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Transfer Deadline Day Roundup: Arsenal complete Özil deal; Man United sign Fellaini; and more

MesutOzilGermany1 (AFP)

By DAN KARELL

In the space of just a few weeks, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has gone from a man who has lost his touch to a man that is still one of the best managers in the game.

30 minutes before the close of the transfer window, Arsenal official announced the signing of Mesut Özil for a club record transfer fee of $66 million dollars from Real Madrid. The German international completed a medical in Munich earlier on Monday while on international duty.

“We are extremely pleased to have signed Mesut Ozil,” Wenger said in a club statement. “He is a great player, with proven quality at both club and international level. We have watched and admired him for some time as he has all the attributes I look for in an Arsenal player.”

Özil’s move comes just days after he made statements to Spanish press that he wasn’t interested in a move away from Real Madrid, but Gareth Bale’s acquisition made Özil available for departure.

“I am thrilled to be joining a club of the stature of Arsenal and am looking forward to playing in the Premier League,” Özil said on the club’s website. “It will be great for my own personal development as a player and I am particularly looking forward to working with Arsène Wenger.”

Here are some more stories from the final hours of the European transfer window:

FELLAINI MAKES MAN UNITED MOVE

It took them nearly the entire window, but Manchester United have finally acquired Marouane Fellaini.

Though the Red Devils haven’t announced the deal as of writing, Everton confirmed the deal, announcing that they had sold the Belgian international midfielder for £27.5 million ($43 million), five million pounds sterling more than Fellaini’s buyout clause, which expired earlier this summer.

Fellaini rejoins former manager David Moyes at Old Trafford, 116 days after Moyes was announced as Man United’s manager.

EVERTON ACQUIRE THREE ON DEADLINE DAY

Everton may be losing Fellaini, but they’ve significantly upgraded their squad with three players in a deadline-day coup.

To replace Fellaini, Roberto Martinez has acquired Wigan Athletic midfielder James McCarthy for £13 million ($20 million), reuniting the two at Martinez’s new job, while also acquiring Chelsea forward Romelu Lukaku and Manchester City midfielder Gareth Barry on season-long loans.

The trio join already acquired Arouna Kone, Antolin Alcaraz, Joel Robles, and Gerard Deulofeu in the Everton squad, while they’ve only lost Fellaini and forward Victor Anichebe. Leighton Baines is currently still an Everton player.

LIVERPOOL SIGN TWO DEFENDERS IN BIG DAY FOR CLUB

While Everton may have had a good day, completing their business in time, their neighbors Liverpool FC completed their signings well ahead of time.

Liverpool announced on Monday morning the signings of defenders Mamadou Sakho from Paris Saint-Germain and Tiago Ilori from Sporting Lisbon on permanent deals, while also acquiring Chelsea winger Victor Moses on a season-long loan.

According to reports in England, Liverpool spent nearly £25 million combined for the defenders’ transfers to the club.

MAN UNITED FAIL IN BID FOR HERRERA

Despite successfully acquiring Fellaini in the final minutes of the transfer window, Man United David Moyes was unsuccessful in acquiring their other midfield target from this morning, Ander Herrera.

Conflicting reports throughout the day stated that Man United were in negotiations with Athletic Bilbao over the transfer of the player, as well as having representatives enter the La Liga offices to try and pay the buyout clause of the player.

But the English club later confirmed that in fact they had tried to negotiate the transfer fee down and were unsuccessful, and the folks who were reportedly negotiating on Man United’s behalf have turned out to be imposters, making a bizarre day even more strange.

In addition, Man United apparently made a last-ditch bid to bring in Real Madrid left back Fabio Coentrao on a season-long loan but they ran out of time to complete the deal.

Comments

  1. Real is being silly. There is no way Bale is worth 2 times as much a Ozil. They could have taken that $130 M, given $10M to Ozil to keep him happy, bought another Ozil and still had $50 M to splash around.

    On a less grand note. Liverpool did the best at the wire. Beefing up the defense is always a good thing even if it isn’t as sexy as signing a temperamental front runner.

