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| How Torres looks in blue. |
A manic final 24 hours sees The Kop wave goodbye to El Nino and welcome in Suarez from Ajax and English star Andy Carroll from Newcastle.
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| Dalglish adds to his revival with Carroll, who has netted 11 goals this campaign. |
Did you really see that coming? The final day of the transfer window on Monday was the busiest in its history; the biggest clubs in the Premier League spending massive money to push for the title in the second half of the season. Fans and critics were quick to criticise Aston Villa’s £18 million signing for Darren Bent, which could yet rise to £24million; but after Liverpool spent £35 million on Fernando Torres’ replacement Andy Carroll, who is still unproven at this level, it makes you wonder if Bent’s signing was a bargain. Liverpool also spent £23million on Luis Suarez; spending a total of £58million in the transfer window. But the biggest move of the day was Torres himself, moving to big rivals Chelsea for £50 MILLION. Chelsea have shown their intent with this signing, whilst also penning defender David Luiz from Benfica for £21million. Roman Abramovich, then, has shown his 100% backing to underfire boss Carlo Ancelotti.
BREAKDOWN OF NEW SIGNINGS.
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Kyle Walker (Spurs, loan), Darren Bent (Sunderland, £24mil), Jean Makoun (Lyon, £6mil), Michael Bradley (Borussia M’bach, loan)
David Bentley (Spurs, loan), Curtis Davies (Villa, £3.5mil), Obafemi Martins (Rubin Kazan, loan)
Jermaine Jones (Schalke, loan), Roque Santa Cruz, (Man City, loan), Ruben Rochina (Barcelona, undisc), Mauro Formica (Newell’s Old Boys, £3mil)
Salaheddine Sbai (Nimes, undisc), James Beattie (Stoke, loan), Andy Reid (Sunderland, £1mil), Jason Puncheon (Southampton, loan)
David Wheater (M’borough, undisc), Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea, loan)
Fernando Torres (Liverpool, £50mil), David Luiz (Benfica, £21mil)
Eric Dier (Sp Lisbon, loan), Apostolos Vellios (I Thessaloniki, undisc)
Steve Sidwell (Villa, undisc), Gael Kakuta (Chelsea, loan)
Conor Thomas (Coventry, loan), Luis Suarez (Ajax, £23mil), Andy Carroll (Newcastle, £35mil)
Edin Dzeko (Wolfsburg, £27mil)
Anders Lindegaard (Aalesund FK, £3.5mil)
Hatern Ben Arfa (Marseille, £5mil), Stephen Ireland (Villa, loan)
Jermaine Pennant (Zaragoza, £1.75mil), John Carew (Villa, loan)
Sulley Muntari (Inter Milan, loan), Stephane Sessegnon (PSG, £6mil)
Bongani Khumalo (Super-sport Utd, £1.5mil), Steven Pienaar (Everton, £3mil)
Carlos Vela (Arsenal, loan)
Wayne Bridge (Man City, loan), Demba Ba (Hoffenheim, undisc), Robbie Keane (Spurs, loan), Gary O’neil (M’boro, £1.5mil), Paul McCallum (Dulwich Hamlet, £40,000)
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Adam Hammill (Barnsley, £500,000), Leigh Griffiths (Dundee, £150,000), Jamie O’Hara (Spurs, loan), Adriano Basso (unatt)
The club breakdown really shows the urgency of teams both at the top and at the bottom. West Ham have greatly enhanced their strikeforce with the signings of Demba Ba and Robbie Keane; this may worry the teams around them, including Wolves and Wigan who haven’t done enough in the window. But all the questions will be answered as the second half of the season kicks off, and teams are about to find out whether their signings will have any effect on where they finish this season. What stands out is Manchester United, who have only brought in one player, but are still the team to beat. Will Torres’ Chelsea now be up to the challenge?
