Soccer transfer news
By Eric Wilkins, Staff Writer
Ah January. The month of short-lived New Year’s resolutions, gym memberships, excessively cold weather, and, of course, soccer transfers. It’s a curious and frenzied market that often leads to some interesting moves.
While the January transfer window usually means massive overspending, the biggest and strangest move of the window seemed like a solid bargain. Wesley Sneijder made the move from Inter Milan to Galatasaray for a reported €10 million. It’s one of those real head-scratchers, seeing as how it wasn’t too long ago that Sneijder was being linked with all sorts of big name clubs for fees upwards of €25 million; Galatasaray, while a well-known club, won’t be challenging for the Champions League anytime soon. At 28, this is likely the last meaningful move the Dutch maestro will make. That magical age of 30 has an annoying habit of turning stars into role players.
Another major move was Lucas Moura making the long trip across the pond from Sao Paulo to Paris Saint-Germain. The talented Brazilian joined the French Chelsea for approximately €40 million and while the buzz around the young man is considerable, there’s always a certain amount of trepidation when dishing out such a tremendous sum on a relatively unproven player. For every Ronaldo, there’s a Kléberson.
Speaking of Brazilians, Alexandre Pato is heading back home after several seasons with AC Milan. Corinthians paid €15 million to acquire the striker. After having four relatively successful seasons with the Italian giants, Pato has seen limited action in the last two years partly due to injury troubles. Still only 23, the move back to Brazil will hopefully get the former international man’s career back on track.
Skipping over to merry England, Daniel Sturridge made the long-awaited move to Liverpool for £12 million from Stamford Bridge. The striker has now played and scored for three of the biggest English clubs (Manchester City, Chelsea, and Liverpool), all while still being just 23-years-old. Chelsea has also been a buyer picking up Demba Ba from Newcastle for £7 million. The Senegalese front man will provide some added pressure for incumbent striker Fernando Torres. A final Premier League note is that (as of this writing) David Villa is rumoured to be heading to Arsenal. Unhappy with his current situation at Barcelona, the Spaniard is reportedly keen on a transfer. Arsenal is typically a light spending team, however, so the chances of this one actually being pulled off seem slim. That being said, when has anyone ever been able to figure out Arsène Wenger?
Finishing up back home, the Vancouver Whitecaps have released midfield cancer, Barry Robson. The Scotsman made his debut for the club in July of 2012, destroyed the team, and is now out of work. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Barry.
