Transfer Windows Revisited: When Chelsea and Liverpool went nuts
Published:
No matter what Sky Sports News insist, transfer deadline days have become rather sleepy affairs over the past few seasons.
The heady days of watching live reports from training facilities, waiting to learn what player – wanted or not – may turn up are long gone. Instead, endless loops of “nothing to report” pieces-to-camera are what the world feast on.
Of course, there was a time when transfer windows, and in particular deadline days’, were worthy of any primetime TV slot. None lived up to the hype better than the January of 2010/11, when fees were limitless and action was regular.
Here’s a look at some of the deals from that window:
Chelsea – Fernando Torres and David Luiz
The Spanish striker’s £50m move from Liverpool to Stamford Bridge on deadline day became the poster for failed January signings, but how many remember the man known as Sideshow Bob joining him that day?
The pair cost a combined £70-odd million and neither flourished to become cornerstones of the Chelsea side. Torres is back at Atletico Madrid, on loan from AC Milan, while Luiz is injured at Paris Saint-Germain.
Liverpool – Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll
Looking at the career paths of this pair of deadline-day Anfield arrivals, you’d expect Suarez to have cost the Reds a pretty penny to replace Torres.
As it was, Liverpool only paid Ajax £22.8m for the Uruguayan striker, who now forms the world’s deadliest front line with Neymar and Lionel Messi at Barcelona.
A whopping £35m was sent Newcastle’s way for Andy Carroll, now a plan-B option off the bench for West Ham.
Man City – Edin Dzeko
Rather than get embroiled in all the deadline-day hooha, the Citizens bolstered their striking stocks early on in the piece.
They gave Wolfsburg £27m for Bosnian target man Dzeko, who scored seven goals in his first half-season with the Etihad side as they finished third.
He would net 21 in 50 for club and country in the following campaign as City claimed the Premier League title.
Aston Villa – Darren Bent
On the day that the Villans bought Bent from Sunderland for £24m on January 18, the Black Cats were 6th in the Premier League while Villa sat one place above the relegation places.
At the time, the striker denied the move was influenced by a better pay packet and stated it was for footballing reasons. He gave Villa’s three consecutive sixth-placed finishes as evidence of that decision.
The side finished ninth that term with Bent scoring nine league goals. However, that remains their highest finish in the three seasons since.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
Fancy a flutter? Sign up today to claim up to £50 in free bets.
