It's January, and with that the onset of the transfer window has given rise to all sorts of rumors that only the silly season traditionally can -- Gianluigi Buffon to Manchester City for $75 million, anyone? Here's what I'm thinking about Monday morning:
1. Big-name Americans on the move (or not). While the credit crunch will curb transfer spending for many European teams this January, three high-profile U.S. internationals continue to be linked to various clubs.
Landon Donovan -- The unofficial loan move to Bayern Munich becomes official ... sort of. While the Galaxy and MLS bizarrely continue to deny that nothing of the sort has happened (insert your own conspiracy theory here), it appears that Donovan's much-discussed move to Bayern has indeed finally taken place. Donovan arrived in Germany last week and even popped up on
Bayern's official Web site discussing the move. As for Donovan's prospects for playing time, those will brighten considerably if, as expected, Bayern offloads Lukas Podolski. Although Bayern is on the verge of signing Croatian striker Ivica Olic from Hamburg, his role and playing style differs from Donovan's and he's more likely to be used as cover for target man
Luca Toni.
Oguchi Onyewu -- Various reports had Onyewu close to signing with either Marseille, Borussia M'Gladbach or Monaco, but it now looks as though Onyewu will be staying with Standard Liege until the summer. "I think he will stay," teammate Axel Witsel told Gazette Sports. "He knows he will be free in June and that this is a good advantage."
It's also thought that Standard is unwilling to sell Onyewu given the lowball offers the team is said to have received for Onyewu. It's not necessarily bad news for the player. When his contract expires in the summer, Onyewu is likely to receive a far greater range of offers from teams and, because teams won't need to pay a transfer fee for him, a larger signing bonus. He'll also be in a better position to judge whether to join a team like Gladbach, which looks like relegation fodder right about now.
DaMarcus Beasley -- Rumors continue to float about Beasley becoming expendable with Rangers. His current status as a bit player hasn't gone unnoticed, and he is likely to be part of a mass culling by coach Walter Smith in January -- though a return to MLS is extremely unlikely. Although fellow U.S. international Maurice Edu has also found it hard to get on the field, Edu, unlike Beasley, appears to be in Smith's long-term plans. The Rangers boss told reporters last week that "Edu will play a big part for Rangers in the coming years, I've no doubt about that."
2. Another ludicrous Mike Riley decision. Is there any doubt who the worst referee in England is (although Rob Styles runs a close second)? The aforementioned Riley added to his litany of appalling decisions by awarding Manchester United a penalty for United's second goal in a 3-0 canter over Southampton in the FA Cup. Aside from the fact that it was a questionable penalty at best -- Nani's free kick appeared to strike the head, not the hand of Southampton's David McGoldrick in the defensive wall -- it further fueled the long-held belief by many English fans that Riley often favors United. Since the 1998-99 season, his record of awarding 12 penalties in favor of United as opposed to just two against -- including the highly contentious penalty in the epic Arsenal vs. Man United clash in 2004, when United ended Arsenal's 49-game unbeaten run -- doesn't exactly dispel the notion.
3. Constant chopping and changing. It's official. Spurs are the Premier League's equivalent of the Washington Redskins: a team whose management is admirably willing to spend but less than intelligent about how it spends that money. With coach Harry Redknapp throwing his hat into the ring to reacquire former Spurs striker
Jermain Defoe from Portsmouth, the season has officially become silly for Spurs fans. Not only are Spurs bidding around $22.5 million for a player it only just sold last season for $13.5 million, the logic in obtaining him appears flawed as well. Redknapp claims he wants the somewhat overrated Defoe because he has "only" three recognized strikers (
Roman Pavlyuchenko,
Darren Bent and on-loan Frazier Campbell). Yet considering that Spurs lines up a majority of the time in a one-striker formation, Defoe is somewhat unnecessary, in my opinion -- particularly given the club's greater deficiencies elsewhere (defensive midfielder, center back, right back and goalkeeper are just a few that spring to mind).
If there is one team that is a poster child for how not to invest money, it's Spurs, which has squandered an incredible $180 million or so on buying new players since the start of the 2006-07 season. It would probably help if there was some cohesive plan, but Spurs seems to specialize in spending vast amounts of money trying to repeatedly upgrade the same positions. For example, the club already had
Aaron Lennon and
Steed Malbranque at its right mid/winger spots when it decided last summer to spend $25 million on
David Bentley, who plays the same position. Whether or not one thinks Bentley is an upgrade on Lennon -- and let's say for the sake of argument that he is -- the fact remains that he represents only a minor upgrade. Now the same philosophy is being applied to the left wing spot, as Redknapp seeks to bring in Middlesbrough's
Stewart Downing for $22 million when he already has Gio Dos Santos and
Gareth Bale on the books. The circus continues for Spurs.
4. Speaking of clueless spending. If there's one club that's sure to trump Spurs when it comes to flushing money down the toilet, it's Manchester City. Armed with an endless pool of cash and a manager in Mark Hughes that appears (surprisingly) out of his depth, City have gone out of their way to show everyone just how not to play the transfer market. Not content with blowing $28 million on the joke that is Brazilian striker Jo, City opened the window by spending $18 million on Chelsea's former back-up left back (
Wayne Bridge). If that wasn't bad enough, reports indicate that in order to convince Bridge to move, City agreed to pay him the ridiculous sum of $150,000 per week. Bridge is actually a pretty good player, but to make him the highest-paid full back in the history of the sport is sheer madness.
Player Pimping
Today's blast from the past is a name that La Liga followers will be familiar with: Francisco Farinos, Valencia's former star midfielder. Considered one of the brightest young talents in Spain before an ill-fated and ill-advised big-money move to Inter in Serie A in 2000, Farinos is a technical, attacking, creative midfielder who can play across the field. Still only 30, his career has faltered a bit in recent years and he now toils in the Spanish second division for Hercules. In MLS, he could play a Cesc Fabregas-like role for someone.
Jen Chang
