Transfer window continues where it left off

The summer transfer window was a sign of poverty in the football world; so far it has shown little sign of life since it opened at the beginning of the month. The biggest mover in the window so far has been the nouveau-riche Portsmouth, while the Premiership’s big hitters like Arsenal and Liverpool have done almost nothing. Manchester United have signed a defender and Chelsea taken a player on loan. Hey, for all those rumors agents and club chairman’s feed reporters you’d have expected more.

For all the masses expecting their clubs to move for new talent, you have been sorely let down so far. There has been no shortage of rumors as it fills the columns in the papers, but money on the table has been hard to come by. Of the 64 player moves so far since January 1, 24 have been loan deals, 14 free transfers, and 4 have been swaps. That leaves only 22 transfers which have garnered a fee, and only 3 of those have even reached the 500,000 pound mark.

The only signings over a million pounds have been Atti Niemi to Fulham for 1m, Benjani Mwaruwari from French outfit Auxerre to Portsmouth for 4.1m and Manchester United’s purchase of defender Nemanja Vidic from Spartak Moscow for 7m.

Benjani, I predict, will be fantastic. He’s speedy and has scored some great goals at Auxerre; in fact, I am surprised it’s taken him so long to move to a bigger club. Redknapp has done well to acquire him and the price tag wasn’t so bad.

Ajax Amsterdam were said to be letting a host of players out of contract in the summer leave but so far very little has been done. Tomas Gravesen was said to be a sure bet to return to England after being forgotten at Real Madrid but no such luck. It was rumored Arsenal might splash out for Atletico Madrid’s wunderkind Fernando Torres but no it hasn’t happened for the Gunners faithful as that new stadium is taking priority over player acquisitions.

The recession continues. A host of middle tier clubs have been linked with Norwich City striker Dean Ashton but nobody has started the bidding. That can also be said for Theo Walcott, Patrice Evra of AS Monaco, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Romeo Castelen and Beto at Sporting Lisbon.

Anything can happen, but I bet this transfer window will be one of the weakest in the past decade.