Dramatic end to transfer window!

I was stunned when I checked out soccernet for the last minute transfer deals before the transfer window close. Robinho leaves Real, and surprise surprise, not to Chelsea, but to Manchester City! WTF?! Manchester City? I thought Thaksin is having all kinds of trouble, and Bangkok in emergency rule partly because of him, yet he can outwits the mighty Russian owned Chelsea in transfer market?! Incredible!

The 32.5 million is definitely higher than the Chelsea's reportedly offer of 28 million. Even if Real accepted the offer, why the hell Robinho will want to play in the UEFA Cup? Manchester City offer more (in terms of transfer fee) for Ronaldinho as well, yet Ronaldinho rejected them. What is he thinking?

I finally understand when I read that Thaksin is selling his stakes to Abu Dhabi United Group. With all these Arab money, City not only can afford the transfer fee, but also huge weekly salary that should be tempting to a young lad. Besides Robinho, City also bought in quite a number of reinforcement during this transfer window. They are Gláuber Berti from FC Nuremburg, Pablo Zabaleta from Espanyol, Shaun Wright-Phillips from Chelsea, Vincent Kompany from Hamburg SV, and Tal Ben Haim from Chelsea.

Though some of the signings are still unknown quantity, Manchester City should be a team to watch this season.

Tottenham also had a busy last day, with Dimitar Berbatov leaving to Manchester United for 30.75 million, while Roman Pavlyuchenko and Vedran Corluka join from Spartak Moscow and Manchester City respectively. These deals certainly solved the attacking options for both Spurs and Man Utd, as both will now have 3 strikers to sustain the whole season. Spurs won a psychological battle against Man Utd in the transfer market by not compromising the transfer fee, and also successfully completed two deals of their own in time to finally put the transfer saga behind. This is really a win-win situation where both teams get reinforcement, while Berbatov's wish to play for Manchester United is granted.

And we will be seeing the last of the tireless Andriy Voronin, who was loaned to Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga

The transfer dispute of 2008/2009 season

With the transfer window closing today, there has been many switches of players between clubs, league involving all kinds if nationalities for the past 2-3 months. Though there are many big names transfer that are already completed, some transfers are still in dispute or ended after months of speculating. And the most notable one are the 3 cases stated below:

Cristiano Ronaldo
Manchester United has shown their authority over player power as they successfully keep CR, even though CR had expressed his desire to move to Real Madrid, and even suggested that he is made a slave. This remark seriously infuriated a number of people (including me), as this remark is seriously crazy and offending. If a 100k per week bloke is a slave, then what do you call those on a few k per month? It was your decision to extend your contract with MU, and you will have to be responsible for it. If you really so desperate to leave for "the club you supported since kid", then don't extend your contract, and leave on free when your contract expire.

Dimitar Berbatov
Berbatov has been a hit with the Spurs fan, as he score goals for fun in the past few season for Spurs. But now, as he had expressed his wish to joined MU, the Spurs chairman to let him rotted in the reserve instead of selling him to MU for a lower price. In this case, no one is at fault, really.

Berbatov wants to play in Champions League, that's why he choose to leave. But when his wish is not granted due to different valuation of him by MU and Spurs, his morale and performance drop, and affected the spirit of the team.

Spurs is selling their best player to a BPL rival, so surely they will sell at a premium. Besides, they will be more than happy to keep Berbatov if MU can't match their price.

MU is unwilling to match the selling price set by Spurs, so they are unwilling to proceed.

If a deal cannot be completed before the transfer window close, hopefully Berbatov will leave the saga behind, and focus on helping Spurs to achieve greater success. Berbatov, at his best is a joy to watch, and also, prove a point to MU that he is worth every penny of the 30 million they are unwilling to pay.

Gareth Barry
Barry has shown that he is truly professional player. During the long transfer saga (which just ended with him staying put at Villa), he proved that he is not affected, and continue to perform at his best for Villa. His performance during the 1st BPL game is impressive, and if he can keep on playing at his best, his wish to move to Liverpool will still happened when they have the money and make him their 1st priority.