    Reply
    • Well, Ozil is one of my favorite players and I am not an Arsenal fan. But I am very glad to see him leave Madrid, which I also like, but where I don’t think he was fully appreciated. The past 12-18 months he has looked unhappy and tired at Madrid. I am looking forward to seeing him play in England. I wish he would have gone to Liverpool. I might have to start kinda cheering for Arsenal now.

      Reply
  2. My favorite everything so far is United missing out on Khedira, Coentrau, and Herrera. If teams play them as if they were beatable, they may lose enough ground before January it wuld be impossible to make it up even if they spend 80 million in january.

    Assuming they go deep in the UCL I hope for a big domestic hiccup before they wash out in the semis to any of the 10 better teams theyll have to face in the elimination rounds.

    Reply
  3. Don’t get the Arsenal move for Ozil. Isn’t he just the same player as Cazorla and all the other attacking midfielders they have? Don’t they need defense and striker help?

    Reply
    • Personally I’m very excited about the deal, but I agree with you in that it doesn’t really addr3ss some of their fundamental weak spots. Then again, a lack of action in that area is an interesting insight into what “the professor” thinks his squad needs to succeed. That either means he rates this defense higher than us observers, or he thinks that the defense is “strong enough”.

      Felliani to ManU was inevitable, but whey can’t the deadline be BEFORE the start of the season? How does the timing of this kind of move help either team?

      Reply
    • Ozil is a great player for the attack, but I agree, that that’s not what they need at Arsenal. Fellaini would have been just as useful to the Gunners, who in my opinion need defensive cover. Fellaini really wants to play as a holding midfielder, and is built for a defensive role, with marauding runs forward. A player like this would really make Arsenal more stronger.

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    • Özil fits the system Wenger wants to play perfectly, and his tendency to drift to the wing will perfectly complement Cazorla, who will want to drift in from the left wings. Their interchanging will confound defenses. More importantly, Arsenal has been a bit too dependent on Cazorla for creativity; it’s surprising how high a percentage of their chances have come through Cazorla initiated moves. Özil gives them another, even better creative hub.

      Arsenal needed depth on defense, though their starting back four is good enough to win a title, and up front, where Giroud might not be. But Özil is going to make Arsenal a much more dynamic attacking team.

      Reply
      • I think Ozil is much more capable of scoring goals than he did at Madrid. I think we will see more goals from him at Arsenal.

  4. So, Ozil goes from one team that is failing to live up to the club’s history with success and winning trophies, to another team with the exact same problem.

    Reply
  5. Most teams in fighting in the top 10 of epl did well this year I think, but no one has solved their puzzle just yet in the top 5. I think we might see some big names this winter as well.
    I have to think Everton is coming out very well in this deal, while Liverpool has done outstanding.
    Arsenal still need another forward at least.
    Chelsea the same.
    City need to trade away one forward star for two more defenders.
    United has guys, but you have to think that any of the following would have spoke very well for their chances: Paulinho, Mata, Schurrle, Erikson, Navas. Just my opinion.

    Reply
  6. I am sorry, but this is just such a fantasy world! People calling Ozil’s purchase an achievement for Wenger. He is a great player, but how much skill does it take to buy him for EUR 50mm? And to buy Fellaini for 4mm more than his buy-out clause!? No one cares about value, just the the quality of players

    Reply
  7. When I look at last year’s midfielder in the EPL it’s hard to believe MU won the league by 11 points. Am I alone here? I always thought their midfield was and is their weakest area. But then they get Fellani and while he’s good I don’t see him as the answer. Looks like some many teams strengthened much more then they did including Everto. Lukaku? Brilliant. Thoughts?

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  8. Am I alone in thinking Man U way overpaid for Fellaini? Despite all the slings and arrow, Wenger continues to make Arsenal dangerous. Commentator on Sunday noted that they have qualified for 16 CL’s in a row. Considering what a stingy board he has had to work with in recent years, that is awfully impressive.

