The winners and losers of a terribly boring January transfer window
By the end of this wretched January transfer window, fans were desperate for something, anything, that they could get excited about. Because this thing had been flatter than [insert tired New England Patriots joke here].
Going into the final day on Monday, the extent of major moves had more or less been this: Manchester City had picked up striker Wilfried Bony from Swansea City for $36 million and midfielder Enzo Perez had been sold by Benfica to Valencia for $28 million. And … that was pretty much it. A few spare parts had changed hands. Atletico Madrid had picked up forwards Fernando Torres and Cani on loans. Inter Milan got forwards Xherdan Shaqiri and Lukas Podolski, also on loan.
There wasn't much to get excited about on Monday, either. Midfielder Darren Fletcher left his Manchester United purgatory for West Bromwich Albion. Left back Ryan Bertrand made his loan permanent from Chelsea to Southampton. Winger Aaron Lennon was loaned from Tottenham to Everton. Ho hum.
[FC Yahoo: Arsenal's campaign gets boost from super pack of healthy Gunners]
Finally, towards the end of the day, there was a little action. Chelsea offloaded excellent but inexplicably out-of-favor winger Andre Schurrle to Wolfsburg for some $35 million. The Blues then flipped almost that exact amount of money to Fiorentina for Juan Cuadrado, who is also a winger. Chelsea threw in Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah – another man desperate for minutes – on a loan.
That was all she wrote.
Here at FC Yahoo, we've already explored why the market has been all but dead. So we'll just move on to the customary anointing of transfer window winners and losers.
The loser is really quite simple: the fan.
Yes, the teams' financial caution and unwillingness to part with irreplaceable players midseason or buy others at a premium markup is understandable. But it was all terribly boring. A busy transfer window refreshes the viewer, renewing excitement for the second half of the season with a redrawn landscape. There was none of that fun this year. Just fiscal caution. And fiscal caution doesn't make for very good theater.
The winners, then: Major League Soccer.
Not only did MLS bring home three more U.S. national teamers in forward Brek Shea (signed by Orlando City), striker Jozy Altidore (off to Toronto FC), playmaker Mix Diskerud (newly of New York City FC) and midfielder Sacha Kljestan (now a New York Red Bull). But it padded its ranks with the star power of Liverpool midfield legend Steven Gerrard, who joined the L.A. Galaxy, and brought in a dose of credibility in the form of forward Sebastian Giovinco, who is also off to Toronto.
Meanwhile, striker Jermain Defoe, TFC's expensive and embarrassing malcontent, was offloaded to Sunderland in return for Altidore. That's just good business.
