Premiership Striker Signings
There has been some big transfer news in the English Premiership this week involving the league’s top teams.
The week started with Croatian Eduardo Da Silva (he was born in Brazil, but moved to Croatia at age 15) signing with Arsenal on a £7.5million transfer from Dinamo Zagreb. While nobody can truly call him Henry’s replacement, he could be the type of forward Arsenal need: a true goal poacher. Da Silva has showed that he can score in European club competitions as well as at the international level, but the question is how quickly can he adapt to the English game.
There have been questions surrounding Arsenal’s reaction to Henry’s transfer, namely what it could hold for the future of Arsene Wenger. Certainly, the move for Da Silva isn’t a huge splash, but it seems like the type of signing that Wenger has always made at his time at Arsenal, a relatively cheap player that is ready to make the move to a major club. The Wenger saga is not over for Arsenal, but this signing seems to be business as usual for the French manager.
Liverpool then made their big signing of Atletico Madrid’s Fernando Torres for a club record £20 million. This signing makes it even clearer that Craig Bellamy and Djibril Cisse are on their way out. Manager Rafa Benitez obviously wants to make his team a true Premiership contender after the club has more than proven its capabilities in the Champions League the past three seasons, however while Torres adds even greater firepower up top to Liverpool, they still need to fill holes elsewhere, especially on the wings.
Not to be outdone, Manchester United could be close to signing West Ham’s Carlos Tevez. West Ham could even allow him to move for free because of legal problems with Tevez’s agent as well as the seemingly never ending trial involving their punishment over his transfer (Sheffield United are now trying to take their case to the British High Court).
It goes without saying that regardless of all of his baggage, a Tevez/Wayne Rooney partnership is an absolutely scary proposition for Premiership clubs next season.
Arsenal, Eduardo Da Silva, Arsene Wenger, Liverpool FC, Fernando Torres, Rafa Benitez, Carlos Tevez, Manchester United
July 9th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
And knowing Croatian’s enthusiasm about soccer, this transfer will be followed by every soccer fan there.
I am from Slovenia and know Croatia and their soccer “madness” well.
Of course, the fans would prefer to keep Da Silva instead of money. Money only goes to the club…