In this penultimate What moves where article looking at the January 2012 transfer window, we will be looking at QPR, Stoke, Sunderland and Swansea. 

Queens Park Rangers

QPR got promoted to the Premier League in the summer after winning the Championship last season; this season has not been easy for QPR though and they find themselves below the other two teams that got promoted with them Norwich and Swansea. They also find themselves in 17th place in the table, only two points above the Relegation Zone. Another really worrying situation for the QPR fans is their teams recent form, in which they have only taken two points from a possible twenty-one available to them. Neil Warnock has stated he wants to sign five new players in the transfer window and has already started his wheeling and dealing by signing Federico Macheda from Man United on Loan.

Possible Ins 

 Andy Johnson from Fulham. In a previous article I had mentioned that Blackburn might be a possible destination for the 30 year old. Another suitor of the Englishman would be Neil Warnock as he is searching for a prolific goal scorer who could hopefully end QPR’s slide down the League. The reported fee of two million pounds would look a snip if he could score the goals that keep them sitting outside the Relegation Zone once all 38 games of QPR’s season have been played.

James Tomkins from West Ham. The young centre back is being looked at by a host of top level clubs, including Newcastle. West Ham Sam Allardyce has said it would take a large bid to make him consider parting with the 22 year old, and any bid in the five million pound region could be high enough to make him think about how much he really wants to keep hold of the Defender from Basildon.

Nikica Jelavic from Rangers. The 26 year old Croatian Striker has scored twenty-eight times in forty-three league appearances since moving to Rangers from Rapid Vienna for four million pounds in the summer of 2010. It is being reported that he could be available for seven million pounds but there are other teams reportedly interested, these include Liverpool and Newcastle, which could mean that QPR would have a difficult fight on their hands if they wanted to get him playing at Loftus Road.

Possible Outs 

 Adel Taarabt. Taarabt is a creative force in the QPR team but has apparently become unsettled since Joey Barton joined in the summer and was installed as captain. Another factor that has meant that a move away from QPR seeming like a reality is the fact that Taarabt’s work ethic isn’t the best and he can go missing in games, not something a team trying to stay in the Premier League needs in their team. With big European clubs such as PSG and Napoli interested in the Moroccan it may only be a short amount of time till Taarabt is moving on. 

Stoke City 

Stoke are normally a very busy sides when it comes to transfer windows but manager Tony Pulis has stated that this will be a quite one for the club, and they would only sign anyone if they were a special addition to the team. 

Possible Ins 

Junior Holliet from Blackburn. Holliet has been linked with a lot of clubs in recent weeks as his contract winds down. And a possible eight million pound move to the Britannia is a high possibility for the Canadian this month. 

Possible Outs 

Jermaine Pennant. One possible out is the former Arsenal and Liverpool Winger, who has found himself of the first team in the past few matches and could see his chances of starting more often cut even further if the Potters do manage to sign Holliet from Blackburn. Pennant is even being linked to go in the opposite direction. 

Sunderland 

Sunderland were a team in decline and looked like they needed a whole squad overhaul, but with new manager Martin O’Neill coming in there has been a complete change in the fortunes of the team, this has shown that they have a talented squad that only needs a couple of tweaks to take it to the next level.  

Possible Ins 

Marcell Jansen from Hamburg. The 26 year old versatile German, who can play anywhere on the left side, is valued by his club in the region of ten million pounds. He has played in the last three major tournaments for his country and would add some top level international experience to Martin O’ Neil’s squad at the Stadium of Light.  

Steven Pienaar from Tottenham. Pienaar is apparently the focus of intense interest from Sunderland in relation to a loan move till the end of the season, but they face a battle from Everton and Aston Villa if they want to take the South African to the North-West. 

Possible Outs 

None. Even though a few weeks ago it looked like there were a few players ready to abandon the Sunderland ship, with the new manager has come a new sense of self-belief to the team and they now all seem to be pulling in the same direction. 

Swansea 

Swansea became the first Welsh team to play in the Barclays Premier League when the got promoted in the summer after winning the Championship Play-Offs. Since then they have gained many plaudits for their style of play and the enthusiasm that the team and fans always seem to have. Brendan Rodgers has already added to his squad, with the signing of Northern Irish Striker Rory Donnelly from Cliftonville.

Possible Ins

Josh McEachran from Chelsea. The young English Central-Midfielder has found first team opportunities limited at Stamford Bridge and has been told that he may leave the club on loan during this transfer window, Bolton, Aston Villa and Swansea have all been linked to the 18 year old. He would certainly add some creative force to whichever team he does join. 

Possible Outs 

Swansea are another team that I just can’t see letting any of the members of their first-team leave. Especially as they have a very small squad at the Liberty Stadium and they have found a nice balance to the team. 

