Transfer Window Round-Up

I think it's safe to say that no-one really expected Argentinian stars Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez to stay at Brazilian side Corinthians for much longer.

It's also fair to say that no-one predicted they would end up in East London with West Ham at any stage of their career let alone as their first step into European club football.

With transfer deadline looming (23:59.59 on 31st August) plenty of papers were taking about the imminent departure of the South American duo to Chelsea, Manchester United or Arsenal.

The fact that they are now West Ham players -- signed on permanent contracts for four years according to the club website -- has surprised everyone.

Apart from this, no other information has been released. What makes the purchase so interesting is the involvement of London based international investment fund Media Sports Investment (MSI) "led" (as their utterly unenlightening website puts it) by the Iranian financier Kia Joorabchian.

No more information is forthcoming so there's no concrete information on what the actual price was, whether there's a buy back fee, a sell-on percentage or even who the money is paid to -- MSI own Corinthians, as well as the rights to the players themselves and its even be suggested that Joorabchian personally has a stake in them.

It's all very confusing but the Daily Telegraph makes an attempt to fill in some details but it's all conjecture.

With alleged personal links between Joorabchian and Chelsea's Russian owner Roman Abramovich, rumours that Tevez and Mascherano have been "parked" at West Ham before moving to Chelsea have arisen. This wouldn't seem that outrageous, especially as Chelsea (like many big European clubs) have arrangements with other sides to place players at clubs for however long it takes them to get used to European football or gain an EU passport to circumvent foreigner-restriction rules. West Ham gain two excellent players for a small outlay for however long before they get the call from a bigger club.

MSI were looking to buy West Ham (as well as Aston Villa) last year but the talks fizzled out in November 2005 and some have seen this as a sign the talks are back on -- but it would be a curious time for MSI to start investing, as the window is shut they can't bring anyone else in.

These cloak-and-dagger shenanigans have clouded the fact that both players are fine footballers and coveted by the biggest teams in Europe for a reason.

Mascherano is a defensive midfielder, primarily used by club and country to shield the back four. He's also happy coming forward and has good passing ability. Before his move to Corinthians, he played for River Plate in Argentina and was a crucial part of the Argentinian Olympic winning side of 2004.

Tevez (known as Carlitos in his Corinthians days) has been causing waves in world football since he made his debut as a 16 year old for Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires. A squat, powerful figure, he is happiest receiving the ball from deep and making powerful runs into the opposition penalty area -- his style of play will remind English football fans of Wayne Rooney.

Players of their quality should have no problem settling into the English game although Argentinians have not had a happy time of it in the Premiership -- Juan Sebastian Veron disappointed at both Man Utd and Chelsea while Hernan Crespo was defeated by the English lifestyle and weather. Indications aren't great as Tevez was stripped of the Corinthians captaincy by coach Emerson Leao due to his inability to speak Portuguese. How well both get on with English remains to be seen.

They already have a firm grasp of the platitude, if the comments attributed to them at the West Ham website are anything to go by. Mascherano is particularly ingratiating: "I am aware of some of the great players at West Ham. I know of Anton Ferdinand - he is talked about a lot in Argentina as a great player of future, while I also like Nigel Reo-Coker".

Somehow I am left unconvinced that the sophisticated bars the Portenos frequent of an evening are full of chatter about the less-dopey Ferdinand brother and NRC. Read more of Javier and Carlos's comments here.

Whatever the truth of the transfers, West Ham have two exciting players on their hands although it remains to be seen how long they stay. Hammers fans will do well to note that Tevez once turned up to a Corinthians press conference in a Manchester United shirt. No-one should imagine that either of them will be happy to stay at Upton Park if Barcelona, Real Madrid or the big English teams come knocking.

We should all enjoy the surprising sight of Tevez and Mascherano playing in West Ham claret and blue while we can.

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Rejoice! Rejoice!

He's gone! Finally!

The rest of the transfer deadline deals got rather lost in the midst of the fuss about Tevez and Mascherano but we should all be thankful that one of the very last deals was rubber-stamped before the window slammed shut.

Sour-faced millionaire Ashley Cole has at long-last joined Chelsea where fellow grumpy sod William Gallas has gone the other way and joined Arsenal (plus five million pounds).

Of course, for next couple of weeks there will be reheatings of the tapping-up affair and bits from Ashley's book and when they play each other it will all come out again but at least we can all focus on something else a lot more healthy now. Like the great Tevez/Mascherano conspiracy for example.

Arsenal have also swapped homesick Jose Antonio Reyes for Brazilian beast Julio "The Bap" Baptista with Real Madrid and bid a not-so-fond adieu to useless domehead centre-back Pascal "The New Igor Stepanovs" Cygan -- Villarreal are the unlucky recipients of the hapless defender.

Other interesting Premiership moves see Pompey doing their mini-Chelsea thing by snapping up playmaker Niko Kranjcar from Hajduk Split, midfield action man Manuel Fernandes from Benfica, Cameroonian winger-cum-striker Rudolph Douala (a long time Middlesbrough target in the McClaren days) from Sporting, as well as veteran goal-getter Andy "Call me Andrew" Cole.

Tottenham have nabbed two disgruntled players: Pascal Chimbonda from Wigan and Steed Malbranque from Fulham; Jonathan Woodgate is loaned to hometown club Middlesbrough from Real Madrid and Blackburn have taken Congolese striker Shabani Nonda on loan from Roma.

Man City are hoping that their left-sided midfield problems can be solved by the loaning of American winger DaMarcus Beasley from PSV. He had an excellent first season with the side from Eindhoven but lost form last year. A very talented player but also very slight, it will be interesting to see if he can adapt to the Premiership.

There were also some interesting non-Premiership moves. AC Milan signed Brazilian Ricardo Oliveira from Real Betis to bolster their front line although their mummified defence could really have done with the reinforcements. The Seville side had already brought in Oliveira's replacement in the shape of Internacional's blonde-highlighted Rafael Sobis. Sobis is a tricky little frontman fresh from winning the Copa Liberatdores with Inter -- the sort of Brazilian striker that seems to have gone out of fashion in his homeland or at least with the last few mangers of the national team.

Feyenoord have signed centre forward Angelos Charisteas from Ajax. A misfiring Greek striker wouldn't normally be news but for the last 13 years the clubs from Amsterdam and Rotterdam have had a gentleman's agreement not to sign each other's players -- although a few young players released from their contracts have made the move.

The last player to be bought by Feyenoord from Ajax was John van Loen back in 1993.

He was nicknamed "The Red Baron" and "The Lighthouse" due to his red hair. Here's the Ginger Prince in all his glory.

Lastly, Argentina captain Juan Pablo Sorin has completed a move to Hamburg. Sorin has now played in Italy (Juventus and Lazio), Spain (Barcelona and Villarreal), France (Paris St Germain), as well as his native Argentina for River Plate and for Cruzeiro in Brazil. Just the Premiership to go and he's done a clean sweep of the major world leagues.

The only player I can think of who has managed something similar is World Cup USA 1994 star Florin Raducioiu who did pay for a team in each of the five big leagues. The Romanian played for Dinamo Bucharest in his native land, and also in Italy (Brescia and AC Milan amongst others), Spain (Espanyol), Germany (Stuttgart), France (Monaco) and West Ham in England.

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