It was probably the most famous January transfer window ever. Not only was the most money spent in this window, there were surprises as to which players clubs chose to spend big money on.
Few predicted that Liverpool would make a hasty, ‘itchy-feat’ bid for Andy Carroll if the Fernando Torres move went through, but if you’d told me that on the deadline of the January transfer window Liverpool would bid £35 million for him, I’d have thought you were a patient at the Betty Ford Clinic.
Not only is that a record transfer fee for a British player, it’s a British record transfer fee for a player who has played only 80 games for Newcastle and has just one England cap to his name.
The greatest irony is that he cost more millions than he’d scored goals at the Tyneside club.
Questions must also be raised on whether Carroll is the ideal replacement for Torres. Although the two are similar in height they play two very different styles and have different qualities.
When Liverpool sold off Torres and replaced him with Carroll, they lost a cat-like, skillful, ‘pacey’, tactically astute, goal poacher and excellent finisher and replaced him with a battering ram with great aerial, ability, a masterful left-foot, deceptive pace and a good work rate.
Although Carroll has no doubt got bags of potential and a big future ahead of him, he does not ideally fit Liverpool’s system and he is not worthy of commanding such a transfer fee. Obviously, Carroll will play in a lone striking role with support from the penetrating wingers Suarez and Kuyt, but he does not have the pace or agility to run in behind defenses and split offside traps like Torres.
Instead, Carroll will rely on aerial support and accurate passes in the box, and will need to utilise his strength and heading ability so that players like Suarez and Gerrard can play off him.
Liverpool’s issue is that their service from out-wide isn’t as reliable as they’d like it to be. Suarez is a player that prefers to cut inside rather than pass a ball, and Kuyt’s pace and guile is beginning to decline.
Unless Liverpool can bring a pacey winger and another striker who can play off Carroll into the side, this signing could be a total loss for both club and player.
The Fernando Torres deal is even more ridiculous. Chelsea have spent £50 million on a player who doesn’t even fit into their tactical system and form-wise looks like his best years are over. Both Torres and Didier Drogba are best utilised as single strikers and in Chelsea’s 4-3-3 system there is only room for one of them.
This will naturally prompt Chelsea to move back to their old 4-4-2 diamond formation so they can accommodate both strikers.
In this formation Drogba formally played a semi-holding role due to his strength, both in the air and on the carpet, and Nicholas Anelka played off him due to his pace and ability to finish.
This system was scrapped due to its dysfunctional nature and Ancelotti’s knowledge that Drogba was a more reliable goal-threat and that Anelka was effectively ‘past it’.
The arrival of Torres means that Chelsea will have to revisit this tactical system, where Drogba will be required to play the same holding role and Torres will have to play off him due to their similarities in height and the obvious fact that Drogba is the stronger player and Torres the faster and arguably the better finisher.
Taking into account that both players are best suited to playing alone, this is going to reduce their impact as it is, but to further exacerbate the situation, playing Drogba in a holding role means you effectively negate his pace and power and as a result, this will have an adverse effect on his goals to games ratio as it did with the previous formation.
Not only is there little value in either transfer, theoretically, neither of them appear to work tactically. Both clubs would have found better replacements for their attacking woes elsewhere.
Maybe Carroll should have been purchased by Chelsea?
He’s a similar player to Drogba, probably not as quick but better in the air and he’d have gotten the appropriate support from players like Cole, Malouda and Kalou from out-wide. His similarity to Drogba means he could have been his long-term successor.
At £35 million Carroll would have been steep, but he’d have taken half of Torres’ wage and fit into the system quite nicely.
Chelsea could also have waited till the summer and signed Romulu Lukkaku of Anderlecht. The Belgian not only looks like Drogba but plays like him. He’s as strong as an ox, lighting fast and has a great tactical knowledge of the game. He’s also a proven goal-threat despite his age (17) with 25 goals in 54 games in the Belgian Pro League, meaning there aren’t many worries about him fulfilling his potential.
Although the player is high in demand, he’s a Chelsea supporter and a reasonable offer for the youngster would have be expected to end in a deal.
The amount Chelsea would pay for Lukkaku would have meant, Chelsea would have been able to buy Lukkaku and Luiz for under £50 million which is what Torres cost.
Liverpool, on the other hand, probably should have found a way to keep Torres.
Yes, £50 million is a lot of money and Torres is out of form, but at his best he cannot be replaced for any amount of money, and the signing of Luis Suarez looked to be the right sort of move to provoke a change in form for the Spaniard.
For years Torres was isolated up-front and without cogent strike assistance and Liverpool simply didn’t have the funds to buy big. But, ironically, when they finally do and make a useful signing who would give Torres his best chance of regaining his form he hands in a transfer request.
Manager Kenny Dalglish could have used his legend status at the club to convince the striker to stay.
The fans may have seen him as a Judas figure, but if he’d not been sold and pledged his future to the fans I’m sure he’d have been forgiven.
You’d think that Torres could have handed in his transfer request at darker times, yet he managed to do it when things looked so bright. It is this information that convinces me that had this point been sternly communicated by Dalglish, Torres would still be a Liverpool hero.
I think even if he was made to stay he’d have had enough love for the club to give his utmost on the pitch. Sure, he’d not have been loved straight away but he could have earned it back.
At the end of the day, these two purchases create problems for Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle; Chelsea and Liverpool have spent a ridiculous amount of money on a players who don’t fit into their respective tactical systems, Liverpool have lost a player who fit into their system perfectly and Newcastle have lost the local hero who’d been touted of taking the same sort of strides as Toon hero Alan Shearer and never looked like leaving.
Bar the difference in context and situation it’s times like these you truly understand one of Sir Alex’s most famous quotes: “Football – bloody hell!”
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Frankly, it was a bad look for Hayes. She appears like a grumpy and frustrated manager as her tenure at Chelsea is coming to an end.
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