In this What moves where? We will be looking at the next four teams in the Premier League, which includes the two Manchester clubs, Newcastle and Norwich.

Manchester City

City have in recent years, have skyrocketed up the league from a solid mid-table side to genuine title winners and lead the Premier League at this point in time, thanks to seemingly limitless funds available to them from their owners Roberto Mancini has been able to go big in previous windows and buy footballing superstars. As we saw a few years ago with the Madrid Galacticos, buying lots of world class players doesn’t always make you a successful side, but Mancini has seemingly been able to pacify all the egos swirling around in their dressing room and with the exception of one player has the whole squad pulling in the same direction.

Possible Ins 

Edinson Cavani and Marek Hamsik from Napoli. If this was a normal team looking at possible signings, this would seem to have pretty much no chance of happening, most people would look at Napoli being in the Champions League and Man City only being in the Europa League and decide that it would be much better to stay where they were, but with City’s money anything can happen. I have no problem with a player moving for money, in any other job if someone offered you three times your wage to do exactly the same thing you’d be out of your old job in a heartbeat, I only see a problem if it is to one of the main rivals of the club you are moving from (Torres, Meireles, Tevez and Campbell I’m looking at you). With rumours that City are prepared to make a seventy million pound bid for the pair it may be hard for Napoli to turn it down, and if the rumours that City are also monitoring their teammate Ezequiel Lavezzi as well a massive combined bid for the three could be incoming.

Possible Outs  

Carlos Tevez. I call this part Possible Outs but I may as well just call it out when it comes to little Argentinian. Ever since Tevez seemingly refused to come on as a substitute against Bayern Munich in the Champions League he hasn’t played for City. He has since then flown to Argentina without the clubs permission and refuses to come back to face punishment. AC Milan seem keen to take him off City’s and Mancini’s hands and even though there is a disagreement on how the transfer should be structured at the moment, City want to sell him, AC want to loan him for the rest of the season with an option to buy in the summer, I’m positive this will all be resolved by the time the window slams shut, and we will see Tevez leave our shores soon enough.

Wayne Bridge. Mancini has pleaded with Bridge to move on in the Transfer Window even stating publicly that he doesn’t understand players that would just stay at a club where they no there is no chance they will get game time. Mancini has also stated that Bridge turned down offers in the summer from a host of Championship clubs and Celtic and I’m sure the club will be hoping he doesn’t do exactly the same again. 

Manchester United

United are sitting in 2nd in the Premier League, two points behind their ‘Noisy Neighbours’ Manchester City and have like City been dumped out of the Champions League at the group stage of the competition. Even though they are second there are obvious areas that need strengthening and for the first time in many years their squad looks almost weak. Even though Sir Alex Ferguson has publicly stated his dislike of the January Transfer Window, This one will be an important one for the club and could make or break their season, thanks to injuries to key players and the poor form of others.

Possible Ins 

Wesley Sneijder from Inter Milan. Man U were linked with the Dutch wizard for months in the summer, with the transfer seemingly always round the corner but it never materialised. Man U have managed to get by with the midfield they have till now but with injuries to Anderson, Fletcher and Cleverley the Centre-Mid position is looking pretty thread bare and Fergie must worry where the creativity will come from. If Man U come back in with a similar offer to the twenty-five million pound one that was reported in the summer, it might not be long until we see the 27 year old showcasing his unbelievable talent at Old Trafford.

Cheick Tiote from Newcastle. The 25 year old from the Ivory Coast joined the Magpies in August 2010 for three and a half million pounds and has been impressing ever since so much so that there are mounting reports that both Manchester clubs as well as Chelsea are looking at him with keen interest and that bids of almost ten times what Newcastle paid FC Twente are incoming. He would be a perfect buy for the Red Devils as he would be the holding midfielder they need and would stop players streaming past the midfield to put pressure on the defence, so getting a player to fill that void in midfield is imperative. Buying Tiote would also mean that Phil Jones when could move back into his preferred position of Centre-Back.

Klaas-Jan Hunterlaar from Schalke. Another Dutchman who could soon be strutting his stuff at Old Trafford, he is seen as the Ideal replacement to Dimitar Berbatov if rumours are to be believed. Schalke would hate to lose their star man and it would take a bid in excess of the twenty million pound region to represent any real value for the German club, but Fergie usually gets what he wants in the end and if Berbatov does move on their would be enough funds in the kitty to make a move for the 28 year old Striker, who has scored 173 league goals in 298 appearances in his career.

