January transfer window 2011

We are now at the end of the January transfer window, and the question has got to be asked, did it go money mad?

A total of over 215 million pound was spent in the January window by premier league clubs, compared to just 29 million in the January transfer window of 2010.

There was many a debate between football forums and football shows when Aston Villa purchased a young English striker, Darren Bent, for £18 million pound, rising to £24 million. Many football fans and even experts thought that this was to much money, even though he is English and has a ratio of 1 goal every 2 games in the Top Flight.

In contrast, in the last 5 years, he has scored the same amount of goals as Drogba of Chelsea, who cost £30 million plus from French club Marseille, and Rooney of Manchester United, who cost £27 million from Merseyside club Everton.

Many thought that this was going to be the talk of the January transfer window, along with Manchester City’s purchase of Edin Dzeko, bought for £29 million, and these 2 transfers was the talk of window, at least until the final week of the window.

While Liverpool put a bid in for Uruguay striker Suarez of £23 million, who plays for Dutch giants Ajax, Spurs, reportedly put in bids for 5 strikers playing in the La Liga of Spain. Reports suggesting an £18 million bid for Athletico Madrid strikers Diego Forlan and a bid close to £40 Million for Sergio Aguero. Spurs reportedly also had big money bids rejected for Read Madrid’s Karim Benzema, Athletic Bilbao’s Fernando Llorente, Seville’s Luis Fabiano and former Manchester United man front man Giuseppe Rossi. All bids, unfortunately for spurs, failed, along with a bid for Blackpool skipper Charlie Adam. 

Then, Chelsea, the current Premier League holders put in a 35 million pound bid in for Spanish striker Fernando Torres of Liverpool, which was rejected at first. But with Torres then handing in a transfer request, Liverpool said he could leave if Chelsea met their valuation of a staggering 50 million pound, which they did.

With Torres gone, this sparked another transfer of Andy Carroll joining Liverpool from Newcastle United for 35 million pound, with many saying this was over the odds as he is an unproven striker in the premier league.

Over the past few windows, Chelsea has not spent as much as other clubs, with last year them having a loss of £70 million pound. This year however, champion’s league football is not certain for them and this forced Roman Abramovich, Russian Billionaire and Chelsea owner into action, not only purchasing Torres but also spending £21.3 million plus midfielder Nemanja Matic on central defender David Luiz from Benifica which took Chelsea’s spending to £71 Million, more than any other club.

Over the years, like anything else, the price for players in any league in the world has shot up, especially in the January transfer window, however with the economy the way it is, and some football clubs severely effected by this, few would have expected a Transfer Window with so much high profile activity.