Summer Transfer Window: Top three bargains of the summer
There has been some clever business undertaken by Europe’s elite in the transfer window so far. It has been a strange transfer season with some players being on the market with highly inflated prices while others have been sold for relatively low transfer fees.
After the last club football season ended, there were some clubs in dire need of reinforcements. Their domestic campaigns had not gone according to plan and the fans as well as the respective managers were looking for a player or two to get the terraces rocking again.
The first of the bargains on this list has to be Manchester United’s pre-World Cup capture of the Mexican striker Javier Hernandez, who is more commonly known amongst football fans as Chicharito. Most managers do look to do their business before the World Cup kicks off, as any great performances by their targeted player in the World Cup might mean an expected price hike. Therefore clubs always consider their options before such an international tournament starts.
The same was the case with United, crippling under debt from their owners, United have not made any big money signings this summer transfer window but Javier Hernandez has the potential ability to compensate for that. The Mexican centre forward lit the FIFA 2010 World Cup alight through his two goals, one of which came against France in the Group Stages and the other against Argentina in the round of sixteen.
Hernandez used to play for Guadalajara in the Mexican football league but he was spotted on his international adventures by Manchester United’s scouts. Ferguson’s men quickly moved in as other European clubs were also interested in the goal scorer’s services. A fee of ten million Euros was agreed upon by both the football clubs and Hernandez AKA Chicharito joined the red devils after Mexico was knocked out of the World Cup at the round of sixteen stage by Argentina.
Mesut Ozil is another player who was under Manchester United’s sight but the German offensive midfielder was finally signed up by Real Madrid for a fee of around sixteen million pounds. A fee that is absolutely peanuts for a player of Ozil’s quality, Ozil was a contender for the World Cup’s young player of the tournament award and was a consistent performer for his national team in the competition.
He scored in the group stages against Ghana but arguably his finest performance came against England in the round of sixteen as Germany disposed of their European rivals, England by a score line of four goals to one. Ozil played a part in all of Germany’s attacking moves at that evening in South Africa and earned praise from many experts in doing so. Before joining Madrid in the post-World Cup transfer window, Ozil used to play for Bremen, where he proved his worth even before the 2010 World Cup had started. For Werder Bremen, Ozil scored eleven goals in the 2009-2010 season and ended on top of the Bundesliga charts as far as assist making was concerned.
Real Madrid won the race to sign the sensational German midfielder, who is originally of Turkish descent. Under Jose Mourinho at Los Blancos, Ozil is sure to impress in the La Liga despite the fact that he was subdued on his first appearance for the men in white in the La Liga against Mallorca. It would be naive to write off Ozil as he has all it takes to be the star of the future.
Ozil’s partner in Germany midfield is the third and last bargain on this list. Real Madrid were successful in snapping up Khedira just weeks after the World Cup ended. Just like his compatriot Ozil, Khedira was brilliant in Germany’s progression to the semi-finals during the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Khedira, who played for Stuttgart before joining Madrid, usually takes up the defensive midfield position in the centre of the park for his club side as well as his international team.
His ability to read the play and intercept passes along with the intelligence to time his tackles perfectly makes him an asset for Real Madrid. At around 12 million pounds he is an incredibly cheap buy considering figures of around 30 million pounds were being thrown around in the transfer window for players such as Balotelli and David Silva.
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