    Reply
    • I don’t think you can be wrong with that Fellaini thought given that nobody paid his 23.5 million release clause last month. He seems to be a good fit for what Man U needs, but I think Moyes and Co. come out looking a little bit stupid given that you paid a 4 Million pound premium. Particularly, you paid a 4 Million pound premium…… to get the same player a month later than you could have.

      Reply
    • I’d say no. He’s a good player and provides a big need at the moment. But why not pay his release cause and save 4 millon pounds? Hard to say thought bc its all treated lie play money anyway.

      Reply
    • All transfers are relative to the largest transfer in a window. This year, Bale and Madrid made everyone stupid.

      The Fellaini situation was worsened by the fact that Moyes had internal knowledge of Everton’s valuation, and probably started out negotiations in that vein. I can see Everton’s executives balking in that scenario.

      Reply
    • I’d say that it doesn’t matter that MUFC overpaid for a player. They are a super club, and they need to hit their targets. The new regime at MUFC need to start realizing this, and act accordingly.

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  9. Worst transfer saga for a major club… possibly in history. And so freaking hilarious. #Fergie was the top trending topic in the entire world.

    Moyes is obviously a good coach, but perception is almost as important as reality with things like this–fair or unfair. And… well when your predecessor who no longer coaches is the top trending topic in the digital world when you’re trying to do things… ouch.

    Reply
    • Hate to quote Alexi Lalas here but he makes a fine point…

      “You don’t want to be the guy that takes over for Sir Alex, you want to be the guy that takes over for the guy that took over for Sir Alex.”

      Well said!

      Reply
      • The difference is SAF left on a high note, winning the league title, whereas Brett Favre left on a sour note and further burned bridges by later signing with the rival Vikings.

  10. Ozil to Arsenal is bigger than Bale to Madrid imo.

    La Liga is a snooze fest 2 team league.

    Arsenals midfield is insane :

    Ozil
    Rosicky
    Arteta
    Wilshere
    Ramsey
    Cazorla

    Health is always an issue though, but when healthy the depth is ridiculous.

    Reply
      • I would call them comparable, bar injuries, unless Mourinho plans to deploy a novel 3-7-0 formation. Which, given that he started Schurrle as a striker at Old Trafford, he may very well try.

        I find it very interesting that the three biggest EPL shoppers (in incoming transfers, not net spent) were City, Chelsea, and Spurs and that they all bought piles and piles of (mostly attacking) midfielders.

    • Another season battling for fourth. Ozil is great but doesn’t alter the balance of power in my opinion.

      Lukaku is a really good signing for Everton. Surprised Chelsea were willing to loan him out another season. Dude is a beast.

      Reply
      • Rumor has it that Jose wanted to keep Ba around and ship out Lukaku on loan. As a Chelsea fan, I’m not really sure I agree with this.

      • Did you ever think maybe no one wanted to pay Chelsea 3 million pound to take Ba on loan, and on top of that pay his lofty wages? Lukaku is much more affordable I’m sure.

      • Bold prediction. Here’s my prediction for the top 4:

        1) Man City
        2) Chelsea
        3) Man United
        4) Liverpool (yeah, I’ve drank the koolaid. They were really impressive over these past 3 weeks, and only strenghtened their squad with Sakho and Ilori. Plus, Mr. Biter is coming back soon.)

        What do others think?

      • Yes, I think it is safe to say that stating “I prefer the Spanish over the English league,” as biased.

      • Well, unlike the “unbiased” fellow who called La Liga a snooze-fest and then drooled all over Arsenal’s midfield players many of whom came from La Liga, Lu did not say anything negative about EPL.

    • How about Tottenham? Maybe no one with the quality of Ozil, but incredible depth. The other day I counted 12 players who are capable of starting in their midfield.

      Reply
      • And from what I’ve seen of AVB’s style of play the last year+ with Spurs, those midfielders will pass the ball back and forth to each other and do nothing in the final third. Especially since Bale is not there to just take the ball and score when he wants.

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