The January transfer window seems to always do this; 4 weeks of flirting between clubs, the odd loan deal going through, an under-pressure manager splashing out, a ‘small’ club holding onto their biggest asset and everything seems reasonable. Until Transfer bedlam day, when you might just get a pay off on the free bet you made on so-and-so joining such-and-such.
Today has seen Liverpool break two records, one for acquiring a player and the other for the sale of a player. Their hands were tied in regards to star striker Fernando Torres leaving as the sulky Spaniard handed in a transfer request. But to then go on and spend the £50m they received for him on the Championship’s 6th top-scorer is beyond most. Just not King Kenny.
Liverpool will not be relegated this season and it’s fair to say that they will not regain a Champions League place this term either. So to spurn their large sum gained through the sale of Torres on a promising young striker who has a quesationable attitude (Carroll has had more brushes with the law than he’s brushed his ponytail) and is currently out injured is laughable. So let us laugh.
Some claim Carroll has only joined Liverpool because it’s the only city where his hairstyle is still fashionable but the former Newcastle number 9 might point to his new £80,000-a-week contract on Merseyside.
His captain and carer Kevin Nolan will have to pass on the baby-sitting duties to Kop hero Steven Gerrard who is also one that is susceptible to the odd bar-brawl or pub punch-up.
Newcastle boss Alan Pardew stated when he took over just two months ago he claimed the local lad was not for sale “at any price”, unless that price is a dazzling £35m it appears.
What seems to have gone under the radar is Liverpool had also just signed a new number 7. A certain volleyball-playing, opponent-biting Uruguyan striker who isn’t too bad himself; netting 35 goals in 33 league games last year.
Speaking ahead of his move to Anfield, Suarez revealed:
“I am happy. It is important for anybody to go to such a big club. It is a great opportunity for me.
“It is a beautiful club. Everybody wants to play there. They always play Champions League or Europa League and belong to the top four clubs in the Premier League.”
Well Luis, not if your name is Fernando Torres.
“This is the best club in the country. My commitment and loyalty to the club and to the fans is the same as it was on my first day when I signed.”
5 months later, Nando decides to hand in a transfer request. Loyalty? What loyalty?
Now Torres is apparently worth £50m and has agreed to join Chelsea despite the club not allowing him to discuss personal terms until the deal was agreed. Think he cares? Me neither.
Torres has been unhappy all season he tells us and that is apparently why he hasn’t been finding the net as often as is expected of him. El Niño has (like Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor and Darren Bent before him) asked to leave the club he once claimed to love and expressed his desire to finish career at. It seems it has become the season of the wayward striker so lock up your number nines because this trend threatens to continue.
Torres, like Rooney, was poor at the World Cup and has been a shadow of his former self in this season’s campaign. It is thought that he had been replaced with an imposter who some claim to be his twin brother Fernandez. Chelsea will be hoping for the blonde-locked Fernando to return and help guide them to success in Europe as well as at home.
Liverpool fans outraged at the idea of Torres leaving Anfield have come out in numbers burning Torres shirts, effigies and whatever they can find but it’s understandable that the former Atletico forward left the Vicente Calderon for Liverpool because he was after the opportunity to win trophies and earn more money. So he heads to Chelsea with an identical brief: win stuff and earn more.
Their fans are hypocritical to suggest he’s a traitor as their move for Blackpool talisman Charlie Adam is exactly the same. The 25-year-old who looks more 35 earns a measly £9,000 a-week will bump up his slaary over 5 times that should he join Liverpool tonight.
To briefly sum up Liverpool’s panic buys this afternoon: that’s a shade under £50m for 2 players who were plying their trade in the championship last season.
And to add some more insight into the inflated market in its current state; Torres = £50m, Carroll = £35m while Szczesny-Clichy-Djourou-Vermaelen-Sagna -Nasri -Walcott -Fabregas -Song -Wilshere – RVP = £44m. Nuff said.
Seriously though, with the financial fair play rules coming into play (see my piece on UEFA’s Financial Fair Play) next season Liverpool and Chelsea (along with Manchester City and others) need to take a serious look at themselves because after spending all of this money may have been in vain if they are dumped out of European competition for failing to break even.
Spurs are trying their utmost to pull a coup to ensure they stay in the top 4 this year and are going all out for, you’ve guessed it – a striker. Despite having 4 on their books and loaning Robbie Keane out to West Ham yesterday, Harry Redknapp in typical fashion is after a bargain that he will not find in this current market which has gone from Car-Boot sale to Bedlam Bazaar. They have had a £38m bid for Sergio Aguero rejected, a £35m move for Giuseppe Rossi snubbed and are now sniffing around Diego Forlan. The wheeler-dealer can’t help himself.
Although all this drama is both exhillarating and in equal measure, it is worth noting that with an additional striker ahead of him Nicolas Anelka’s going to be moody(er).