Tweet
Last Updated: Friday, 1 February 2008, 10:13 GMT
E-mail this to a friend Printable version
Transfer window winners & losers
By Ian Hughes
Defoe has been reunited with his former boss Harry Redknapp
There might be financial gloom around the world, but business boomed in the Premier League during the January transfer window when a record £150m was spent on new players.
That figure is more than double the previous record of £70m set in 2006 and follows a record summer transfer window in 2007 when clubs spent £500m.
But who is likely to see a bullish return on their investment and who would have been better off if they had asked Societe Generale rogue trader Jerome Kerviel for advice on making moves in the market?
BBC Sport provides a run-down of the biggest, best, worst and weirdest deals.
It was a case of the late, late show as Portsmouth finally sealed a deal for Jermain Defoe with barely an inch of the window left open. The fee was undisclosed but believed to be between £7 and £12m (depending on which paper you read).
After it had been made clear the striker was not wanted at Tottenham - and he was also left out of Fabio Capello's first England squad on Thursday - the move has to be a good one for Defoe.
606: DEBATE
What are your January transfer highlights?
Pompey fans will be delighted, too, and along with the loan signing of Lyon forward Milan Baros, Redknapp has provided the Fratton Park faithful with reasons to be cheerful.
One player who may not be smiling this morning is Portsmouth's Benjani Mwaruwari, who was expected to move to Manchester City but failed to get to the church of Sven-Goran Eriksson on time. Perhaps there were balloons on the M6!
City did manage to snap up Ecuador international striker Felipe Caicedo for about £5m - and Italian legend Roberto Mancini's 17-year-old son Filippo - but missing out on Benjani will pain Eriksson.
Redknapp now has a plentiful supply of strikers to choose from. Could that see Defoe end up on the bench again? Surely not.
Helping to supply Portsmouth's new-look frontline will be France international Lassana Diarra, who moved from Arsenal to Portsmouth for an undisclosed, but thought-to-be modest, fee.
Diarra could prove to be the buy of the transfer window, with manager Harry Redknapp insisting: "He's already one of the best midfield players in the Premier League and has the ability to be one of the best there is."
Anelka has already made an impact at Chelsea
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich once again splashed the cash, sanctioning a £15m deal for striker Nicolas Anelka and the £9m purchase of defender Branislav Ivanovic.
Anelka comes with a top-class pedigree - a proven goalscorer at every level and highly familiar with the Premier League - and he has already settled in at Stamford Bridge, scoring once in his four appearances so far.
The Frenchman is helping the Blues make light of the absence of Didier Drogba, who is away at the Africa Cup of Nations, but it is how the pair could combine to explosive effect come mid-February that will strike fear into Chelsea's rivals.
Combine that with the arrival of Serbia international centre-back Branislav, and Chelsea appear to have significantly strengthened their chances of regaining the Premier League title.
Leaders Manchester United chose to make one addition to their squad, signing Angola forward Manucho, while second-placed Arsenal bought for the future with the £200,000 capture of 15-year-old striker Luke Freeman their sole acquisition.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger had suggested he may bring in a centre-back after Kolo Toure suffered an injury while playing for Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations but reports of a late bid for Middlesbrough's Jonathan Woodgate proved false.
It could cost Arsenal if they lose Toure or skipper William Gallas, with Phillipe Senderos struggling to step up to the plate.
Instead, north London neighbours Spurs decided the injury-prone Woodgate was worth an £8m punt - snapping him up after he snubbed Newcastle.
Woodgate could be the perfect partner for Ledley King, but the odds on the pair being fit at the same time must be slim.
The signing of Scotland right-back Alan Hutton looks more shrewd and the 23-year-old's arrival at white Hart Lane could spell the end for Pascal Chimbonda. But if Hutton fulfils his potential, the Frenchman will not be missed.
Can the same be said of Defoe? An injury to Dimitar Berbatov or Robbie Keane could leave Spurs looking rather short up front.
Middlesbrough spent the money from Woodgate on adding firepower to their squad - and you have to say they needed to - laying out a club record amount, in excess of £10m, on Brazilian striker Afonso Alves.
Middlesbrough have snapped up Brazilian striker Alves
The 27-year-old has a prolific record in club football and could must be the man to keep Boro free of the relegation zone, if he can adapt quickly to the physical demands of English football.
At Newcastle, the money set aside for Woodgate went largely unspent. Teenage Italian striker Fabio Zamblera did arrive from Atalanta but boss Kevin Keegan remains very short of quality players.
Dennis Wise was appointed this week as Magpies executive director and is expected to oversee transfers, but his arrival must have come too late to secure signings.
