POST TRANSFER BLUES

The transfer period is finally closed and when the dust finally settles, verdicts will be passed on who did the best bit of transfer business and like-wise who came up short.
A lot of people seem to think Chelsea came out the window the biggest winners and it is hard to argue with that. Jose Mourinho did his business early on in the window, getting the much needed quality centre forward in Diego Costa, a midfield architect in Cesc Fabregas and Defensive cover in the form of Luis Felipe. Mourinho even had the luxury of bringing in Thibaut Courtois from his hugely successful loan stint at Atletico Madrid and Loic Remy as a striking option. Not bad to have Petr Cech as cover.Chelsea of course also shipped out Ashley Cole, Lampard, David Luiz, Samuel Etoo, Torres and Demba Ba, none of them will be particularly missed. So overall Chelsea do look stronger and it is easy to see why most pundits are tipping them to lift the title. The only weakness i'm seeing is in striking where an injury to the Diego Costa might leave them with the prospect of playing either Drogba(best days behind him certainly) and Remy(not proven at the highest level). Either way, Chelsea will be overwhelming favourites to take the title back to London.
Liverpool have been likened to Spurs who sold Bale for a huge sum of money only to spend it all on a whole bunch of average players. Liverpool's tidy some gotten from the sale of Luis Suarez has been spent on the likes of Divorck Origi, Balotelli, Lambert, Lallana, Can, Markovic, Moreno and Lovren. Their key exits have been Agger and Suarez. Unlike Spurs, Liverpool have more than once shown that they can win without Suarez. What Rodgers has done is to continuously ensure his players do improve under him. A lot of players are looking much better on the ball. Despite the signings, i suspect Sterling will be their key man and if they can somehow get the best out of Balotelli then another top 4 finish is guaranteed.
Manchester City have had a rather quiet transfer window by their standards. Even so they still managed to bring in Sagna, Fernando, Mangala, Caballero and Lampard. They have shipped out Lescott, Garcia, Negredo and Rodwell. Overall Pellegrinho looks to have strengthened although it's difficult to understand why the paid 32M for Mangala who i think should be worth around 12M, Fernando, Sagna and Lampard will most likely spend most of the time warming the bench albeit with attractive bank account balances. All in all City will be a formidable force once again and especially when their key players- Toure, Silva, Aguero, Kompany, Zabaleta hit top form. They are no doubt stronger after the transfer period.
Arsenal despite scepticism by most fans have been quite active in the window. Whether they have emerged stronger though remains to be seen. Debuchy for Sagna is more or less like for like, Chambers is a very good signing and for me the best business they did this summer,more than makes up for Vermaelen in the long term, Ospina provides good cover between the posts, and Sanchez might well prove a smart signing. Welbeck divides opinion but i think the transfer was good business for all the parties involved-Arsenal, Man U and Welbeck. So overall Arsenal are stronger, but probably the dissatisfaction by the fans is due to the knowledge that of their key rivals, those stronger than them last season have strengthened i.e Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool, and those weaker have also strengthened i.e Man U, Spurs and Everton. Wenger did good business but he could have done more.
Manchester United have had a record breaking summer in all aspects. The players to have exited Old Trafford could probably form a squad, Evra, Rio, Vidic, Buttner, Nani, Kagawa, Giggs, Welbeck, Chicharito, Powell. 6 new faces, all likely to be in a starting 11 have come in. Surely United cannot be as bad as they were last season-although Moyes did make a better start. The feeling is that United will get better as the season progresses and players get used to the system. The problem is how far off the top will they be by then. Playing 3 at the back has disorganized United, The defenders don't understand the system, midfielders are less confident when they have a shaky defence behind them. A non-functioning mid means zero supply for the attackers. It is worth noting that LVG has not had the luxury of playing his new signings due to problems with injuries, work permit, fitness etc. That's why United's next match-vs QPR is of extra importance as LVG will be able to play a number of his new signings. It also gives us a chance to see how he solves the Rooney-RVP-Falcao problem. Should United's new signings perform upto 80% of their potential, United will be in the top 4.

Have a sporty week!!
Mark Macheda