Football Update - Transfer windows open for Chelsea and Manchester United
Chelsea
Critics say Chelsea’s squad is ageing and the team needs to be freshen up but they are overlooking the fact. Since they have years of experience under their belts and know how to grind out the results; they are pretty certain taking to the top. One obvious disadvantage of such a squad is that in the second half of the season the older players find it difficult to recover their energies after each game and cannot put in their best for the next fixture. This is when having a younger squad counts as most important; games start coming thick and fast.
Chelsea have only brought in the 23-year old Ramires from Benfica for around 17 million pounds, who will give much competition to the established midfielders like Michael Essien and John Obi Mikel. The player is characterised as a show-stopper and will add to the strength in protecting the back four and chip in with a few goals as well.
It is to be remembered that when the current Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich took over the club in 2003, he declared that all the investments he was making in squad (which were actually quite huge to start with) will start paying off by year 2010 – and he has made it very much possible. Academy products like Michael Mancienne and Gael Kakuta are expected to break through to the first team this season plus the England youth international Daniel Sturridge will feature more than the last season.
The club has let go a host of experienced campaigners, which include Michael Ballack, Joe Cole, Deco and Juliano Belletti on free release while the former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho came calling for Ricardo Carvalho to lure him to Real Madrid for a reported fee of 8 million pounds.
Manchester United
Images of Cristiano Ronaldo playing in the Manchester United shirt are still fresh in minds of the club supporters in particular, and English Premier League followers in general. After his much anticipated move to Real Madrid last year, the United supporters still wonder where all the money has gone from the biggest transfer in history of the game i.e. a staggering 80 million pounds. Sir Alex Ferguson gave the club’s number 7 shirt to Michael Owen to help settle down the dust but the fans are still waiting for the Ronaldo’s successor, who can change the game with a twist of his head – or feet for that matter.
Wayne Rooney did wonderfully well last season to fill the void left by Ronaldo in terms of goals but he alone cannot win the club everything the club competes in. Rooney’s goal-scoring form faltered away in the closing and the most important stage of the last season and then there was no one else in the team at all who could take the club over the line.
Javier Hernandez has been brought in to bolster the attacking options from his native Mexican club Guadalajara a.k.a. Chivas. The 22-year old is the only Manchester United player who enjoyed some kind of personal success at the World Cup, not to mention the dismal performance of Rooney and all the controversies Patrice Evra was involved in being the captain of the French squad.
Sir Alex has continued his philosophy of giving the academy products to be part of the first team squad. He maintains that the younger players stay loyal to the club, which in turn gives stability to winning combination of the squad. Excellent but only as long as this strategy keeps giving the supporters the titles to celebrate.
The other two signings of Sir Alex have come in shape of two 20-year olds, Chris Smalling from Fulham and Bebe from the Portuguese outfit Victoria de Guimaraes. Smalling is being backed to be long term successor of Rio Ferdinand while the United supported must be patient for Bebe to show his potential, which Sir Alex defined as raw and needs fine polish.
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