For much of January, a lot of talking was done and little business; so, it was no different from most windows, granted, but in relative context, there had been far more speculation than realisation compared to last year’s window, which saw a total of £225m spent. At current, just 13% of last year’s total expenditure has been matched, leading some to rashly proclaim UEFA’s financial fair play is taking effect; however, with football, in the majority, ignorant to the financial crisis Europe has been in for the last few windows, spending still didn’t stop or decline.
In fact, last year, the volume of transfers occurring was up 16.6% from 2009 at an average of 10 transfers per club, across the 500 clubs surveyed by the CIES Football Observatory. Undeniably, the new money in Russian football is rather warping this figure, with five of the current top seven clubs in Russia’s Premier League, the fortunate beneficiaries of the plutocrats of their country. This window has been no different: Spartak Moscow, owned by oil billionaire Leonid Fedun, have purchased Everton’s left winger Diniyar “Bily” Bilyaletdinov; and, Balázs Dzsudzsák has made the move from big spenders Anzhi, owned by billionaire Suleyman Kerimov, to Dynamo Moscow, owned by VTB Bank, Russia’s largest bank, on a four-year deal.
- Diniyar Bilyaletdinov
Bily will significantly value his move, that came as deadline day ushered closer, with Moyes stating that, “it just didn’t quite work and obviously we’ve decided to sell,” and a move home should ensure Bily can confirm his place in Russia’s 23-man Euro 2012 squad. His two-and-a-half-year stint in England will be best remembered for his goal against Manchester United in a 3-1 over the Red Devils in which he cut inside with the outside of his left boot in a first touch that allowed him to shoot on site, which swerved beautifully into the bottom left-hand corner of Edwin Van Der Sar’s goal. The strike won Everton’s goal of the season.
The left-midfielder scored nine goals in 77 appearances for The Toffees and joins a side that are currently 4th in the Champions Group of the Russian Premier League, which continues on the 5th of March, when Spartak face Rubin Kazan. For Bilyaletdinov, an opportunity to revive a career that was already going stale at 26, following just 523 minutes of football for Everton so far this season: that’s just 24% of the total amount of playing time the Russian could’ve enjoyed. The Lokomotiv youth product will be hoping Spartak treat him well.
- Ryo Miyaichi
Signed by Arsenal in 2010 having impressed on trial after reaching All Japan High School Soccer Tournament, which was televised across Japan, Miyaichi has been riding the crest of a wave that is Japan’s footballing revolution, which is predicted for big things by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who signed the rapid winger: “In [Japan] they have an aptitude to have a team attitude and a hardworking attitude and I think once they get the education they will produce good players.”
Much like Jack Wilshere’s loan to Bolton Wanderers exactly two January windows ago, which reaped him 14 appearances and a goal, Miyaichi, as well as Arsenal, will be hoping this loan move until the end of the season will prove his worth in the Premier League – a competition he is yet to play his part in. With Theo Walcott, Gervinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Andrei Arshavin all providing competition on the wing, the Japanese 19-year old will be eager to perform for Bolton in order to impress Arsenal.
Great article mate!! Keep them up!