Top 5 Transfers Of The Window

This summer’s transfer window was a particularly exciting one. It began with Manchester United and Liverpool identifying their targets early and offering large sums to secure them, and ended with a frantic Arsene Wenger swallowing his pride and scraping around in the bargain bin.

Here are my top five transfers, for whatever reason. They are in no particular order.

Shay Given‘s move to Aston Villa will prove to be one of the deals of the summer. Aged 35 now, the Irishman is still as reliable as ever and has already performed well in a Villa shirt this season.

If reports of a £3.5m deal are correct, then Villa have also got one of the bargains of the summer. Given could easily play for another 3 0r 4 years.

 Gervinho‘s £10.5m move to Arsenal is one that particularly pricks my attention. I have been a big fan of Gervinho for his two years at Lille and found some of his attacking play with Eden Hazard breathtaking. 28 goals in 67 games is a great return and something Arsenal fans will hope he can emulate.

Though Arsenal missed a trick in not pushing the boat out to buy Hazard, Gervinho will be an exciting talent to watch, his partnership with Robin van Persie has already shown glimpses of potential, for instance the first goal away at Udinese.

Ashley Young‘s move to Manchester United seemed fated for a long time, yet despite that, Young certainly could not have anticipated the start he has made to life at Old Trafford. He was clearly a big fish in a small pond at Villa and had to move on. Talk of a move to Liverpool was bandied around but ultimately Young made the right decision.

His two sensational strikes against Arsenal demonstrate his devastating potential, his performances for England suggesting both club and country will rely heavily on Young and Wayne Rooney for some years to come.

One of the more curious transfers of the summer was ex-Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor joining Tottenham from Manchester City on a season-long loan deal. Though Adebayor will have some critics at White Hart Lane, he certainly possesses the talent to overcome them. Tottenham will rely on him this season.

What is more important here is that City are effectively laying down the gauntlet to a team who were their closest rivals for the last two years suggesting their ambition has changed so much that Tottenham are not even on their radar this year. And that is part of the powerful message City are sending this season.

The final transfer is Sergio Aguero‘s £38m move to Manchester City. First and foremost, Aguero is such a watchable player, that the fact he is playing in the Premiership rather than any league abroad is great, from my perspective. Secondly, the deal came at a time when Carlos Tevez had really put the club in a position of weakness as he tried to force through his demands to leave.

Aguero’s signing told gave City back the power in that relationship, his explosive start to the season alongside Silva, Dzeko and Nasri, in which Tevez is consigned to 10-15 minute run-outs when the game is already won, has made fans of all clubs look at Mancini with more respect than last year.

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Chris Smith

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