The January Transfer Window 2011

[Colly]

Bet Nick Barmby does too. Is it actually his son? Send him to Hull on loan just for the awesomeness. Or Boro to start their resurgence...

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

His son should follow Nick's career. We need moves to Spurs, 'Boro, Everton and Liverpool. Any order will do, afterall he needs to at least partially plough his own furrow.

[HailtotheYo]

Demba Ba fails a medical at Stoke, .... but gets in at WH ? WTF ?

Villa intersted in bringing Couch back

Benfica have left their willingness to negotiate the transfer of David Luiz too late and Chelsea will sign Wolfsburg defender Simon Kjaer instead, according to Talksport.

Real now targetting Drogba ? uh huh

[MGW]

We've made 4.5 mil bid for Charlie Adam, which has been rejected. I'm hoping we push on and get him in he'd be a great addition to the squad.

[ONO]

Villa interested in Crouch is new to me.

[The Future]

Cleverley is decent though, I see him in the first team squad at United next season. A couple other youngsters at United are midfielders too, Ravel Morrison and Jack Barmby, big things are predicted for both. Morrison is 17 and played a couple minutes for the first team earlier in the season in the Carling Cup but alot of things have been said about his attitude. Barmby is only 16 I think but is very highly thought of, we got him from Hull when he was 14, he is Nick Barmby's son. If all is promised these two could break into the first team within the next couple of seasons.

Yeah we have a lot of promising players I hope this bunch makes it, I still remember when Danny Nardiello and Mads Timm were supposed to be the future!.

Paul Pogba will probably feature in the squad next season he looks a cut above the others in the reserves.

[stokeriño]

Real (read: Jose) have been "interested in Drogba" since forever, according to the tabloids.

[TheGreatJ]

What really fucks me off about Albion is that we have clearly been lacking something since we played Newcastle in our last win before last weeks win against Blackpool. And might I add we played the toon on the 5th of December. So that means we had a full month to draw up a list of targets, and another month to make our moves whilst perhaps even looking at other players. However, we now have a week to go in this window and we have signed nobody, and we are not going to, either.

The problem is Peace has realised he spent more than he ever has last summer, and decided that he's not going to give Di Matteo any more funds because otherwise we are going to go into debt - a difficult task for a lower-half but albeit debt-free and finnancial sound club who can afford to spend. And that is what annoys me, we can afford to spend. But it is as if we are prohibited from doing so.

We need a new striker: somebody who can come on and get in and behind the defence in the last 10-15 minutes, because Fortune, Bednar, Cox and whoever else we've got in that position that isn't on loan will probably get a combined goals tally of 3 or 4 by the end of this season, at a push. Somebody on loan is a fine choice until the end of the season when we undoubtedly will receive money as the next 2 months will make or break our season. Peter Odemwingie is not going to score every single match. He will not terrorise defences every game. He is a classy player: pace, two feet, quick minded, lethal finisher, but he is not going to come from Russia and score in the hardest league in the world every week. We need that little bit more experience on the attacking front, that fresh and experienced mind that can come on and see the holes in the defence in the last minute. Only two players in the entire league come to my mind who we have a realistic chance of maybe getting:

- Michael Owen.

- Kevin Phillips.

But they won't come. Phillips actually might; he was a goal machine when we had him and is a hero up the Hawthorns. Owen on the other hand is a very long, longshot. But it seems as though we either don't have the forsight to approach these guys or somebody upstairs won't allow Di Matteo.

We need a leader or a skillful, creative wonderkid in midfield: Chris Brunt is a great player, and has just been made captain as Carson has been dropped. But he is far, far from a good leader on the pitch because he is too easy to be kept out of the game with his lack of pace and poor right foot, and when we play him on the right (as we normally do and have done consistently throughout games since November), he loses his main assets. Therefore, he is hardly going to be the guy who will lift the team when you are 2 down with 20 minutes left on the clock or 1 down with 10 minutes left. Morrison is far too inconsistent, and Jerome Thomas is class but has a frustrating nack of trying to reach the by-line before shooting and not squaring it (although half the time there is nobody running into the box to finish it off). Dorrans has just been dropped in place of Scharner now Olsson is back (pushing Scharner out of defence and into his original defensive midfield position) and Mulumbu clearly prefers playing next to Dorrans as Dozza is far more creative then Scharner and can allow Mulumbu to simply run around, tackle people, spray a pass about 10-20 yards to him so he can support the attacking move, where as Scharner prefers to play almost on Mulumbu's back and not let him have any freedom to do what he does best: tackle, then pass, then move. Instead, Mulumbu only cuts people running almost straight at him off and is forced into a more defensive position, with the slow Scharner sitting in the hole between defence and attack to usually pull of a shoddy back pass or spray it out wide when we are too deep to do so.

So what can we do? Who can we possibly sign? Well you know what I would do? Cancel the loan of Borja Valero and bring him back to the Albion and switch Morrison out for him, but he would most likely not want to play for us as he is brilliant in La Liga. So I would drop Scharner to the bench and let Dozza continue his good form next to Mulumbu. As for that little creative spark in midfield, I would kill to get somebody like Jack Cork in, who can sit on the bench but come on against the weaker teams to run around and create moves.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Crouch won't go. Harry likes him and half of Van Der Vaart's goals have come from Crouch knock-downs.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

According to The Sun, Redknapp is happy to sell King (if anyone wants him), Corluka, Kranjcar, Pav and Keane.

