Part 1 - Special Feature: Transfers gone bad...
Sir Alex Ferguson once said, “When an Italian tells me its pasta on the plate I check under the sauce to make sure. They are the inventors of the smokescreen”. It appears that the English are not too far off behind. The only question left now amongst the
fans of the English Premier League is that when is the madness going to stop?
The transfer window has just ended but the aftershocks of the moves that went through in the last 48 hours of the January window will be felt for the rest of the season and well beyond that as well.
In 2002 when Manchester United signed http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rio-Ferdinand-c31173 for a whopping 30 million transfer fee, critics across the board came out in force and voiced their concerns against the inflationary pressure that was creeping into the English Premier League’s transfer
dealings.
In reality, transfers in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 have gone from bad to worse in the past decade. A trend that was brought in by Manchester United has now proliferated beyond control as teams are splashing cash for fun.
The latest episode of the English Premier League reality show saw Andy Carroll make a big money move to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fernando-Torres-c13707 bid farewell to the Anfield, faithful for the
riches at http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786, for an astonishing 50 million pounds.
If this wasn’t enough, earlier on in the transfer period http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Darren-Bent-c10358 secured a 24 million pound move to Aston Villa. In reality, this was expected in pure monetary terms.
In the summer transfer window of 2010, Manchester City indulged in highly inflated transfer dealings, dealings that totally destroyed the market trends by introducing the stereotype that “extraordinary transfer fees for ordinary players result in an extraordinary
player”. With fees like the 25 million one which was paid to Aston Villa by Manchester City for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/James-Milner-c17706, no wonder English football finds itself in a financial mire.
Across the English Channel, in mainland Europe, transfer window has had a rather humbling effect. A case study of Italian football shows that a lot less money has been spent on arguably better players in Serie A.
For example, AC Milan secured the services of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Antonio-Cassano-c6302 for a mere 5 million pounds as they paid 2.5 million pounds each to Sampdoria and Real Madrid.
Inter Milan were the big spenders in Italy as they signed http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Andrea-Ranocchia-c5708 from Genoa for only 12.4 million Euros.
These two signings were the most expensive transfer dealings in the winter transfer window as far as Italian football is concerned. One might think that Pazzini who tops the charts for the most expensive transfer fee in the 2011 whttp://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 transfer fee is just
an average player as his fee is just 13 million Euros.
However, such is not the case upon direct comparison with Andy Carroll. Pazzini is a much better centre forward. Carroll had scored 31 goals in his 80 matches for Newcastle United (his ex club) whereas Pazzini has netted 36 goals in 75 matches for Sampdoria
(his ex club). Carroll is currently 22 whereas Pazzini is 26.
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