Possible Outs 

Dimitar Berbatov. The Bulgarian had a great season for Man U last year and was named in the PFA Team of the Year and shared the Golden Boot with Carlos Tevez, but still found himself falling down the pecking order at the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ in the second half of the season behind Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez. This has continued this season, and has actually got worse for the soon to be thirty-one year old as he has found himself slip even further down thanks to the emergence of Danny Welbeck, who has been a revelation since his loan spell at Sunderland last season. With reports that Anzhi Makhachkala want to take him to Russia to replace Samuel Eto’o who reportedly hates life at the club and wants to leave. Anzhi Makhachkala are apparently ready to offer twelve million to Man U and two hundred and sixty thousand a week to Berbatov to play for them, it would be hard for either the club or the player to turn that down. 

Newcastle United

Newcastle have had a great start to the season and have sat in the top four for a large portion of the season so far, but have seen themselves have some poor results recently and seen them drop to seventh in the table. Even though they would be extremely pleased to be sitting there at the end of May, they will need to strengthen their squad in January if they want to hold on to the position.

Possible Ins

Roman Pavlyuchenko from Tottenham or Olivier Gioud from Montpellier or Modibo Maiga from Sochaux. Newcastle have one of the most in form Strikers in the League on their books in the form of Demba Ba who has managed to bag 13 goals so far this season, but beyond that their strike force looks very poor as the next highest scorer for the Magpies is Leon Best who has only managed 3 goals. This has lead me to believe that they need a new Striker who can help take the pressure off Ba, and score important goals to keep Newcastle where they are. Pavlyuchenko from Tottenham would be a good option for Newcastle as he has Premier League experience and apparently he would like to move on from Tottenham and try to revitalise his career. Harry Redknapp has said he would like Pavlychenko to stay but if he wants to move on then he might not have any choice but to sell him.

If Pavlyuchenko does stay at Tottenham, two options that Alan Pardew could look at are two international strikers who ply their trade in the Ligue 1 in France. The first of these two is French international Olivier Gioud who plays for Montpillier, Gioud has an interesting story and has only been playing professional football since the 08-09 season and has gone on to become one of the brightest talents in France. He joined current club Montpiller for three and a half million Euros in 2010 from Ligue 2 side Tours, in his first season in the top league in France he managed to score 12 goals. He has already equalled that this season and has been linked with a lot of clubs in the coming window and reportedly he has a ten million Euro price tag on his head, a price that would not put Newcastle off.

The other option is Maiga who plays for Sochaux, he almost joined Newcastle in the summer and claimed that he would never play for the Frech club again but the transfer fell through and he has played for them since. There have been multiple reports stating that the deal is still on and it will cost Newcastle seven million in January, there have even been reports that he has already had a medical, in preparation of the transfer. There have been varying reports on how the medical went with some claiming he passed and others claiming he failed.

Wilfred Zaha from Crystal Palace. Zaha is one of the brightest talents in the Championship, and even though he has only managed to score 3 goals in 63 league appearances for the Eagles his performances have caught the eyes of a lot of top flight teams in England. He has just signed a new long term contract at Palace and it may take a bid in excess of five million to snatch him away.

Taye Taiwo from AC Milan. Newcastle have not had a recognised Left-Back since they sold Jose Enrique to Liverpool in the summer and the 26 year old from Nigeria could be the answer to this problem. Taiwo joined AC in the summer but has gone on to only make four league appearances so far for the team, and apparently he is available to loan and this could be a very viable option for Newcastle as it means there would not be a large transfer fee involved.

Possible Outs

Cheick Tiote. I already have spoken about the possibility of Tiote moving to United in January but there are other clubs with massive interest in him, mainly Chelsea and Man City. Liverpool are also meant to be monitoring his situation but it does seem that if Tiote is leaving Tyneside his most likely destination will be Old Trafford.

Norwich

Norwich are having a fantastic season so far and find themselves sitting in ninth position at Christmas, and have played very well and caused problems for a lot of teams including Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool. Paul Lambert will know that they can rest on their laurels and getting to the magic forty points margin as quickly as possible is imperative so they can focus on finishing as high as possible when the season is over. He also knows that he will need to strengthen his squad, to help their chances of staying up.

Possible Ins

Jordan Rhodes from Huddersfield. Rhodes has been in lethal form so far this season and is top scorer in League 1 having grabbed 17 goals so far, including back-to-back Hat-tricks against Exerter City and Preston, he also managed to score all four of Huddersfield’s goals in the 4-4 draw with Sheffield Wednesday. Rhodes though wants to prove himself at a higher level and a bid of three and a half million pounds might be enough to tempt Huddersfield to part with their star man if a Premier League side comes in for him.

Michael Mcindoe. Mcindoe is a free agent since his release from Coventry, and has recently been training with Norwich to keep his fitness up. During his time training with them he has apparently impressed the coaching staff and they are close to finalising a deal to sign the Left-Mid on a year and a half long contract.

