THE 5 BEST SUMMER TRANSFERS (SO FAR)
StrumSolo > 27/07/2013, 13:57
Not necessarily the best players, just the ones I think will have the biggest impact. Who have I missed?
Wilfried Bony to Swansea - £12m
Michu netted 18 times in the Premier League last season, or if you’d rather, was responsible for 38% of all Swansea’s goals. The bulk of those came in the first half of the campaign too, so relying on him to repeat those feats again this year would have been a risky strategy. Thankfully, they haven’t, and their new £12m man could be quite the signing. The Ivory Coast international scored 37 times in just 36 appearances for Vitesse last season, stats which put him up there amongst the most prolific in Europe. Of course, it’s one thing to do it in the Eredivisie, and the Premier League will represent a big leap in quality for the 24-year-old. The Swans will be hoping he’s more Ruud van Nistelrooy than Afonso Alves, and if he is, they’ll have a real player on their hands.
Andy Carroll to West Ham - £15m
For the last couple of years, the Geordie striker has found more notoriety as a punchline to that £35m gag than for anything he’s done on the pitch. For all the talk of transfer fees not affecting players, this one clearly did. With the best will in the world he was never worth that much, or able to live up to the expectations of such a high fee. However, with the pressure off during his loan spell at West Ham last season, he began once more to show his true capabilities. With that deal now made permanent, for a much more realistic (you could even say bargain) £15m, a fully-fit Carroll could be a real asset for the Hammers this season.
Jesus Navas to Man City - £17m
David Silva was inconsistent last season and the less said about Samir Nasri the better, James Milner’s hardly one to strike fear in to the heart of defences either… So Navas can really give City something extra out wide and make a difference for them this year. The ex-Sevilla winger has pace to burn and looked impressive at the Confederations Cup earlier this summer. As part of a new look attack at the Etihad, Manuel Pellegrini will be hoping he’ll lay on the goals and help make City as prolific as they were in their title-winning season. They’ll certainly need to improve on last season’s tally of 66 if they want that Premier League trophy back any time soon.
Ricky van Wolfswinkel to Norwich - £8.5m
The Dutch international is such an upgrade from Grant Holt they shouldn’t even be sharing the same sentence. While the Canaries’ recent capture of Celtic’s Gary Hooper is rightly regarded as a good piece of business, van Wolfswinkel is the marquee signing here, and a real coup for Norwich. As with Wilfried Bony, there’ll be reservations until we see how he handles the step-up in quality, but it’s hard to imagine that the £8.5m paid to Sporting Lisbon will turn out a poor investment. He’s scored goals in Portugal and in Holland before that, don’t bet against him having similar success in England.
Diego Lovren to Southampton - £8.5m
The Croatia international, heavily linked with a move to Liverpool earlier this summer, was such a coup for Southampton that the £8.5m transfer even took Nicola Cortese, their ultra-ambitious chairman, by surprise. After some woeful defending saw the Saints ship 28 goals in their opening 10 games last season, they did manage to tighten up at the back. However, Lovren is a marked improvement on the likes of Jose Fonte and Jos Hooiveld, and his quality will be vital as the team look to step up a level.