Way to upset me Harry.

We should find a way to get Kranjcar more game time, preferably in front of Jenas.

Corluka is better than Hutton - I hate that bald Scot. Corluka's great and can actually defend.

Pav I've never rated that highly.

Keane, well he either has to keep playing and scoring or he needs to go. He won't be playing with one man up front so he needs to go.

King, well he'd take up a space in the 25 man squad and Woodgate could take that space and possibly play more games through the later season so it might be time for him to finish. Unfortunate for him but he just can't do it, he's falling apart.

[Starvinho]

Monday rumours and deals!

"Liverpool wise, Charlie Adam is digging in over his demand to get a move to Anfield according to the Daily Mirror - whilst it is believed Damien Comolli is leading a Reds delegation to Amsterdam today in order to secure Luis Suarez."

"Arsene Wenger has confirmed Arsenal's intention to sign Southampton wonderkid Alex Chamberlain while his dad Mark believes The Gunners are the ideal choice."

"Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has confirmed that there is no chance of Jonathan Woodgate joining rivals."

"Jonathan Greening to Leeds and Jeremy Aliadiere to Blackpool among the latest rumours."

"Middlesbrough are keen to seal a deal for Bayern Munich reserve captain Maximilian Haas, according to Germany sources."

"Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed he will move for Eden Hazard when Lille make him available for transfer."

"Hoffenheim striker Demba Ba has completed his move to West Ham United on loan until the end of the season."

"Honduras international Erick Norales is keen to win a move to Leicester City after linking up with the Championship club."

"Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish has said that Ryan Babel will be staying at Anfield."

"Schalke have signed Brazilian midfielder Danilo Fernando Avelar on loan until the end of the season."

Edited January 24, 2011 by Jordan

[HailtotheYo]

Shady tax work being done in the Bundesliga:

11.41: La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Wolfsburg defender Andrea Barzagli will complete a €500,000 move to Wolfsburg on Tuesday to provide some competition for centre-backs Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini.

Also, Demba Ba is being reported to have failed his medical at WH too

[Starvinho]

"Blackpool's Charlie Adam has submitted a transfer request, BBC Sport understands"

I guess Adam has got his eye on that move to Liverpool then?? I hope Blackpool get decent money for the lad, £8-10million would be nice for them.

[Hobo]

I knew that something was going to give there. Holloway's '4million, lol!' schtick was only going to do one thing and secure Adam a more expensive move away from Blackpool.

[Starvinho]

Blackpool have rejected Adam's request according to Sky Sports News. Never a good I thing I don't think, I always say if a player wants to go then you've pretty much gotta let him go. No club needs one player disrupting the team.

[DavidMarrio]

Blackpool have rejected Adam's request according to Sky Sports News. Never a good I thing I don't think, I always say if a player wants to go then you've pretty much gotta let him go. No club needs one player disrupting the team.

This.

I just think I can understand wanting to keep your players but I think Blackpool if they got a decent sum of money could bring some decent players in considering they hardly spent anything start of the year.

[britneyspearsisgod]

The thing is, Holloway has had these problems at smaller clubs before. Specifically, Bristol Rovers. We had a great strike-force in Jamie Cureton and Jason Roberts, but despite his hard-line tactics on not selling them, they got sold. And Nathan Ellington too.

The difference however is that whilst the board at Rovers needed the money desperately, Blackpool have a stronger-willed board who are in a position to tell other clubs "Give us a fair valuation for Charlie and we'll talk". I think Ollie is lucky in that he has a board who will know what to do, as opposed to Bristol Rovers who's board will just crumble at the first sign of a £5 note.

I think it does have the potential to ruin their season, but only if Ollie allows it to. I'm sure he has built up enough contacts in the game now to be able to persuade Sir Alex or someone of that calibre to loan back a player to compensate. Liverpool could even send someone to Blackpool as part of any deal.

[Colly]

The thing is in this case Blackpool actually have a bit of power due to being very well run. Transfer or refusal odds are leaves them without Charlie Adam in the first team, but if they can afford to why not make a statement? Player power has gone way over the top in recent years because teams can't afford to not cash in on assets that won't be useful to them. Ironically Blackpool, one of the poorest teams in the league, have the setup to not need to. At the very least this stance should get them a bit more money for him.

[Crybaby Bunting]

Adam will probably go eventually, refusing a transfer request doesn't mean that they won't ever sell him.

But Holloway is completely right to demand more money for him, this is a player who could probably walk into most first teams in the Premier League.

What I'd like to see is Sunderland using some of that Bent money to buy him, just to piss off every team who are trying to sign him for £3m.

[Pesci]

Cleverley is decent though, I see him in the first team squad at United next season. A couple other youngsters at United are midfielders too, Ravel Morrison and Jack Barmby, big things are predicted for both. Morrison is 17 and played a couple minutes for the first team earlier in the season in the Carling Cup but alot of things have been said about his attitude. Barmby is only 16 I think but is very highly thought of, we got him from Hull when he was 14, he is Nick Barmby's son. If all is promised these two could break into the first team within the next couple of seasons.

I'd hope so.

I wouldn't let Adam go. It's half way through the season and you won't find a replacement for him. They have the chance to qualify for Europe. If he wants to go, he can go at the end of the season - if he plays badly to spite them he'll only do his chances of a good move damage.