Kyle Naughton from Tottenham. Naughton is already playing for the Canaries on loan from Tottenham. He has been very impressive and has established himself as first choice for the right back position. This has lead to reports that Norwich will try and make the move permanent, and seeing as Tottenham have a few quality Right-Backs already on their books it would be hard for Naughton to push past them into the first team at White Hart Lane and making this move might be the best thing for his career.

Emmanuel Frimpong from Arsenal. Frimpong has looked impressive in his fourteen appearances for the Arsenal first team this season, but will find it hard to get into the first team regularly, so a loan move to a Premier League team would give him more top flight experience. If Norwich do sign Naughton to a permanent they would then be allowed to sign another player on loan from a Premier League side as you are only allowed two players on loan from Premier League sides at the same time. This deal would seem to make sense for everyone involved, Arsenal would have one of their young talents go get match fitness and more game experience, Frimpong would be able to play and understand the pressures of playing week in week out and Norwich would get a good tenacious Midfielder who would add some toughness to the middle of their midfield.

Possible Outs 

None. Paul Lambert doesn’t have the largest squad at his disposal and I can’t see him wanting to let any of his players go away from Carrow Road.

  The football season has started again and with it comes the release of FIFA 12. The annual football game from EA Sports. The problem with franchises that come out every year is that they can sometimes feel rushed and not have the polish that bi-annual or games that take years to come out would have. 

That is not a problem with the FIFA franchise as it continues to go from strength to strength, building on the success of FIFA 11 which blow their main competitor Pro Evo out of the water last year, EA may have made the greatest football game so far in FIFA 12.

It would have been easy for EA to see the success that they had with last years’ incarnation and sat back on their laurels, thinking their wasn’t much else other than player transfers and what clubs are in what league to change. That was something they most certainty did not do and have added to and re-vamped many areas of this already excellent game.

There are three major changes that make this version so different form last years. These are Tactical Defending, Player Impact and Precision Dribbling.

The first change which is probably the hardest to get your heads round when you first get to playing a match is Tactical Defending. In previous versions of FIFA, when you were defending you could get a computer controlled defender to help you and just keep doing it for minutes on end until you won the ball back and then tackling whenever you felt like it and almost always getting the ball. This has changed this year as defending is much more focussed on containing and jockeying with the attackers, to force mistakes, tackling has become a last resort as one badly timed tackle could leave a striker bearing down on goal with no-one but the helpless keeper in his way.

You can switch back to the defending style of yesteryear if you are resistant to change but once you get used to Tactical Defending, the old style feels clunky and you will find the game being stifled as you end up doing exactly the same thing over and over again to win the ball.

This becomes even more apparent when combined with another new feature Precision Dribbling. This neat innovation once mastered becomes your new best friend, don’t abuse it to much though as it is best used only in the right situations. Use it sparingly and only in the right situation and you will be able to pull away from a defender and get enough space to play an inch perfect ball that splits the defence like Moses split the Red Sea or smash a ball towards goal with enough ferocity even Jamie Carragher wouldn’t try and get in the way of it. 

One thing that FIFA has always had in it’s favour over Pro is presentation and licensing, this continues this year as FIFA 12 contains 29 playable leagues and over 40 national teams all presented in full HD with the players at the top clubs getting a fully relistic recreation. All the clubs and national teams are fully licesensed unlike in Pro Evo so you will play as Liverpool not Merseyside Red. 

In FIFA 12 you start with not great pickings and have to play or spend money buying packs but it is well worth it.

All in all, EA could have sat back and made a very good FIFA game using FIFA 11 with just a couple of tweaks but they didn’t. They went out there and made major changes and improvements, with these they’ve not just made a great football game they have made the ultimate football game.   

Presentation 9/10 

Gameplay 9.5/10                                                                           

Sound 9/10 

Graphics 9/10 

Lasting Appeal 10/10 

Overall 9.8/10 

The 2008 Olympic Games in China were a spectacular event with the opening and closing ceremonies being awe-inspiring. This has led to many worrying that when it is London’s turn to host in 2012, our efforts will look pathetic in comparison.

Matt Rogan, who works on the Buckinghamshire Olympic Coordination Group, rejects this view point and when asked at a recent press conference was quoted as saying “It might not be a spectacular as Beijing, but it will be great in it’s own way.” 

A point that was raised at the press conference was why we needed to build a brand new stadium for the Olympics when we have a multitude of stadiums in London already. Rogan responded to this by saying “we needed to build a new stadium because of the Olympic Village; you can’t build a village around any stadium in the country. We need the stadium and the park in the same place.”

