1.Felipe Melo to Juventus
Let us start with my second love, Juventus. Secco had proved himself worthy of the scorn of all Juve supporters with his dealings in the past (Poulsen, Nocerino...the list is long), but since Amauri last season he has steadily improved his record. It had become a well known fact in world football that Juventus required a reinvention in their midfield and some new defenders. Some in come Diego and Felipe Melo.
From yet another Brazilian football player, Melo has come a long way to establish himself as a tough tackling, no nonsense defensive midfielder and a pretty good one at that. His Confed Cup dislpays, though few, were above par. Two seasons back, I saw a few highlights of his games in an Almeria jersey and I did predict this guy has potential. Fiorentina was a good platform to show the same and a move to Juventus seems beneficial to both the player and the team.
I rate this transfer as 7.5/10 especially sweet for a ManUtd fan because if he had instead moved to Arsenal, I believe he would have been the missing piece there. But well, thanks to Wenger's stingyness everyone is happy .
2. Yuri Zhirkov to Chelsea
Chelsea have been quite silent so far in the transfer market (you can hardly consider Turnbull and Sturridge to be "big" signings), so this is their first "REAL" transfer of the season. Left sided midfielder/defender/attacker Yuri Zhirkov. How good is he? Not bad but not great, but that is my opinion from his limited displays for Russia in the Euros. Hiddink says he is great, so let us take his word on it.
But the more important issue is whether Chelsea really needed him? With Malouda coming back to form and Ashley Cole being quite a fixture in the starting XI for Chelsea, it seems highly likely that he will end up a bench warmer.
I rate this at 6.5/10 because the player could be good, even great, but what use is it if he doesn't play. Chelsea's top transfer priority should be a striker and I hope Ancelotti is more creative than Pato.
3. Gabriel "new Henry" Obertan to ManUtd
An out of the blue signing for the Red Devils and their third of the season, Gabriel Obertan would be familiar with all Football Manager managers. He is a wonderkid in the game. I watched a recent match footage of UEFA Euro u21 touranment match between England u21 and France u21 where France scored two goals of which Obertan scored one and created the other.
The lad is quick (really quick), can play on either wing, up front or in the hole, wears no 7 for the u21 side ( :D ) and has quick legs (does stepovers, flicks, tricks...you know the works). Frankly, I am excited by this signing but the downside here is the "unproven" tag. He comes from Bordeaux but spent the second half of last season on loan at Lorient making only 15 appearances (not all starting).
This would be a 6/10 signing, low simply because not much is known about him, but high because he comes cheap (tabloids claim around 3-5m pounds) and I personally think ManUtd's scouts have spotted a jewel.
Posts
