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Transfer Deadline Day Roundup: Fulham Add Mitroglou, Heitinga, Holtby; Osvaldo to Juve; And More

Tottenham Hotspur's Lewis Holtby celebrates scoring his sides third goal

By RYAN TOLMICH

Relegation-threatened Fulham made a move towards safety on Deadline Day, as the Cottagers were able to add a trio of signings in an effort to avoid the relegation zone.

Fulham added a key attacking figure in Greek sensation Kostas Mitroglou, as the striker was brought in for a fee believed to be right around £12 million.

Mitroglou will be a welcome addition to the Fulham attack, as the Greek international scored 17 goals in 19 appearances this campaign for his previous club.

In addition to the Mitroglou signing, Fulham were able to add Tottenham midfielder Lewis Holtby, who joins on loan for the remainder of the season.

Holtby, who joined Spurs just last January, has featured sparingly under caretaker manager Tim Sherwood. The 23-year-old German joins Fulham in search of playing time in an effort to revitalize his World Cup aspirations.

Fulham were also able to add Everton defender John Heitinga on a free transfer. Heitinga appeared for the Toffees 140 times, scoring 5 times, and is being brought in to plug a hole in the Fulham defense.

However, it comes with a cost, as striker Dimitar Berbatov was sent to Monaco for the rest of the season. Berbatov, who had five goals in 18 appearances for the Cottagers, will be looked at to replace the injured Radamel Falcao for the Ligue 1 contenders.

Mitroglou, Holtby, Heitinga will join American international Clint Dempsey, who joined the club on loan back in December, as the club tries to steer clear of the bottom three.

Arsenal fail in pursuit of Draxler, add Kallstrom

After a drawn-out affair with Schalke’s Julian Draxler, second-place Arsenal were forced to settle for a loan move for experienced Swedish international Kim Kallstrom.

Kallstrom, who joins the Gunners from Spartak Moscow through the end of the season, gives Arsenal a bit of breathing room, as injuries to Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott have left the cupboard bare at the Emirates.

The Swedish international will bring a bit of experience to the Arsenal side, as he has been capped 106 times and has featured in three European Championships to go with one World Cup appearance.

Inter add Brazilian Hernanes from Lazio

Italian giant Inter were able to bolster their squad with the addition of Brazilian central midfielder Hernanes.

Hernanes, who left Lazio in tears, has amassed 33 goals over the past 4 seasons in Rome.

The Brazilian will join an Inter side are currently fifth in Serie A, as the Nerazzuri will need to make up an 11 point gap if they are to qualify for the Champions League.

Dani Osvaldo makes way to Juventus after Saints fallout

Italian striker Dani Osvaldo has made his way back to Italy after a training ground incident all but solidified his exit from Southampton.

Osvaldo, who scored three goals in 13 appearances during his stay in England, will head to Italian giants Juventus, who bolster an attacking lineup that already boasts Carlos Tevez, Fernando Llorente, Mirko Vicinic and more.

The Argentine-born Italian will head back to Italy on loan after leaving back in August. Juventus, who currently top the Serie A table, will have an option to buy the player at the completion of the loan.

Sunderland look to avoid relegation with addition of Argentine Scocco

Sunderland currently find themselves just above the dreaded relegation zone, but the Black Cats made a move to bolster their attack force with the addition of Ignacio Scocco from Internacional.

Scocco, who has two goals in one international appearance, will join a Sunderland strike-force that includes Liverpool loanee Fabio Borini, English youngster Connor Wickham and American international Jozy Altidore.

Premier League title chasers remain quiet

Deadline Day has long since been a day for England’s elite to splash the cash in an effort to expand their squad. However, the 2014 edition of club soccer’s biggest free-for-all has seen little hysteria.

Manchester United were content to call it a day after the addition of Juan Mata, as the addition of the Spanish international earlier in the window proved to be enough to keep manager David Moyes happy.

Perennial spenders Manchester City saw their chase of Porto pair Fernando and Eliaquim Mangala fall through, as the £35 million move was squashed midday. However, a summer move for the pair is never out of the question when it comes to City and their tendency to spend.

Liverpool’s chase of Ukrainian Yehven Konoplyanaka turned into one of the day’s bigger stories, as negotiations between Liverpool and Ukrainian side Dnipro occurred throughout the day. Dnipro insisted on up-front payments, according to ESPNFC, while Liverpool wanted to do things the more old-fashioned way.

Meanwhile, Chelsea made some moves for the future, as the club signed 19-year-old St Ettiene center back Kurt Zouma for right around £12 million. The French Under-21 player will be loaned right back to the Ligue 1 outfit, where he will remain for the rest of the campaign.

Comments

  1. Osvaldo back in Italy? I hope he’s a mole for Roma that plans to burrow through Juve’s locker room.

    But then, I know no one cares about Roma now that Bradley left. ;p

    Reply
      • Maybe. I do believe more likely than not they will finish in the top four. But what happens if giroud gets injured? Also i wouldnt be too surprised if man u miraculousy turnd their season around now that they have mata with them. But like i said its unlikely.

  2. Unless its for playing time or a large lump some of $$ i really don’t see the point in transferring before a world cup especially if you’ve qualified. The tournament usually increases the value of players.

    Reply
  3. Am I off to be thinking that Scocco’s arrival at Sunderland is not good news for Jozy? Was he Sunderland’s only move? One would assume Scocco will be given an ample opportunity to succeed and won’t those minutes come, at least in large part, from what Jozy has been getting?

    Reply
    • Supposedly Sunderland will try and go with more of a 2 striker set-up, which could benefit Jozy as Scocco is good on the ball and can only help set up more chances… or he could poach goals, pushing Altidore to the bench… either way you have to hope they go 2 strikers to get him more chances.