Or could Wise have been hampered by the confusion over who he reports to - is there a 'wanted' list laying on the desks of Keegan and various members of the St James' Park board that never got signed off?
Liverpool opted for a rearguard reinforcement as Martin Skrtel became the most expensive defender in their history, with the fee thought to be about £6m.
But the Slovakia international centre-back made his gentle introduction against Havant & Waterlooville in the FA Cup look like a baptism of fire, and Reds fans will be hoping it was only a case of first-match nerves.
Mohamed Sissoko finally got the move away from Anfield he had been craving when he joined Juventus, and that meant Livepool recouped their outlay on Skrtel plus an extra £2m - presumably that could go towards a new stadium.
Liverpool, realistically out of the Premier League title race and with a tough Champions League draw against Inter Milan ahead, still look short of a couple of players but the financial situation may have prevented them rectifying that.
Down in the lower reaches of the table Derby, Fulham, Wigan and Birmingham all made signings they hope will fend off relegation.
The most expensive of these was Birmingham's deal for Scotland forward James McFadden and Wigan's capture of Marlon King - both commanding a £5m fee.
But whether either will provide the goals their clubs are desperate for remains to be seen as McFadden struggled to make an impact at Everton and King has been playing in the Championship with Watford.
Fulham adopted a scattergun approach, bringing in a clutch of players in an effort to boost their survival hopes.
Will Litmanen be fit enough to boost Fulham?
But will the likes of Brede Hangeland, Leon Andreasen, Toni Kallio, Eddie Johnson and the once-great Jari Litmanen save the Cottagers from the drop?
Litmanen has to be the strangest of all January's signings. The 36-year-old former Ajax, Barcelona and Liverpool star has not played since he had his contract terminated at Swedish side Malmo last summer after undergoing ankle surgery.
Fulham boss Roy Hodgson's admission that Litmanen "is not entirely match fit at the moment" will do little to spark optimism among the fans.
A fair few new faces arrives at Derby, too, with the most notable being Robbie Savage. The combative midfielder could provide the edge the Rams have been lacking, but it does appear to be too little, too late.
Especially when you consider Paul Jewell's other signings include veterans Alan Stubbs and Roy Carroll.
The next few months will tell who will profit most from their January outlay, but it is highly likely that the final Premier League table will not show too many changes from how it looks now.
Sir Alex Ferguson believes signing players in the January is "not always as good as some people imagine", and who are we to disagree?
E-mail this to a friend Printable version
Transfer window winners & losers
By Ian Hughes
Defoe has been reunited with his former boss Harry Redknapp
There might be financial gloom around the world, but business boomed in the Premier League during the January transfer window when a record £150m was spent on new players.
That figure is more than double the previous record of £70m set in 2006 and follows a record summer transfer window in 2007 when clubs spent £500m.
But who is likely to see a bullish return on their investment and who would have been better off if they had asked Societe Generale rogue trader Jerome Kerviel for advice on making moves in the market?
BBC Sport provides a run-down of the biggest, best, worst and weirdest deals.
It was a case of the late, late show as Portsmouth finally sealed a deal for Jermain Defoe with barely an inch of the window left open. The fee was undisclosed but believed to be between £7 and £12m (depending on which paper you read).
After it had been made clear the striker was not wanted at Tottenham - and he was also left out of Fabio Capello's first England squad on Thursday - the move has to be a good one for Defoe.
606: DEBATE
What are your January transfer highlights?
Pompey fans will be delighted, too, and along with the loan signing of Lyon forward Milan Baros, Redknapp has provided the Fratton Park faithful with reasons to be cheerful.
One player who may not be smiling this morning is Portsmouth's Benjani Mwaruwari, who was expected to move to Manchester City but failed to get to the church of Sven-Goran Eriksson on time. Perhaps there were balloons on the M6!
City did manage to snap up Ecuador international striker Felipe Caicedo for about £5m - and Italian legend Roberto Mancini's 17-year-old son Filippo - but missing out on Benjani will pain Eriksson.
Redknapp now has a plentiful supply of strikers to choose from. Could that see Defoe end up on the bench again? Surely not.
Helping to supply Portsmouth's new-look frontline will be France international Lassana Diarra, who moved from Arsenal to Portsmouth for an undisclosed, but thought-to-be modest, fee.
Diarra could prove to be the buy of the transfer window, with manager Harry Redknapp insisting: "He's already one of the best midfield players in the Premier League and has the ability to be one of the best there is."
Anelka has already made an impact at Chelsea
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich once again splashed the cash, sanctioning a £15m deal for striker Nicolas Anelka and the £9m purchase of defender Branislav Ivanovic.