A major problem that the Olympic Planning Committee has had is the world wide economic recession which has meant that the price of hosting the Olympics has sky rocketed. So much in fact that the Olympic Minister Tessa Jowell has previously been quoted as saying “had we known what we know now, would we have bid for the Olympics? Almost certainly not.” 

There is also concern about security problems as thousands of athletics fans flock into one of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in Europe for two and a half weeks. Rogan was obviously concerned but seemed to believe that London would be up to the task, “Heathrow and Gatwick, have great security that can deal with anything they need to.”  

The UCA Farnham First Team has had a major transformation in personal this year with five first years at the University managing to force their way into the starting eleven. I managed to get a few words with UCA’s new striker Daniel Tait.

First, Daniel let me say congratulations on getting into the First Team. Did you always believe you could get force your way into contention for a place straight away?

Yes, I always believed in my ability because if you don’t then no one else will. So I always knew that if I worked hard in the first few training sessions there was always going to be a big chance of me making it into the team. 

What gives you the edge over other strikers in the League?

First of all there is the fact that I’m quite tall, I’m around 6 foot, but I don’t see myself as a typical big man because I have other qualities in my game. I have a decent turn of pace and have good technique when I have the ball at my feet. I have as the commentators would say ‘good feet for a big man.’ I’m there to do a flick on or hold the ball up to bring other players into play if the boys want to play a long ball forward, but I can also receive it into feet, turn and run at defenders.

You have formed a formidable partnership with your strike partner Amron Adams, why do you think it has become so successful so quickly?

I think we complement each other very well, as I said before I’m tall and good in possession and Amron is a natural finisher and has strength to terrorise defenders. If I go up for a flick on he knows whereabouts it will drop and be able to out muscle the opposition and force a chance on goal. You just have to look back at the first game of the season against the Seconds their defenders couldn’t handle us, we both had a few chances and could have easily grabbed a couple each.

You have been something of a creative force for the First Team laying on 12 goals for your team mates this season already, do you get the same enjoyment out of setting up a goal as you do scoring one?

Well for a striker, scoring a goal is the ultimate, but if I can set up a goal for someone else, I’m still very happy. I do get disappointed if I don’t score but as long as we win I can shake it off as that is the most important thing.

What are your main goals for this season?

To score a few goals this season would be nice but the main thing we need to achieve is to win the League and get promoted. A good cup run would be cool as well.

UCA First Team’s next game is after Christmas against the UCA seconds. Tait is hopping for a repeat of the 6-0 score line from the last time these teams played on the opening day of the season.

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In the last What moves where? article I discussed possible transfers in and out of the first four teams in the Premier League. In this article I will be looking at the next four, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham and Liverpool. 

 Chelsea 

Chelsea are in a strange position, they have a new manager in Andre Villas-Boas, who they broke the transfer record for a manager in the summer when he joined from FC Porto. Unfortunately for AVB, Chelsea’s start hasn’t been great and there is an enormous amount of pressure on the young Portuguese manager. Chelsea are sitting in fifth in the Premier League,  one point behind Arsenal and two above Liverpool with a game in hand on both teams. Unfortunately for Chelsea that game in hand is Monday’s crucial clash against league leaders the mega-rich Manchester City, in what is being billed as the Battle of the Billionaires. This will be an interesting window for all Chelsea fans as it looks like Chelsea are moving away from their ageing team and trying to move toward a more youthful one.

Possible Ins 

Gary Cahill from Bolton. One of the main problems Chelsea have had this season is at Centre-Back with John Terry looking a shadow of himself and at the age of 31 he will be moving into the sunset years of his successful career, David Luiz looking far too eccentric to be a Premier League central defender and Alex being out of favour with AVB. They desperately need a young but experienced Centre-Back, and Gary Cahill could be the answer, the 25 year old was a hot commodity in the summer with many clubs chasing his signature, but Bolton managed to hold them all off and keep hold of their star player. It will be much harder for them this transfer window as his contract runs out in the summer which means he can enter contract negations with foreign clubs without the permission of Bolton. In my opinion I think Cahill will want to stay in England which means Bolton, will have to cash in on this window if they don’t want him to walk away on a free at the end of the season. Tottenham had a reported ten million pound bid for Cahill turned down in the summer nut because of how little of the man from Sheffield’s contract is remaining any potential suitors could probably snap him up for about eight million.

Milos Krasic from Juventus. The Serbian Attacking Midfielder/Winger is a target for many Premier League clubs after his agent said that he wanted to leave the Turin based club and wanted to play in the Premier League. Chelsea would have to fight off reported interest from both Manchester clubs as well as old rivals Arsenal for the former winner of the Serbian Player Of The Year Award, and would have to stump up something near if not exceeding the twenty million pound mark for 27 year old but he could be a good buy for AVB to look at as he would reduce the pressure on Juan Mata to create the opportunities for the Chelsea strike force.