      Reply
      • Sunderland are playing quite average right now. No need to change much. After 1 point through 8 games, they have 20 through their last 15. That’s a plenty adequate rate to stay up (and maybe even reach mid-table by the end of the season).

        Jozy is not the dominating performer we had hoped him to be thus far, but he’s not playing poorly, either. His hold-up play and his earning of a second yellow in the Stoke game were major contributions to their win. He will continue to get playing time down the stretch, but he won’t start (or even play) in every game.

      • No, that would make more sense, as Scocco is a slight 5’8 and not really suited to a lone striker role, but Gus says he will keep the 4-3-3 and play Scocco as a striker. It’s very unconventional. We will have to see how long it lasts. Gus will be forced to pull him back away from goal and connect him more on the level with the wings because there’s no way he can win the balls Altidore and Fletcher do in the isolated striker role. God only knows why he won’t allow Jozy to play that way (more connected to the wings) like he did with AZ. It’s weird. Let’s see how it plays out.

    • Sunderland also bought Bridcutt, a central mid from Brighton. They were on the verge of selling Cattermole as well but it fell through.

      Reply
    • It is most definitely not good news for Jozy. Jozy’s going to have to start scoring goals in what limited minutes he gets now, or else he’ll get buried on the bench. I’ve been in the “he’s still learning and getting better” camp, but that won’t be the case if he doesn’t play.

      Reply
      • Other than the fact that Jozy’s not scoring and some of the fans call him Dozy and an announcer or two have a boner for Fletcher, what makes you think Altidore’s in danger of being buried on the bench?

        Di Canio brought Jozy in thinking he brought in Superman. Turns out he overspent and didn’t bring in a supporting cast (i.e. decent wing players and another forward). He got sacked, now Poyet’s there to clean up his mess. Jozy’s been an important part of the new manager’s plan.

        He holds up play very well and draws multiple defenders, which gives Johnson plenty of space to shoot. Despite his poor finishing of late (which he does need to improve), at times he’s the only Sunderland player that can gain possession, much less retain possession for any length of time.

        I’ll wager this transfer is a replacement for Fletcher, not Jozy. We’ll see.

      • Joamiq,

        Jozy played well against Stoke but if he does not build on that it does not matter what Scocco does.

        And if Jozy plays well he will take a lot of pressure off of Scocco.

        Y’all have been crying for a second forward to play with Jozy; well here he is.

        Poyet sees Scocco as ideally playing on the left side of a three man forward line.

        He generally plays up front but he can also play as an attacking midfielder.

        While he has a good track record Scocco is a gamble. He was available because he did not settle in Internacional. And he has yet to play a minute in the EPL so he is unproven.

        He cost about 3.5 million pounds.Jozy cost about 8.5 and is now valued at about 6 million.

        Best case is that he and Jozy hit it off and they become Sunderland’s poor man’s version of Suarez and Sturridge. It would give Jozy practice playing with an AJ type player. He would seem to be more compatible with the more mobile and versatile Jozy but could work well with Fletcher too.

        It would be in everyone’s best interest for both of them to play well.

        Jozy now has his partner. No more excuses I guess.

      • When I visited the Sunderland website the other day to check Jozy’s stats, they listed his transfer fee as 6 million pounds, not 8.5. As for Scocco, another website said he had 4 goals in 15 games in Brazil, okay but hardly overwhelming. Also, his previous and only European experience was in Greece. He had a good run at Newell’s in Argentina about 4 or 5 years ago, but there’s nothing to suggest he will set the EPL on fire. The best thing for Sunderland is if Poyet plays two up front and the midfielders can actually get them the ball. Too many times, even at homes against weak opponents, he will play a lone striker.

  4. anyone else think it’s funny that lew holtby is just following dempsey around now?

    you heard it here first: holtby to seattle in the summer.

    Reply
    • NO. I didn’t think it was funny. Pi$$ed me off because Holtby last year became AVB’s golden boy when he arrived a Tottenham and strutted around like he owned the place and then cut into Clint’s playing time and I fear this could happen now at Fulham.

      Reply
      • Strutted around like he owned the place? That’s not very fair to Holtby, who is as good a guy as they come. And they don’t play the same position at all. I’m sure they’ll be on the field together most of the time.

    • I took their winter moves as a thorough rebuke of Jol. Dempsey back, two exciting prospects in, Taarabt back to QPR (why do you bring in a player who helped them go down?). This fall they were just a tad unathletic and too predictable. Hopefully they can climb out of the relegation zone.

      The one concern I have is the defense wasn’t well addressed. Hughes is gone (also to QPR, which says something) but they didn’t bring new defenders in. Senderos is a joke and they are swiss cheese some days.

      Reply
      • But honestly this makes for a quality lineup…no way they go down with this on the field. Regarding the defense, I like what I’ve seen from Burn. Just no more Senderos please.

        —————————Mitroglou————————————————–
        —————————————————–Berbatov————————-

        Dempsey/Kačaniklić————–Holtby—————————Kasami
        ——————————–Parker————————————————-

        –Riise——————Burn———-Hangeland————–Riether——-

        ——————————–Stekelenburg—————————————-

      • berbaQ is a monaco player now though.

        and as for taaradt, arguably the most talented player on the team, but needs to have freedom to play his game which seems to be a bad fir for the league as a whole.

      • Taarabt likes to showboat and freelance, and apparently got crossways with his teammates as QPR deteriorated and got relegated. Fulham was headed to the same fate. I don’t think he plays a good team game. Adios muchacho.

      • Taarabt is good for maybe 5-10 minutes of great play every game, but he overshadows that by having lapses in concentration and effort at the worst possible times.

      • Not playing Sendeross will help. He was past his expiration date when they first got him. I’ve always liked Heitinga and think he can help them.

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