With the internationals out of the way, it’s back to the proper football this weekend, and a chance for this quintet of late transfer window signings to finally make their debuts... What can we expect?
Mesut Ozil
Quite possibly the best bit of business done by any English club all summer. The Germany international has laid on something stupid like 150 assists over the last five years and has helped himself to a fair few as well. Given that Olivier Giroud is Arsenal’s only decent and fit striker, he might find a few more of those chances going begging than he’s previously been used to, but let’s not dwell on that, the away end at the Stadium of Light will be buzzing with anticipation this weekend.
Marouane Fellaini
At Everton, the big Belgian was most often deployed in an attacking midfielder. Looking at United’s squad, that’s not an area where they’re particularly short, so you’d imagine he’ll be asked to perform a more withdrawn role. That’s fine, he can do that too, but he’s more enforcer than silky ball player, and looking at United’s primary summer targets (Thiago and Fabregas spring to mind) you can draw your own conclusions to what type of player Moyes was after. Does he have a plan for Fellaini? Or was he a last-minute panic buy?
Erik Lamela
Alright, he played 15 minutes against Arsenal but we should get a much better idea of what he’s about this weekend as Norwich visit White Hart Lane. The sheer volume of players signed by Tottenham this summer has left with them with a completely new look team. As such, discussions over Gareth Bale’s replacement are somewhat irrelevant, but in terms of goal scoring ability and potential assists, Lamela is the closest they’ve got to the Welshman. It’ll be interesting to see how well he links up with Roberto Soldado too, that partnership will likely be key to any success Spurs have this season.
Romelu Lukaku
Double win for Everton here. In beating West Brom to the young striker’s signature, they also managed to get the Baggies to shell out an obscene £6m for Victor Anichebe’s services. It was looking as though Chelsea would keep hold of him for most of the summer and after his goal scoring feats out on loan last season, it’s a surprise they didn’t. That’s the Toffee’s gain though, and with James McCarthy on board to tee them up, there could be a few goals flying in at Goodison this season.
Victor Anichebe
It looks a panic buy from where I’m sitting, especially at that price. At 25, he doesn’t really fit in to the ‘youngster with potential’ bracket anymore, and it’s time to turn those flashes of form and hope in to something more consistent. West Brom haven’t scored yet this season either, they’ll need him to step up.
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