'Closed For Business' Part Three

It's time to dive head-first into the murky depths at the base of the Premier League table now as 'Part Three' of our transfer window assessment takes us to the teams that are fighting against the dreaded drop to the Championship. Nasty.

Middlesbrough

There were a heck of a lot more outgoings than incomings at The Riverside this winter window, something that manager Aitor Karanka certainly hasn't held back on mentioning. Karanka wanted Jese Rodriguez, it didn't happen. He tried to buy Robert Snodgrass, it didn't happen. He made Bojan his number one target, and yet again it didn't happen. That must be deeply frustrating of course. Karanka goes against the grain though, he more often than not, voices his concerns in public. He's done it plenty of times before and threatened to walk away from Boro last season if his ambitions in achieving promotion weren't met by the board. He's even provoked reaction from supporters about the atmosphere at home games, something that I do agree with but that's for another story. 

The club did manage to bring in Patrick Bamford, Adiene Guedioura and Rudy Gestede; shipping out nine players in total including Jordan Rhodes, Tomas Mejias and Emilio Insua. What I would ask is do Boro possess a stronger squad than they did at the beginning of January? I'd argue that they don't. Gestede struggled for goals in the top flight with Villa, Bamford hasn't notched in the top flight and Rhodes was sold for that very same reason. Boro's goals have been spread around the side this term, but their problem is that they don't get many. That would be the real concern for me, and I'm not sure what they've brought in is any better than what they've already got.
Grade D-. 

Swansea 

Swansea signed a player this window that will have passed under the radar, certainly when compared in terms of the Payet and Snodgrass stories that dominated the window. The transfer that I refer to is the signing of Luciano Narsingh, a £4m capture from PSV. It was such a shrewd piece of business from Paul Clement that it prompted me to write a whole piece on the window (It Doesn't Have To Be This Way! - for those who haven't read it please check it out!) He's pacy and direct, pretty much that starting requisite that a player must have if he's to make it in English football, particularly if you're a winger. I still think that this one was a steal at £4m. The club also brought in Martin Olssom, Tom Carroll and Jordan Ayew, all players who have played in the Premier League before, with varying degrees of success I must add.

As for outgoings, Marvin Emnes joined Blackburn, Mo Barrow was surprisingly allowed to go to Leeds, and Neil Taylor moved to Villa as part of the Ayew deal. What is probably most significant for Swansea though was the ability to keep hold of both Gylfi Sigurdsson and Fernando Llorente. These two players will be vital to Swansea's immediate future. Sigurdsson, one of my favourite players, is a proven Premier League operator; his creativity and guile will be of grave importance. He will be the main supplier of ammunition to Llorente as The Swans try to keep their heads above water.
Grade B.

Crystal Palace

Where to start with Crystal Palace? Along with West Ham, the Londoners were seemingly linked with a new player every single day of the window. After heavily investing in the side under Alan Pardew in the summer, things certainly haven't worked out well at Selhurst Park. Pardew's since departed, and now Big Sam is tasked with keeping the club afloat in the top flight. Armed with another war chest, Sam moved swiftly to bring in Jeffrey Schlupp from Leicester for £12m and courted Patrick Van Aanholt for most of the month. It was on, then it was off, then on again as PVA signed on the dotted line for an eye-watering £14m. Good business from Sunderland if you ask me. Sakho and Milivojevic came in on loan to add much needed steel in the side. This Palace team can certainly score goals, but it is at the other end of the pitch that needed strengthening. The signing of Sakho will do that. Jordan Mutch was the only major departure, leaving on loan to join Reading.

Will Big Sam's winter business be enough to save Palace from the drop this season? I honestly think it will be. I think it's been a good window for the club. They've maybe overpaid for their acquisitions but what they have done is brought in Premier League players who add that little bit extra in terms of the demands brought by this league, the need for adjustment to new surroundings being subsequently minimized. Let's be honest, with the squad they possess, Palace shouldn't be in the position they are, and now that the defensive shortcomings have been addressed, their attacking talent should see them survive the drop this season, hopefully not at Sunderland's expense!
Grade B+

Hull

This winter transfer window was a simple one for Hull City; quantity. Quality of course, but the club certainly needed quantity. A bizarre managerial stand-off situation at the start of the season with Mike Phelan left Hull desperately short of players in all departments. They were struggling to field an XI at times, things were that bad, yet they somehow started the campaign with a victory over champions Leicester; football eh? Fast forward to January and the club are as predicted, struggling towards the end of the Premier League table. With Phelan departed, the task has fallen to Marco Silva to keep the club in the top flight, and he's wasted no time at all in moulding the squad to his liking. In came Markus Henriksen and Kamil Groskicki for £4.5m and £7m respectively. N'Diaye, Niasse, Elabdellaoui, Rannochia and Markovic have all joined on temporary deals. Evandro, who Silva has worked with previously, was also brought in from Porto, and from what I've seen, he looks like he could make the grade on these shores. He is obviously a player the manager trusts. Robert Snodgrass has left for East London for £10m, and with his contract expiring, that seemed like a no brainer. The one surprise was allowing utility man Jake Livermore to depart, Silva himself going on record to say he'd liked to have kept him. The £10m fee received was obviously needed to balance the books.

