Money Talks

After, let’s be honest, a pretty flat summer of press conjecture and outright lies, the transfer quagmire finally unravelled itself last night in spectacular fashion, causing many members of the STT editorial staff to actually indulge in an inadvertent speed binge just to stay awake in front of Sky Sports News through the night. Ok so there was nothing inadvertent about the meth, but still, I’m sure you’ll appreciate the commitment.

Anyway, the day got off to an interesting start with the breakfast takeover of Manchester City by a multi-billionaire Arab consortium, fronted by a nice chap called Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, who made his first million at some ridiculously young age ‘playing’ with his dad’s stock market portfolio. The Eastlands outfit are now poised to become the world’s richest football club after the takeover was revealed to be worth £220million. The buyers, Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment, are reportedly worth between around £650billion and £800billion, compared to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s pathetic fortune of £11.7billion, so to describe them as having “deep pockets” is a bit of an understatement. Following the announcement of this takeover, City began making many audacious bids, including Valencia striker David Villa, Stuttgart’s Mario Gomez, and even wantaway Spurs sulker Dimitar Berbatov.

The real coup however came with the British transfer record signing of Real Madrid forward Robinho, who just two days ago had earmarked himself for Chelsea. In a press conference this past weekend, the Brazilian said: “I’ve already told (coach) Schuster, Pedja (Mijatovic, Madrid’s technical director) and the club that I want to leave, and I’m saying it in front of the press again, as I have many times. The coach thinks he can get me back, but my head is in Chelsea.” Unfortunately for him, it seems that for once Chelsea were a bit too complacent, and thus miraculously beaten to the punch in a £33million deal which will reportedly earn Robinho £90,000-a-week.

Understandably he was a little non-plussed at the whole Ronaldo transfer saga this summer, which saw the one-time golden boy of Madrid cast aside, and even offered as a makeweight to Manchester United in the deal. Real have of course been quick to castigate the flighty superstar, saying that his move to Manchester City is not “for sporting reasons,” but whatever; the fact of the matter is that, for the so-called Biggest Club in the World™, this whole summer has been a bit of an embarrassment. You do wonder though why a player of this caliber, and ambition, would willingly move to a team without Champions League football this season. The only answer unfortunately is money, but surely his wage at Real was equal to £90,000-a-week? Who knows what went on behind the scenes. All we do know is that Manchester City’s next game is against Chelsea, and that Mark Hughes has just under two weeks to learn how to say “just play it long to the big guy up front” in Portuguese.

So moving on then, and to the biggest story that everyone already knew. Yes, Dimitar Berbatov has finally left Spurs and completed his dream move to Manchester United. Ultimately he was never going anywhere else, although Manchester City’s cheeky lunchtime offer ruffled a few feathers. Berbs will undoubtedly cast himself in the mould of other great temperamental United talents as Eric Cantona, but has he really got the work ethic to make that kind of impact? Going the other way in a deal-sweetener was Frazier Campbell, the young United prospect who made such a good impression on loan at Hull last year. The sprightly forward was linked with many other teams yesterday, including Hull and Wigan, but a year-long loan at Spurs could be a great move for all interested parties. Campbell joins other quality deadline-day signings Vedran Corluka and Roman Pavlyuchenko at Juande Ramos’ new-look Tottenham, as they look to build on their decent draw this past weekend at Stamford Bridge.

Looking elsewhere then, and Arsenal once more decided to keep the moths trapped in their wallet, stoically not boosting their thread-bare squad with anyone else. Liverpool meanwhile completed their signing of Albert Riera from Espanyol, as well as picking up two kids I’ve never heard of called Vitor Flora and Peter Guloisi. Newcastle United’s Spanish-speaking revolution also continues, with Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Gonzalaez from Valencia on a season-long loan and Deportivo La Coruna’s creative midfielder Xisco joining Coloccini and Spiderman at St James’ Park, as Kevin Keegan returns to the top-heavy approach that saw him achieve nothing in his previous spell at the Toon. Everton also managed a couple of signings at last, with Louis Saha and keeper Carlo Nash two pretty astute signings on the cheap for the Merseyside outfit. The biggest news though is the club-record signing of Standard Liege playmaker Marouane Fellaini for £15m. Who the hell is he, you might reasonably ask. And our response? Er, no idea really, but he’s no Joao Moutinho. If you believe the media then the Toffees have also agreed a fee for CSKA Moscow’s Brazilian striker Wagner Love, an STT favourite, although word is that the dreadlocked star won’t actually be over here until after the end of the Russian season in January.

Finally, the only other really busy team yesterday was Premier League new boys Stoke City, who look set to consolidate their excellent summer signings with the return of Danny Higginbotham from Sunderland, the addition of Sheffield United string-puller Michael Tonge for £2million, and finally, the interesting purchase of highly-rated Crystal Palace prospect Tom Soares for £1.25million. At least no-one can accuse them of not showing enough intent to stay put in the top flight…