Anelka comes with a top-class pedigree - a proven goalscorer at every level and highly familiar with the Premier League - and he has already settled in at Stamford Bridge, scoring once in his four appearances so far.
The Frenchman is helping the Blues make light of the absence of Didier Drogba, who is away at the Africa Cup of Nations, but it is how the pair could combine to explosive effect come mid-February that will strike fear into Chelsea's rivals.
Combine that with the arrival of Serbia international centre-back Branislav, and Chelsea appear to have significantly strengthened their chances of regaining the Premier League title.
Leaders Manchester United chose to make one addition to their squad, signing Angola forward Manucho, while second-placed Arsenal bought for the future with the £200,000 capture of 15-year-old striker Luke Freeman their sole acquisition.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger had suggested he may bring in a centre-back after Kolo Toure suffered an injury while playing for Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations but reports of a late bid for Middlesbrough's Jonathan Woodgate proved false.
It could cost Arsenal if they lose Toure or skipper William Gallas, with Phillipe Senderos struggling to step up to the plate.
Instead, north London neighbours Spurs decided the injury-prone Woodgate was worth an £8m punt - snapping him up after he snubbed Newcastle.
Woodgate could be the perfect partner for Ledley King, but the odds on the pair being fit at the same time must be slim.
The signing of Scotland right-back Alan Hutton looks more shrewd and the 23-year-old's arrival at white Hart Lane could spell the end for Pascal Chimbonda. But if Hutton fulfils his potential, the Frenchman will not be missed.
Can the same be said of Defoe? An injury to Dimitar Berbatov or Robbie Keane could leave Spurs looking rather short up front.
Middlesbrough spent the money from Woodgate on adding firepower to their squad - and you have to say they needed to - laying out a club record amount, in excess of £10m, on Brazilian striker Afonso Alves.
Middlesbrough have snapped up Brazilian striker Alves
The 27-year-old has a prolific record in club football and could must be the man to keep Boro free of the relegation zone, if he can adapt quickly to the physical demands of English football.
At Newcastle, the money set aside for Woodgate went largely unspent. Teenage Italian striker Fabio Zamblera did arrive from Atalanta but boss Kevin Keegan remains very short of quality players.
Dennis Wise was appointed this week as Magpies executive director and is expected to oversee transfers, but his arrival must have come too late to secure signings.
Or could Wise have been hampered by the confusion over who he reports to - is there a 'wanted' list laying on the desks of Keegan and various members of the St James' Park board that never got signed off?
Liverpool opted for a rearguard reinforcement as Martin Skrtel became the most expensive defender in their history, with the fee thought to be about £6m.
But the Slovakia international centre-back made his gentle introduction against Havant & Waterlooville in the FA Cup look like a baptism of fire, and Reds fans will be hoping it was only a case of first-match nerves.
Mohamed Sissoko finally got the move away from Anfield he had been craving when he joined Juventus, and that meant Livepool recouped their outlay on Skrtel plus an extra £2m - presumably that could go towards a new stadium.
Liverpool, realistically out of the Premier League title race and with a tough Champions League draw against Inter Milan ahead, still look short of a couple of players but the financial situation may have prevented them rectifying that.
Down in the lower reaches of the table Derby, Fulham, Wigan and Birmingham all made signings they hope will fend off relegation.
The most expensive of these was Birmingham's deal for Scotland forward James McFadden and Wigan's capture of Marlon King - both commanding a £5m fee.
But whether either will provide the goals their clubs are desperate for remains to be seen as McFadden struggled to make an impact at Everton and King has been playing in the Championship with Watford.
Fulham adopted a scattergun approach, bringing in a clutch of players in an effort to boost their survival hopes.
Will Litmanen be fit enough to boost Fulham?
But will the likes of Brede Hangeland, Leon Andreasen, Toni Kallio, Eddie Johnson and the once-great Jari Litmanen save the Cottagers from the drop?
Litmanen has to be the strangest of all January's signings. The 36-year-old former Ajax, Barcelona and Liverpool star has not played since he had his contract terminated at Swedish side Malmo last summer after undergoing ankle surgery.
Fulham boss Roy Hodgson's admission that Litmanen "is not entirely match fit at the moment" will do little to spark optimism among the fans.
A fair few new faces arrives at Derby, too, with the most notable being Robbie Savage. The combative midfielder could provide the edge the Rams have been lacking, but it does appear to be too little, too late.
Especially when you consider Paul Jewell's other signings include veterans Alan Stubbs and Roy Carroll.
The next few months will tell who will profit most from their January outlay, but it is highly likely that the final Premier League table will not show too many changes from how it looks now.
Sir Alex Ferguson believes signing players in the January is "not always as good as some people imagine", and who are we to disagree?
Comment