What Hull have done is gambled, rolled the dice so to speak, and I guess they've had to. They've gone for a mix of experience and youth, older heads who've some mileage in the tank and some younger players with the hunger and desire to prove themselves. It may work, it may not. Hull's hierarchy will have felt that the club had no other choice. The squad does looks better, fresher and there is now more strength in depth, which was badly needed. I think they've recruited reasonably well, but has it come too late? The next four months will certainly tell us.
Grade B.

Sunderland

Ok, I admit it; I've been dreading doing this, so I've had to leave Sunderland until last. I'm sure most people who read our articles on a regular basis know exactly how I feel about Sunderland's transfer strategies in recent seasons, so I'm going to cut this one a little short. David Moyes has found that working at the Stadium of Light and in particular for Ellis Short, a trying and testing affair. In fact I'd hazard a guess that he's found it a whole load tougher than he was expecting. Moyes is the guy Short has finally decided will be trusted to manage the club, mould the side, build the squad and take care of the football side with a little continuity once and for all. He is paying the price for past failings. The club had very little in the way of money and maneuverability in the January window, reflected in the signing of Joleon Lescott. Bryan Oviedo and Darron Gibson were only brought in after Moyes sanctioned the departure of Patrick Van Aanholt to Palace for a hefty £14m, clearing a wage and enabling some recruitment. Failing once again to buy an experienced striker is a travesty. To do it in one window is bad enough, but successive windows is utterly unforgivable. Yes we tried for Ulloa but once that failed, where was plan B? I won't say too much more on this, because quite frankly, for years now we've been getting it massively wrong in the summer and winter windows. It surely can't get any worse though. Can it? 
Grade D- (I'd have gone for an E if we hadn't banked such a ludicrous sum of money for PVA!)

'Closed For Business' Part Two

The follow on from our opening segment on the transfer window begins with my analysis of the ground floor teams of the Premier League, not quite the basement, but not far from taking a tumble down the dark steps that is the relegation zone. This where I think we see a lot more transfer activity occur, whether it be a new manager just being instated and giving his first window to shop and make his own team, or owners freeing up cash because the prospect of being threatened with a season not in the top flight was never in their business model, so let's get started and have a look at who's where, and why, and how each team has done! 

Southampton

I'm not going to beat around the bush, this has been a poor season for Southampton if you remove the not so prestigious upcoming League Cup final from their seasons achievements, and I find it very odd that this hasn't been noted more. It seems the current manager is still unaware of what actually works for his team, one week they can battle deep, hard and attack so well against top teams like Liverpool, then go and be trounced by a Swansea team who seemed like their wings had been clipped. So Claude Puel had to do something I feel, and the signing on Manolo Gabbiadini is a smart one. With Charlie Austin's injury being a lengthy one and Jay Rodriguez returning off the back of a 2 year sick note, fire power up top can only be welcomed, considering only 3 teams in the league have scored less than them. The signing of Hassan on loan from Nice is a strange one, because he won't take over from Fraser Forster, and even Forsters deputy, Alex McCarthy is no mediocre keeper either, so this seems a sentimental one to make himself feel better about leaving Nice and that team going on to be in a commanding Ligue 1 position. 

Three outgoings, and of course most notably, the club captain, Jose Fonte, although fantastic business in terms of the sale, when we look at the price of £8 million to be received from a player who's past his prime and has only been at the top level for 4 years of a 15 year career, this can be seen as another shrewd trasfer by the Southampton deal brokers, but with the new of Van Djik, in my opinion the league's current best defender, being out for up to three months, it leaves the Saints a little short at the back. 

From the outside looking in, if they can remain tight as they have at the back l, the addition of Gabbiadini can help push them on and maybe help them finish in the top half of the table where I, and also a lot of other people think they should be. 

Grade B- 

Bournemouth 

Considering Eddie Howe has blamed recent results on the loss of Nathan Ake being taken back to his parent club Chelsea, you'd be under the impression the addition of a Centre Back would be his and the club's top priority ! How wrong would the average man be. It seems AFC Bournemouth's only dealings in the transfer window was the £1 million deal to take a young Goalkeeper from Sheffield down to the end other end of the country, and now the frustration in lack of a quality signing can only increase with the main striker Callum Wilson being stricken off with another ACL injury, to his other knee this time. Eddie Howe needs now, more than ever, keep this team playing their way, and justifying making no impact in the market by putting his Manager of the Decade award to the test by ensuring Bournemouth don't suffer second season jitters in the Premier League. I think Eddie Howe needed to add a playmaker, and to not break the bank, an ideal player would have been the Championships top assist ranked player this season, Connor Hourihane, and at £1 million would have only been buttons to a top flight team. Time will tell if inactivity will pay dividends to their survival cause. 