Possible Outs 

Nicholas Anelka. The ageing French Striker has fallen down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge. Anelka has apparently been told by the Chelsea management he can look for a new club in the January Transfer Window with Chelsea only looking for a small fee. As I am writing this Chinese Super League have released a statement claiming the 32 year old has agreed to join them, and that he could start playing in January “if all contract details are 100% confirmed”. 

Alex. The Brazilian Centre-Back has found himself fall out of favour at Stamford Bridge and has found himself behind John terry and his compatriot David Luiz. This has led to many clubs monitoring his situation with reported interest from Arsenal, Tottenham, Paris St. Germain and Juventus. The Juventus interest could lead to Alex being offered as part of any deal that might happen for Milos Krasic. 

 Everton 

Everton are a good team with a great manager but they will unfortunately for them always be hamstrung in the transfer market because of the lack of funds available to them. The have consistently finished in the top half of the table, but one has to wonder how long it will be before some of their star players look at the chance to play in the Champions League or look at their wage packet and get tempted to move on. With reports that David Moyes will have a big fat zero in his transfer budget for this window it looks like the only option to improve his squad are loan signings.

Possible Ins 

Steven Pienaar from Tottenham. Pienaar left Everton for Spurs in January 2011 for three million pounds and the promise of playing in the Champions League. He has never really been able to break into the Tottenham first team with the likes of Lennon, Modric, Van Der Vaart and Bale in front of him. So a loan move back to his old stomping ground might the right move for Pienaar as it will allow him to play regular football and possibly increase the interest for him and the chance he could make a permanent move in the summer. He would be a good fit for Everton as he would be able create and provide chances for the strikers. 

Jeremy Perbet from Mons. One of Everton’s main weakness’s are their strike force with them having to relay on aging striker Louis Saha and the tricky Australian Attacking Midfielder Tim Cahill to score the most of their goals, in the last three seasons Saha and Cahill have taken up two of Everton’s three top scorer places. Even though they have consistently been Everton’s top attacking threats, Saha is the only man to score double figures in the league for Everton in those last three seasons, and that was only once in the 2009-10 season when he banged in thirteen for the Toffees. 

This is why Perpet could be an option for the Liverpool based club as he is the top goal scorer in the Belgian Jupiler League having bagged fifthteen goals in fifthteen appearances this season all ready this season. Everton would be wary of him becoming another flop in the Premier League, like former Liverpool player Milan Jovanovic who managed to score 52 league goals in 116 appearances in the Jupiler League playing for Standard Liege but failed to make anything like that impact when he moved to Anfield. If David Moyes could squeeze a few million out of his bosses he may be able to make this move a reality as Mons have apparently put a three and a half million pound price tag on the 27 year old French Striker.

Possible Outs 

Leighton Baines. Baines has been a loyal servant at Goodison Park for the past four years since his move from Wigan, and seems to be loved by the fans and players alike having won Everton’s Player of the Season, Everton Player’s Player of the Season and Everton’s Goal of the Season Awards for last season but it may be hard for him and Everton to refuse a large bid for the 27 year old English Left-Back from one of the bigger clubs in the League, for example Arsenal who not only could offer a much higher wage than Everton but the chance to play in the Champions League and regularly challenge for title.  

Ross Barkley. The 18 year old from Wavertree, Liverpool has only made seven senior appearances for the Toffees since making his first team debut against QPR in Everton’s first game of this season. Barkley has impressed a hell of a lot of people with his performances in those seven games, five league appearances and two in the Carling Cup, and has apparently attracted the attention Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea who are reported to be ready to battle it out for the Midfielder. It has been reported that the three clubs are willing to smash the world record transfer fee for a teenager by bidding up to thirty million for Barkley, and a team in Everton’s financial position would defiantly find it difficult to turn down any bid anywhere near that mark.

Joseph Yobo. The 31 year old Centre-Back from Nigeria has spent the last year and a half on loan at Turkish side Fenerbahce where he has played forty-two games in the league and scored 1 goal. He looked set to join the Turkish side permanently in the summer but in the end Fenerbahce paid Everton around six hundred thousand pounds to take the Nigerian Captain back to Turkey on loan for the season. Everton would like to move Yobo off their books and have reportedly offered him to the Yellow Canaries for as little as two million pounds. 

