I also signed pre-contracts with:
Seydou Doumbia of CSKA
Moscow. An excellent striker but we already had too many!;
Mac Reybus from Terek , a backup AML/AMR but we had plenty
who could fill his position;
And 4 more promising youngsters!
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