The sale of Glenn Murray a week ago to me was good business, to get a fee over a couple of hundred thousand for any player hitting the wrong side of 30 with out ever being a consitent top flight player is a great achievement, but now in the wake of Injuries and bad form from Afobe and co may be seen as rash inexperienced dealing within the market I can only hope the other nine other players let out on loan are not ones who are currently needed and this squad does indeed have enough in it to avoid the drop.

Grade D- 

Burnley 

My attentions now move to the Fortress of Burnley, the impenetrable Turf Moor yielding 95% of their points tally for this season. This is a team I enjoy seeing do well. From the ground up the club is ran impeccably, two seasons ago The Clarets came up and spent next to nothing, oddly enough it wasn't in their mind set to remain in the Premier League, promotion came too early, and so relegation followed, and now we come to a point where their season can only improve with one victory from an away game, something yet to happen for them but this could all change with some, perhaps over priced but very well suited signings. Joey Barton on a free can be a plus because the gruff Sean Dyche seems to be the only man in recent times able to tame Joey's desire to say and do what some people have only ever dreamt, so he's a man who knows what he wants. Ashley Westwood is a standard squad player, still young enough to progress but at current standings is only there to make up the numbers I feel, but Dyche isn't a man to let a player just warm the bench, if he gets his head down and proves his worth in training hell be given his chance and will have to take it. Their final incoming is the often hot but in Robbie Brady, we have a player who possesses a fantastic delivery and a keen shot, this he will go onto be a quality signing for Burnley and at £13 million shows the club's intent on staying on the countries top flight. I don't think he'll be out on the left side as we usually see Brady but, central, playmaker esque; this is where he plays for Ireland and he makes it his own when playing for country, but time will tell and with their current form I think they've time to spare and won't get caught up in any relegation drama. 

Their outgoings isn't anything of significance, a £1 million profit from Jutkiewicz, sold to Birmingham and Michael Kightly going on loan to Bolton being the only ones to be of note. 

Grade A 

Watford

A team that, when going by statistics, analysis and predictors will end this season as the last team to be relegated have added attack to their team, but have also made a nice profit. The first incoming being that of Everton's Tom Cleverley on loan, as I'm aware the deal is if they stay up they're then enforced to pay £8 million for Tom a player who optimises the term mediocrity into a walking talking footballer, so I think this part of the deal is one that Watford should perhaps hope may result in relegation because he's not s player is like to have in my team, a underwhelming signing for a team that's struggling for ideas. The next signing is at the other end of the spectrum, a young Frenchman from Italy on loan from one of the old European Giants AC Milan, M'baye Niang. He's, big strong and quick, attributes that can only be a bonus when entering the Premier League, this is a signing in looking forward to being in action and in all honesty one I didn't expect ! But then they've went and dampened the excitement by buying the constant disappointment that is Mauro Zarate a player that will show in flashes his ability but will never build on it and now in and maybe past his prime I can see Zarate becoming another great Argentine to grace these shores, especially at his fourth attempt, this is a player who isn't cut out for this league and is only here for a another pay check. 

Guediorra and Ighalo are the main players to leave and the other four outgoings being loan deals. These two sales netted Watford a healthy £24 million and if they live another year in the Premier League should think on investing wisely, but may also kick themselves for not taking a single offer of £38 million from the same Chinese club that landed Ighalo only 5 months ago, but profit is profit. The only thing is with China already snagging one Watford player there has been open talk of Troy Deeney, their club captain, admitting he wouldn't say no to a lucrative offer from the Far East.  Watch this space.

Grade D+ 

Leicester

Oh how the mighty have fallen, this is a tragic but not so surprising thing to be seeing. Leicester's struggles come down to one person and one person only, the absence of N'golo Kante. He's proven to be irreplaceable. It was like they had twelve men on the the pitch in their title winning season. So Ranieri tried and failed by signing what he thought was his replacement in the summer only to see amends be stricken with injury after injury. They've brought in a loan player, Molla Wague, a centre back, maybe to put pressure on Wes Morgan and Robert Huth but other than that I can't see the 25 year old being anything other than a face in the dugout. And their main piece of business being a £15 million spend on Wilfred Ndidi, a 20 year old power house, physically not a like for like Kante but on the numerous occasion I've seen him turn out for Genk I'd like to think this kid will become a member of this struggling first team and improve their fortunes vastly. With a powerful yet agile approach to the game similar to that of Moussa Dembele I think Leicester have signed a very good prospect. 

They've also made a tidy net profit on Jeffrey Schlupp, a little under used for my liking at the champions. The money they receive is in the region of £12.5 million and is good business for a bit part player, and with plenty of options down their left, I can't see this being one to come back and bite them on the proverbial behind. I do feel Leicester should have entertained the £40+ million offer from the Chinese league for Islam Slimani. That would have been their summer money recouped and added to for a player who's scored a couple of headers and may prove to be money lost if interest for him diminishes in coming months, he's not getting any younger. 

Grade C+

Coxon.