As the transfer deadline drew to a close it seems French Side Monaco may have stolen the show with the move of the summer. While the big money moved the likes of Robben, CR7 and Kaka, it was the shock signing of Icelander Eidur Gudjohnsen for a measly amount of 2M Euros that may turn out to be the biggest return on investment

Yes 2M Euros, it’s not a lot of money for a player of this pedigree. When you look at the 6.5M Pounds Wolves spent of Doyle, you really have to wonder why everyone missed out on this striker. Eidur has bags of experience from his time in England with Bolton and Chelsea. He also did a decent job playing in Spain for Barcelona.

Gudjohnsen playing stats:

1998-2000 Bolton       55app   18gls
2000-2006 Chelsea     182app 54gls
2006-2009 Barcelona  72app   10gls

The two teams that stand out for me that really missed the boat are Blackburn and Liverpool.

Blackburn needs a good striker, and it would make sense for Big Sam to get back with his former star striker. They have money from the Santa Cruz sale and for the tiny cost it’s not much of a gamble. With Eidur they would have a starter every week up front.

Liverpool is in dire need of a 2nd striker to play along side or as a stand in for Torres. They have nothing at all worth mentioning on the bench. They also missed out on Tuncay from Middlesbrough and of course Owen. I really fear for Liverpool if they have an injury to either Torres or Gerrard.

I could have it all wrong but I see Eidur banging in 15-20 goals this season in France and he could easily have done the same numbers in the EPL this season.

Who do you think was the biggest value for money signing this summer?

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Does it make good business sense for Celtic to sell two of the elite players in the SPL to Spurs?

There have been several stories doing the rounds this summer regarding Spurs and Celtic players Scott Brown and Aiden McGeady. With a 20 million pound price tag on the SPL duo it sure would make sense for the Mowbray to part company with his young midfield duo.

Does the move make sense for Spurs? Yes it does. Harry has been looking for a naturally gifted left sided player, and the young Irish star fits that role for him. McGeady is a talent and when he’s given the license to thrill he can do a lot. His last season at Celtic was one of his least successful due to his fall out with the Manager at the time Gordon Strachan. Since Mowbray’s appointment McGeady has flourished yet again.

Brown is a busy midfield player and would be the ideal candidate to replace the unsettle Jenas. A gifted player who certainly looked like a star in the making during his time at Hibs. He is a key player for Celtic and they would miss his abilities but all Celtic fans would have expected this day would come when a player of this caliber needs to move on to test new things.

Spurs will make money from selling on Bentley (probably to Villa) and Jenas (probably to Villa). The move will leave Celtic with a large sum of money and two larger holes in the midfield. With the transfer deadline only days away Celtic will need to act fast if they want to add to the current squad. One name in the mix is Gomes from Dundee United. A high six figure fee should be enough to secure his services. The other option they have is to take a risk on free agent Andy van der Meyde. Realistically they could continue with no new signings and rely on the likes of McCort and Flood. After this weeks Champions League Qualifiers if Celtic don’t make it through then Spurs will no doubt be the beneficiaries.

What are your thoughts? Should Celtic sell? Should Spurs buy?

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Watch live World Cup matches here.

World Cup 2010 is just around the corner. As the last bunch of games for qualifications get played this year we face the possibility of a tournament without some of the games giants.

It’s still early but in Africa we stand the chance of missing out on Nigeria, Egypt and Cameroon. In Central America Mexico are sitting 4th, although the change in management might be enough to catch up with Honduras. 

In Europe, Sweden, Portugal, Scotland, Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey, Belgium, and Bulgaria are all in trouble  and may not even make the play offs. While France will no doubt be playing a playoff game, but if Eire can put in some good results it could Italy V’s France in a playoff game.

I really doubt Italy will drop enough points to miss out on an automatic qualification spot, and to be honest France should be strong enough to dispose of most, if not all of the other play off teams. This of course leads me to South America, and an Argentina team that really is in a hole.

As it stands today Argentina are sitting 4th in the group on 22 points. This has them sitting in an automatic qualification spot, however they are only 2 points ahead of 5th place Ecuador and 4 points ahead of Uruguay. On the surface they sound safe to make it through but the recent form paints a different picture. They have only won once away from home, and have lost twice in the last 3 games including that 6-1 hammering at the hands of Bolivia. With 4 games to play (2 of which are away) Maradona really needs to get the most out of this talented squad.

In September Argentina are at home to Brazil, then travel to Paraguay for a tough away game. Realistically based on what we’ve seen lately this could be 0 points. Dunga has Brazil playing a solid game now and they should be able to take apart this Argentina team that seems so unorganized. Paraguay is not a super power by any means but they are sitting 3rd in the group and with the Argentine away form so far, it seems Argentina will struggle against anyone.

Then in October Argentina plays host to Peru which would be 3 easy points but then goes on the road for the last away game against Uruguay. If results don’t come for Argentina then they could come home after the Uruguay game with 3 points from 4 games. Uruguay will look at their run in and fancy taking 9 points from it and Ecuador will also like the chance of bring in at least 6 points. This would all add up to Argentina not only missing the automatic spot but also missing out on the play off place.

With this in mind it does not make any sense that the Argentinean Football Federation decided to give Diego a new contract until Oct 2009. If they don’t make the World Cup in South Africa, then the competition will miss out on some of the best talents in the game and a football mad nation will be left wondering what could have been.

Do you think Maradona should go now?  Do you think Argentina will make it to the World Cup?

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

The dawn of the new premiership season is upon us and this year we might have something special on the cards. Of course the usual battle at the top will be very exciting but there is potential for something more intriguing. This season we have three clubs that have come up that could easily still be in the league when May comes around.

On paper Birmingham and Wolves have solid squads, and with a little luck both teams should be able to compete to stay in the league. Burnley on the other hand don’t look as good on paper and they don’t have the same squad quality that the other two have, but they do have a solid record against other premiership sides from last seasons cup competitions.

Last season was a shock to many that two of the newly promoted teams managed to stay up, but looking at the quality of play it really was not such a shock. This is the main reason that it’s more than possible for all three teams to stay up this season. The EPL has many poor teams. Blackburn, Stoke, Bolton and Wigan will be fighting against the drop all season, and when you add to that my two favorite teams for the drop Portsmouth and Hull you then see why these new teams could easily stay outside the bottom three.

So what factors will stand out for the new boys?

Wolves will bring to the table the best young players from last seasons Championship, Wayne Hennessey, Michael Kightly and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, along with the young guns, comes new signing Kevin Doyle and unsung hero Karl Henry.

Birmingham has the most solid squad including future England No1 Joe Hart and new signing Christian Benítez.

Burnley has probably the best young manager in the game today and he’ll be looking for is new signing Steven Fletcher who signed from Hibs to be the player leading the line as the Clarets push for safety.

Do you think any of the newly promoted teams can survive in the Premier League this year?

From Soccerlens.com - Football News