Saturday, February 12, 2011

Europhiles Notebook - Bundesliga Transfers

The movers and shakers of the January Transfer window in Europe’s most fiscally responsible league.

With Germany being in the throes of an economic downturn and Bundesliga clubs rarely known for being spendthrift, the winter transfer window was a typically quite one, but for the departure of Edin Dzeko from Wolfsburg, €32m to Manchester City and its knock on effects to the division.

Bayern Munich, unsurprisingly, were the window’s biggest spenders as they lavished €15m on TSG Hoffenheim’s Brazilian defensive presence Luiz Gustavo.  With the domestic giants from Bavaria trailing in league leader Borussia Dortmund’s wake, after a disastrous start to the season, this move was equal parts desperation and potential folly.  Gustavo, despite his versatility across the backline, as well as the odd defensive midfield outing, has been steady but unspectacular during his four years at Hoffenheim, notching up 72 appearances in the top flight.  Although he will most probably start in the back field, plugging gaps left by the departing Mark Van Bommel (released from contract and snapped up by Milan) as well as long time stalwart Martin Demichelis (sold to Malaga), the jury is out on his ability to improve Bayern’s defence and shore up their backline.  Bayern are currently 3rd and have also sent young Dutch Edson Braafheid, already returning on loan, back out to Hoffenheim.

 
Wolfsburg, were the most ambitious and busiest of the Bundesliga sides, parting with manager Steve McLaren and star striker Dzeko, while spending a sizeable wad of cash on two attacking talents.  Turkish forward, Tuncay Sanli, for all his talent and creativity, never quite set the stage alight in England with Middlesborough, and he arrives for just over €5m.  German Patrick Helmes on the other hand, is the complete, finished article boasting solid production.  Signed for between €8m and €5m from fellow top division side Bayer Leverkusen, his move is a unique one as it weakens Bayer, whose season has significant potential, while directly strengthening one of their rivals.

Leverkusen are tucked in second, just ahead of four other clubs, Bayern and early leaders Mainz among them, fighting for the other automatic Champions’ League spot.  One would think that Helmes’ goals, not to mention his partnership with Stefan Keissling, would help them secure that spot, but the money from Wolfsburg was surely too good to resist.  Sanli and Helmes join Jan Polak (from Anderlecht) in an attempt to raise Wolfsburg from the depths of 12th place.  World Cup winner Andrea Barzagli, after three seasons with the Wolfpack, returns to Italy with Juventus.


Hoffenheim used some of the Gustavo money to splurge for disaffected Liverpool winger Ryan Babel.  While Babel polarised opinion during his ill fated stint on Merseyside, his talent and abilities are undoubted, as his €6.8m price tag clearly demonstrates.  One waits to see if he can realise much of the potential that made him one of Ajax’s most sought after talents.  With the moneyed, upstart team sitting in seventh, clearly management felt things needed to change.  As many as eight players departed in the window, star striker Demba Ba (West Ham United) and Ghanaian World Cup forward Prince Tagoe, among them.

Stuttgart, still mired in the relegation zone, went for Shimizi S-Pulse winger Shiniji Okazaki as they hope to move up the table while launching an assault on the Europa League knockout stages.  Interestingly, Italian World Cup winning workhorse on the wing, Mauro Camoranesi, was released and has returned to Argentina to play for Lanus.

Leaders Borussia Dortmund made no major changes with some nominal loan moves as they look down on the rest of the table with a 12 point gap.  Why tinker with a winning combination as their squad is both fired up and fit?  Fellow giants Hamburg were similarly quiet with no changes to personnel at all.  Rounding out the big boys, Schalke were somewhat involved with six new arrivals, among them Euro 2004 winning Greek forward Andreas Charisteas, from French club Arles-Avignon and former Bayern forward Ali Karimi.  Whether either makes much difference to the sides’ current mid-table plight still remains to be seen.  A notable departure was midfielder Ivan Rakitic, who left for Sevilla.



To the more acute observer, one of the most interesting moves was that of Slovak striker Erik Jendrisek, fresh from his country’s World Cup campaign, joining Freiburg from Schalke.  Having barely got a game at Schalke, as both Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Raul, relegated him to the bench, his upcoming partnership with one of the division’s leading scorers, Papiss Demba Cisse, makes for a mouth watering proposition.  A clever pickup for less than seven figures, he may yet prove to be the best buy of all, especially if Freiburg build on their current placing of 6th spot.

In other news, Werder Bremen signed young Serbian prospect Predrag Stevanovic from the Schalke reserve side while bidding farewell to long term attacking stalwart Hugo Almeida.  The latter joins Karim Ziani (leaving Wolfsburg) in finding the Turkish top division as their new home.  Having scored 41 times in just over a 100 appearances, the giant Portuguese striker’s aerial presence will be missed in the Bundesliga.  Finally, American striker Michael Bradley, son of US coach Bob Bradley, departed Borussia Moenchengladbach to join Aston Villa, in the English Premiership, on loan.  His elevation to the world’s most televised league is just the tonic the young forward needs as he hopes to emulate fellow striker Landon Donovan.

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