The summer transfer window has closed, with the usual rush if signings on the last day, including US star Clint Dempsey moving to Spurs.
Here is a look at who I thought were the winners and losers in the transfer window?
Winners
Tottenham Hotspur
Before Friday afternoon I had Spurs in the losers category. Modric was a big loss, and the sale of Rafael Van der Vaart had me wondering what was Andre Villas-Boas’ transfer strategy this summer.
Then he brought in goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and forward Clint Dempsey to go with earlier signings Jan Vertonghen, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Emmanuel Adebayor and Spurs look stronger than they did last season.
Manchester United
Sir Alex Ferguson got his buying done early, with playmaker Shinji Kagawa looking like a terrific signing. Then SAF spent $27 million transfer on Robin van Persie to give United arguably the best crop of forwards in Europe.
Chelsea
Roman Abramovich has always wanted Chelsea to play a free flowing attractive style of football and this summer he bought the players to do that spending $50 million and $40 million for Eden Hazard and Oscar. The other signings, Marko Marin, Victor Moses and right back Cesar Azpilicueta all fill needs that Chelsea have.
Swansea City
Despite losing stars Joe Allen and Scott Sinclair to Liverpool and Manchester City respectively, I was impressed with how Swansea manager Michael Laudrup reinvested the proceeds. Pablo Hernandez, Sung-Yong Ki, Michu, Chico and Jonathan de Guzman make the Swans a better side than they were last year.
West Ham
Andy Carroll is a perfect fit for Big Sam’s long ball style of play, and he will be a star at West Ham. The signing of Carroll will move the Hammers out of the relegation battle to a midtable spot. With the 71% increase in TV revenue next season, Andy Carroll deal is worth tens of millions of pounds to the Hammers.
Losers
Liverpool
By loaning out Andy Carroll to West Ham and not replacing him with another striker, Liverpool face the next four months with only two experienced strikers in their squad. How did that happen?
Fulham
Heading into the last week Fulham were in the winners category. I liked the pickups of midfielder Hugo Rodallega, striker Mladen Petric and midfielder Sascha Riether to replace Andy Johnson, Danny Murphy and Pavel Pogrebnyak. But the sales of Dembélé and Dempsey are huge losses and Dimitar Berbatov pickup is only a small consolation.
Arsenal
A week or so ago I thought Arsenal had a good window. They got $27 million for RVP and brought in Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud, all terrific players. But it was the sale of Alex Song to Barca, and failing to find a replacement for him that moved Arsenal from the winners to the losers category.
What do you think were the winners and losers in the transfer market?