Fulham 

Liverpool 

Liverpool are currently sitting in sixth place in the Premier League two points off Chelsea in fifth and three off Arsenal in fourth. It has been a frustrating season so far for the fans as Liverpool have only lost three of their fifthteen games and have shown that they can match and beat other members of the top six with the only team out of the top six to beat The Reds this season so far being Tottenham. It has been against the so called smaller teams that Liverpool have dropped the majority of the available points so far this season. Liverpool just don’t seem to have a cutting edge upfront, which is very worrying when they have sixty million pounds worth of striking talent in the form of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll, what The Reds really need is a poacher someone who would steal you a goal from nowhere. Liverpool have dominated games against both Manchester clubs, Norwich, Swansea and managed to only draw they also dominated the game against Stoke, having twenty-four chances on the Stoke goal and managed to leave the Britannia with a 1-0 loss to a Stoke team who only managed to create three chances of their own. If Liverpool had managed to turn these five games into wins by putting away their chances they would be sitting in second only two points behind Man City. Another place Liverpool will need to strengthen is in Centre-Midfield as Liverpool have lost Their Player of the Season for last year Lucas for the Remainder of the season. 

Possible Ins 

Yann M’Vila from Rennes or Seydou Kieta from Barcelona. With Lucas out for the rest of the season there is a massive gap in the Defensive Midfield area of the Liverpool team. 

Yann M’Vila is a French Midfielder who would fit the gap perfectly, but with a reported price tag in excess of twenty five million pounds and reported interest from Arsenal, Man City and Real Madrid it may be difficult to tempt the 21 year old to make the move to Anfield especially as Liverpool are not in any European competitions this season. 

Seydou Kieta is another player that could fill the void and he has been qouted as saying he was “flattered at the interest being shown in him by Liverpool.” He also stated that any move would happen in the summer but with the injury to Lucas, Liverpool will likely try to pursue any move in this window coming up. Kieta has made twenty-three appearances for the Catalan club this season already including fourteen in La Liga and six in the Champions League but apparently Barca would consider any offer around five million pounds for the soon to be 32 year old Malian international. 

Gaston Ramirez from Bologna. Ramirez is a 21 year old Striker that is getting rave reviews and admiring glances from a lot of high profile teams. He has already made eight appearances for the Uruguay National Team and is apparently very good friends with Liverpool players Luis Suarez and Sebastian Coates, The Reds are apparently hoping this connection means they are in pole position for the talented young player when the Transfer Window opens again on the 1st of January. 

David Villa from Barcelona. Ok I’ll admit this is a bit of a pipe dream but this is the type of Striker I was talking about earlier someone who would terrorise defences and mange to grab a goal out of nothing. Villa has slipped down the pecking order at the Nou Camp with Pep Guardiola seeming to favour new signings Alexis Sanchez and Cesc Fabregas as well as the person most people to be the best player in the world Lionel Messi. There are also reports that Villa has had a training ground bust up with Messi and that could signal the beginning of the end for the 30 year old at the Champions League holders. 

Possible Outs 

Danny Wilson. Wilson has made 9 appearances for Liverpool since moving from Rangers for two million pounds in July 2010. The 19 year old from Livingston has found his first team opportunities limited at Anfield and a loan move to reported suitors Leeds and former club Rangers might be the best option for the Scottish Centre-Back as he could get more first team experience.

Jon Flanagan. Another youngster who has found his first team opportunities limited at Anfield and could make a loan move to Premier League rivals Bolton, in January, which would provide him with experience of playing week in, week out in the self-proclaimed “Best League in the World.”   

In the last What moves where? article, we discussed why the January Transfer Window is important and how decisions made in this month can make or break a season. 

In this part we will look at the first four teams from the Barclays Premier League and discuss the possible business they might be attempting to complete before the 1st of February. 

Arsenal 

This month will be a huge point in the season for Arsenal, and could determine whether the can push on towards those Champions League places or not. With Injurys to a lot of defenders and an obvious lack of depth upfront, this is the time for some investment to help with the work load.

Possible ins

Nicholas Anelka from Chelsea. This may sound a bit strange Arsenal buying from Chelsea but Arsenal need a reliable striker to take some of the strain of Van Persie and Anelka also has Premier League experience which could be a major factor in helping the young side push onward towards their goals. Another plus would be that as Chelsea are looking towards a more youthful side, they want Anelka off their books and would probably let him go for as little as three or four million pounds.

Leighton Baines from Everton. With injuries to Bacary Sagna, Kieran Gibbs and Andre Santos it has left Arsenal with 18 year old Carl Jenkinson and 19 year old Ignasi Miquel as the only viable choices available to Arsene Wenger for the Full Back positions. Leighton Baines would defiantly fill the massive gap that will be the Left Back area, he would be a great addition to the team and is argubly England’s second best Left Back. Another plus for Baines is that he would not be cup-tied for European matches.

A negative would be that being such an important and influential player for Everton, they would hate to lose him, but as we have seen many a time in the modern game once a player decides he would rather be at another club  it is damn near impossible to make them stay. Arsenal would probably have to stump up a large amount to temp Everton but Arsene has said he would splash the cash if the player was right and Baines is right for Arsenal at the moment. 

