Friday, March 29, 2024

Who got the best deal on transfer deadline day?

Yesterday’s transfer deadline day was relatively quiet compare to previous years, but some interesting deals were still completed. Portsmouth were the busiest side signing three players thanks to money coming in from new owner Sulaiman Al Fahim. Those players were Mike Williamson from Watford for £3million, Tal Ben Haim from Manchester City for a undisclosed fee and Hassan Yebda from Benfica on a season-long loan.

Here are some of the players who have moved on transfer deadline day that I believed will prove shrewd signings.

Johnny Heitinga (Atletico Madrid to Everton £6million)

As an Everton I am a bit biased towards this deal, but I still have to say its probably the best signing of the day. The 25 year-old has bags of experience at European and international level, winning nearly 50 caps for Holland and playing in the Champions League.

Everton manager David Moyes must be delighted to have captured the versatile defender, who can play at right-back, centre-back and as a holding midfield player. Right-back has been a problem area for the Toffee’s and the Dutch international is likely to start his Everton career there.

He has became Everton’s highest paid player ever earning an alleged £60,000 a week. I believe he is just the sort of player we need. Hes a tough tackling defender who has good leadership skills. These skills have lead to him skippering both former club Ajax, where he won Dutch Player of the Season in 2008, and also his country. Everton’s defence is too quiet without Phil Jagielka and Heitinga could be the ideal person to change that.

Niko Kranjcar (Portsmouth to Tottenham £2.5million)

Tottenham completed the signing of the Croatian for a bargain £2.5million, due to the fact that his Portsmouth contract expired next summer and had no intention of signing a new one. The 25 year-old is the ideal short-term replacement for compatriot Luka Modric, who will be out injured for six weeks.

He is an ideal signing for Tottenham as he fits in to the Spurs mould of a midfield player. A player with flair and creativity who can excite the fans. Kranjcar has plenty of experience in the Premier League having made over 100 appearances for Pompey.

David Nugent (Portsmouth to Burnley six months loan, with view to permanent deal)

This might surprise some people, but the former Preston star seemed distracted on the south coast. He has been restricted to rare Premier League opportunities at Pompey. I think Burnley is the ideal move for him.

The move back to the North West will help him rediscover the goalscoring touch which earned him a call up to the England team. If he starts enough games in his favoured position of striker then I think he will prosper at Turf Moor.

Ivan Klasnic (Nantes to Bolton season-long loan)

Bolton need something to inspire them and maybe the Croatian can be that catalyst. Bolton rely too heavily on veteran striker Kevin Davies but Klasnic will give the Trotters an extra option. The 29 year-old decided to leave French club Nantes after they were relegated from Ligue 1.The striker has suffered terrible luck in recent years with injuries and illness. However he now seems back to full fitness and is raring to go in the Premier League.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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