Wednesday, 11 July 07, 04:05 PM
Well... not madness per se, but again a great example of how British players just seem to cost so much more than they need to.
Dave Nugent has signed for Portsmouth for a fee
of just over £6 million. He joins from Preston North End, where he has played well enough to earn an England cap (and score a goal too).
The former Bury youngster is only 22, and has a bright future ahead of him, but the fee is still on the higher side, considering that he has no Premiership experience and that his record of 33
goals in 96 games for PNE is hardly prolific.
I think Nugent has chosen well with Portsmouth though. He could have signed for Sunderland, but at Pompey he doesn't have to have the pressure of relegation and expectation, and he's also got an experienced manager who knows how to get the best from his players. He'll have better players around him as well, and be in a settled team that is financially able.
John Utaka also signs for Portsmouth from Rennes. The fee
is undisclosed, but is probably around the £3-4 million mark. This is a transfer that has been going on for ages, and Utaka let the media know a while ago that he was looking forward to
joining his compatriot Kanu at Portsmouth.
Utaka is a good, but inconsistent player; very talented, but seemingly very raw at times. He's 24, and Redknapp will need to work on him a bit. Still, he's tall, strong, fast, and an exciting dribbler. He's skillful, although a hit-and-miss finisher, and is also not too bad in the air. This is going to be an exciting signing for Pompey fans, and it's nice that they have options in attack now.
Hopefully you cringed at that photo, I know I did.
Well gimpy, chavvy, wannabe enfant terrible Craig "Bellers" Bellamy has signed for West Ham for a reported fee of £8 million. EIGHT! Somehow... Liverpool managed to sell Bellamy on
for a profit. A player who signed for £6 million, scored just 7 league goals in 27 games, got arrested for hitting a girl in a nightclub, and hit a teammate with a golf club, has somehow been
sold on for a profit. Lovely!
Bellamy is a serious talent - quick, tricky, left-footed and with a powerful shot, but he has the personality of a menstruating Satan. He first arrived in the Premiership at Coventry, as a
replacement for the Inter-bound Robbie Keane. Since then, he's gone to Newcastle, Celtic, Blackburn, Liverpool, and now West Ham all in the space of 6 years (giving Anelka a run for his money).
Anyways, good luck to West Ham, Eggert Magnusson and "Bellers".
Jason Koumas, has signed for Wigan
for £5.3 million. This probably tops the list of ridiculously priced transfers, and furthermore the present Wigan manager Chris Hutchings has one of the worst transfer records ever. When
Jewell left Bradford, it was Hutchings who stepped up from Assistant to Manager, and spent about £10 million (that Bradford couldn't afford) on awful players, got them relegated (and was
sacked), and they are suffering in League One now. Wigan are a stronger side than that, and chairman Dave Whelan has money, but spending this much money on Koumas is wild.
Now don't get me wrong, Koumas is a talented guy, as he kid he was very highly rated and in West Brom's first season in the Premiership he had some great moments. He then went through a huge slump, and was out of favour and on-loan at Cardiff. But last year at the Baggies he had a great season, helping them to the playoffs, and was named the Championship player of the year. But he's 27 now, and has only really had ONE season at the top of his game, and that too in the Championship.
On Premier League approves 7 substitutes