Gregory Van der Wiel from Ajax or Andreas Beck from Hoffenhiem. Many clubs will be chasing Van der Wiel but with Ajax still going strong in the league and Champions League this maybe a race that gets put off till the summer as Ajax would hate to lose their first choice right back and one of their best players in the middle of the season. With the rumours swirling around that there are a whole host of clubs, Including Inter Milan, AC Milan and the super-rich clubs Man City, Malaga and FC Anzhi Makhachkala, allready to make bids for Sagna in the summer, Van der Wiel would be a good replacement for him in the Arsenal starting eleven.

Andreas Beck may be a more viable option to give Arsenal a good Right Back with top flight experience, he would be considerably cheaper than Van Der Wiel and as Hoffenhiem are not in the Champions League he would not be cup-tied.

At the age of 24 and with Hoff

enhiem are in tenth in the Bundesliga, Beck could see this as his chance to take the next step in his career progression.  

Possible Outs

Manuel Amunia. The former first choice has seen himself slip to thrid choice possibly even fourth choice as he wasn’t on the bench for Arsenal’s recent 3-1 deafeat in the Champions League against Olympiacos. He may see it as time to end his Arsenal career and move to pastures new but with a possible season ending injury to back up keeper Lukasz Fabianski, Wenger may convince him to stay till the summer just in case Wojciech Szczesny gets injured or suspended for a run of games.

Andre Arshavin. The diminutive Russian promised much when he first arrived and his four goals in one game against Liverpool showed the unbelievable talent he has but he has never been able to harness it week in and week out and has seen himself fall out of favour with the manager and the fans. With stories in the press of a few Russian teams such as FC Anzhi Makhachkala and former club Zenit looking to take him away fro London it might be time for him to pack his suitcase and hop on a plane back to his homeland.

Marouane Chamakh. Chamakh arrived with a lot of expectation on him, a prolific scorer in the French league and one of Arsene Wenger’s top transfer targets for the whole 2009-10 season, he ended up getting the Moroccan International on a free transfer when his contract with Bordeaux ran out at the end of that season. Unfortunately Chamakh has never been able to reproduce the form that got him into the Ligue 1 Team of the Year, since his move to Arsenal and he has slipped down the pecking order in the squad and could see this as the perfect opportunity to move on and try to revitalise his career somewhere else.

Aston Villa are doing well in the League at the moment and don’t really need to make this a big window for them, they might make a couple of tweaks to their squad but i can’t see them making a major overhaul.

Possible Ins 

Steven Davis from Rangers. There were many rumours in the Summer about Alex Mcleish wanting to bring Davis back to the club where he started his career. These have continued all through the season, with reports saying villa were preparing a bid ranging between 4 and 7 million for the 26 year old Northern Irish playmaker.  

Possible Outs 

None. I honestly can’t see Mcleish letting go of any of his players as he has a nice balance and there doesn’t seem to be any one in the camp trying to stir up trouble. 

Junior Holliet. Seeing as Venkeys made a statement saying they would do all they could to hold onto their star men, I’m sure you think I’m crazy when I say Holliet, arguably their best attacking player could be sold in this transfer window. Holliet only has six months left on his contract and Venkeys might see this as the perfect time to cash in on him instead of letting one of the bigger teams in Europe pick him up for whatever measly fee the transfer tribunal decides to award them.

 

With Christmas coming up I thought I would look at football’s Christmas shopping the January Transfer Window.

It is usaully a very interesting time of the year as clubs have to react to how well or poorley the first half of the season has been for them, as well as making sure they buy the right players so they can push on as they season winds down to it’s conclusion in May.

Another main factor which influences this transfer window is injurys as Managers have to decide whether they need to buy a new player to cover an injury sustained by one of their squard or whether they need to improve in other areas and can power on with out the injured player.

With the premier league so tight at the moment especially concerning the fight to aviod Relelgation and the battle for the Champions League spots, one or two moves could swing it one way or another, as players could prove to be the final piece of the puzzle or the spolit child who gets frustrated and smashes up the puzzle when he can’t finish it.

Another thing that always affects the January Transfer Window are the managers, as they can be under extreme pressure to save their jobs and could see this as the last chance they have to buy the players that will fire the team up the league and save them from being put on the Managerial Scrapheap. While other managers will see it as a chance to stamp their authority on a new team and buy the players they want at the club, for Example Andre Villas-Boas who proberbly falls into both catergories and the new Sunderland manager Martin O’Niell, who not only needs to stamp his authority on the team but needs to start turning Sunderland’s season around quick and halt their decline down the table before the trap door swings open and they find themselves playing in the Championship.