It was a day of frenzy, panic, success, failure and surprise! But who came out on top and who were left scratching their heads?
Transfer Deadline Day, the ‘longest day in football’ once again lived up to its billing as the most unpredictable, most exciting, most disappointing and hardest to predict day of the year. The main protagonists for this day were Arsenal, QPR, Stoke, Aston Villa, Everton, Tottenham, Fulham and Blackburn. That said apart from Man Utd, West Brom, Wolves, Norwich and Swansea every Premier League team was involved in some kind of major business during the course of the day.
So now the dust has settled, the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed how does each team fair until the second crack in January. Arsenal were the headline makers of the day and the most influential overall. Following their unprecedented 8-2 defeat at the hands of Man Utd there was an outcry for fresh blood to come in and lift the Emirates crowd left so dissolute with the current situation in the red half of North London.
The crowd got their wish with no less than 5 new names to don their shirts in one day. The roll call goes, Chu-Young Park, Andre Santos, Per Mertesaker, Yossi Benayoun and Mikel Arteta. Each one of these players brings great ability and perhaps most importantly for Arsenal in some shape an enhanced squad.
Defensively Arsenal had been hung out to dry in their previous game and with the new inclusion of Mertesaker and Andre Santos such defensive failings would not be expected again. The two players both bring experience to the defence, they bring a voice ,and an old head, widely regarded as something Arsenal have lacked for many years.
They may also bring inconsistency, Mertesaker although he has quality also has a stark reputation for making mistakes, and bringing in the Brazilian national left back to the Premiership is not always a guaranteed success as Spurs found out when they signed Gilberto from Hertha Berlin a few years ago. Still, they are thought better options than Arsenals current squad and should provide good competition for places with more quality.
The other signings were perhaps the most astonishing, especially in the form of Mikel Arteta who with only a matter of hours to go made the move south to join the Champions League club. Both himself and Benayoun should add some much needed guile and purpose to the Arsenal midfield and again bring experience.
Whether or not Arsenal are still left short in midfield of a leader and a battler, that remains to be seen. As were the words of Kenny Samson on the day, he felt Arsenal needed someone in that ilk to be more influential in a different kind of way.
The signings though were desperately needed, they finally create a ‘squad’ and offer competition for places and cover when injuries occur. They aren’t however title winning signings and whether or not they are successful will take time. In the same breath, Arsenal are definitely one of the winners of the day!
Moving across London now to QPR, with new owner Tony Fernandes and a new buzz around the team, QPR promised great things on transfer deadline day. Talk of both Bellamy and Joe Cole never came to fruition but what did still adds great Premiership experience to the team and offers them a much greater chance of success in the coming season. Shaun Wright-Phillips and Anton Ferdinand, both of whom seem to have been around forever bring seasoned Premiership experience to the defence and midfield and should add real ‘Premier League’ quality to the QPR side.
The acquisition of Jason Puncheon, a good performer while at Blackpool last year, also offers a good prospect and with that QPR were also won of the main winners of the day. Even better for the Hoops, was the eventual securing of the often maligned but undoubtedly talented Joey Barton. He may have fallen out with his Newcastle paymasters, but ultimately his transfer is to QPR's benefit and the Magpies detriment.
The most astonishing team of the day came in the form of Stoke City. The relative Premiership newcomers blew their transfer budget on three top class, proven Premiership performers in Wilson Palacios, Cameron Jerome and Peter Crouch. They set out at the start of the day with three primary targets and secured them all.
Their chairman has since instigated it was a one-off spending spree, and it could test the financial status of Stoke. What it has done though is given Stoke a real platform to push on from their performances last year, most notably their Wembley appearance in the FA Cup final. Stoke are now a real threat and would be hugely disappointed to finish outside of the top half of the table. They therefore complete the teams who were truly winners in the deadline day scramble.
Many other teams may have come out of it slightly unsure, not negative but not so positive moving on for the rest of the season. Aston Villa for instance brought in two players in Jermain Jenas and Alan Hutton. Two players with quality but renowned for being found lacking in games and inconsistency. With that they could be winners but at the same time both players could fall into nothingness at the club.
Another team who made contrasting signings was Blackburn Rovers, in Scott Dann they got a player targeted by many so called ‘bigger’ clubs. Yet in Yakubu they have signed a player who was playing in the Championship last year, and they still lack their out and out goal scorer. They move on also unsure of the days business as they have both reason to be happy but also reason to be cautious.
Tottenham Hotspur are perhaps the most interesting of the teams, being left in a peculiar situation. They managed to get rid of five players on the day, the already mentioned Jenas, Hutton, Crouch and Palacios along with the loan deal of David Bentley (to West Ham). This has left their squad much trimmer and most importantly their wage bill much more healthy.
It all seems to have come to late though, everyone was well aware Spurs needed to move players before bringing them in and as often happens on deadline day they left it pretty late. The signing of Scott Parker after his performance for England against Bulgaria seems a steal at £5 million.
With him they have excuse to be happy with their dealings, it is however the failure to bring in Gary Cahill which leaves a sour taste in the mouth of Spurs management and fans alike. Failure to reach an agreement with hours to go has meant that as in many windows, Tottenham are the team to be left with the sense of regret in the failure to get their man.
As for the other teams the players brought in scream of gambles, and the success of these players is anyone’s guess. Players such as Drenthe at Everton, Bendtner at Sunderland, Ruiz at Fulham and Maloney at Wigan. All are possibly decent signings, but then all could fall flat.
So with the transfer frenzy over until the New Year, the Deadline Day has once again changed the scenery that is the Premiership. Only 5 teams aren’t going into their next game without some change to their squad. Some teams such as Arsenal, QPR and Stoke can be positive in thinking that the deadline day has changed their course for the season. Other teams like Aston Villa and Tottenham don’t know what could happen. And the rest, well who knows, Bryan Ruiz might be the next Robin Van Persie, or he might be the next Alfonso Alves.
What is to be said is that transfer deadline day brings the most guaranteed drama off a football pitch all season!