European (and A-League) Football Transfer Window WatchNews

It's that time of the season again.. A time when fantasy football almost becomes reality but rarely does.

It's the January transfer window and time for teams to strengthen their sides for one more push for glory - or just mere survival for clubs at the bottom.

It's time for players to pursue their dreams or just more game time. It's even time for players to perhaps leave the sinking ship - maybe that pun is too soon given the Italian cruise liner disaster?

This is quite a good site to find out who's been linked to who and who's going where:
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/transfer-window-whos-linked-with-who-in-the-premier-league-6289890.html

So far, here are some of the highest profile (IMHO) signings/loan moves confirmed:

(updated 31 January 2012)

Gary Cahill, Bolton to Chelsea
Darron Gibson, Manchester United to Everton

Pavel Pogrebnyak

Diniyar Bilayetdinov, Everton to Spartak Moscow
Alan Smith, Newcastle United to MK Dons (loan)
Alex, Chelsea to Paris St Germain (loan)
Taye Taiwo, Milan to QPR (loan)
Bill Sharp, Doncaster to Southampton
Kevin de Bruyne, Genk to Chelsea
Bobby Zamora, Fulham to QPR
Djibril Cisse, Lazio to QPR
Pavel Pogrebnyak, Stuttgart to Fulham
Wayne Bridge, Manchester City to Sunderland (loan)
Liam Ridgewell, Birmingham City to West Brom
Nikica Jelavic - Rangers to Everton
Sotiros Kygriakos - Liverpool to Sunderland
Thomas Eisfield - Borussia Dortmund to Arsenal
Ryan Williams - Portsmouth to Fulham
Stephen Bassong - Tottenham to Wolves (loan)
Ryan Nelsen - Blackburn to Tottenham
Louis Saha - Everton to Tottenham (loan)
Keith Andrews - Blackburn to West Brom
Nicky Maynard - Bristol City to West Ham
Steven Pienaar - Tottenham to Everton (loan)
Roman Pavlyuchenko - Tottenham to Lokomotiv Moscow
David Pizzaro - Roma to Manchester City

Further tips:

Zamora: England's most wanted man this January

Expect a few Fulham players to head to West Brom, i.e. those who did well under Hodgson like Bredar Hangeland, Bobby Zamora, Andy Johnson, Damien Duff, Clint Dempsey. Word is that there is a bit of unrest at Craven Cottage and the January transfer window could see a cleanout with the club facing a relegation battle.

Wilfred Zaha - wanted by many in the Premiership

Sunderland and QPR will be the biggest spenders this January with new managers at the helm eager to freshen up their squads with the war chest open up for them. Both need strikers to get them at least 20 goals in the last months of the Premier League and some more quality in midfield with their current lineup not really delivering the goods.  

The transfer window is also open in the A-League and one side which will be looking to strengthen their quite thin squad is the Wellington Phoenix. With a tilt at the playoffs looking strong, the Phoenix are looking to spend the Welnix consortium's money on players - an option which they didn't have in the off-season.

A striker would be very good with Chris Greenacre pretty much on the way out as a player and the team lacking cutting edge up front when Ifil is injured. It's quite obvious you need another striker when you're reliant on Jimmy Downey to get you a goal. A bit more creativity in midfield would be good too - vital for the away games besides Gold Coast.

Alex Smith - another player the Nix need to keep

How about Chris Killen for the Phoenix - the former All White is plying his trade in China at the moment and looks set to be winding down his career - why not wind it down with his home country's only professional football club?

At the same time, the Phoenix will be looking to sign the likes of Manny Muscat along with Andrew Durante
who has been locked in for the long term. Muscat will be quite vulnerable in this transfer window.



In other news, Kenny Dalglish has confirmed there won't be many big signings for Liverpool this January. Perhaps he is still smarting from the "flop" signing of Andy Carroll last year.

Anyway feel free to post your thoughts on the transfer window and what signings you'd like to see. Meanwhile, I'll continue to post updates as the transfer window boils towards its exciting climax.