It is Deadline Day. We’re not going to keep an up-to-the-moment ticker. You can find them everywhere but frankly we stick close to the television on the hopes that a presenter finally shows up certifiably drunk and proceeds to lambast transfer fees while providing highly inappropriate, and tangential at best, social commentary. Good stuff.
This note from the Official Fantasy Premier League leads the day:
- Only transfers registered by 12 noon today will be eligible to play in this weekend’s matches. These players will be added to the game today. Other players will be added next week.
- Where players transfer between Premier League clubs, these will be updated. Please remember that if it means you then have four players from one team, the next time you try and make transfers, you will need to make your squad comply with the rules of three per team.
Bit of Official News first, then the more trustworthy, then the outright rumours. Onwards.
Ryan Talyor departed Thursday’s Europa qualifying match with an injury:
Newcastle United defender Ryan Taylor will have a scan on his knee at 2pm on Friday, after suffering an injury during Thursday’s Europa League qualifier against Atromitos. The 28-year-old landed awkwardly having hurdled a tackle in the early stages of the match and, being in clear pain, was immediately substituted.
Scott Sinclair has relocated from the pitch at Liberty to the bench at Etihad – via MCFC:
The Great Britain winger, 23, joins the Blues from Swansea and could be in the squad to face QPR on Saturday.
It’s two more out, following Andy Carroll from Anfield to find starting roles elsewhere in England:
Liverpool Football Club can confirm that Charlie Adam has today completed a transfer to Stoke City.
Spearing out on loan to Bolton: The 23-year-old will spend the whole of 2012-13 with Owen Coyle’s side as they attempt to bounce back into the Barclays Premier League.
Transfer actitivity at the Stadium of Light – Spurs defender Danny Rose has joined on loan:
The left-back has joined Sunderland on a season-long loan deal. Rose, 22, is O’Neill’s fifth summer signing, joining Carlos Cuellar, Louis Saha, Steven Fletcher and Adam Johnson.
And Kieran Richardson has departed, transferring to Fulham:
The 27-year-old, who was in his final year of his contract on Wearside, has returned to London after five years at the Stadium of Light. Richardson made 149 appearances for Sunderland, scoring 15 goals.
This transfer will have fantasy premier league implications as Richardson played an average of 2200′ a season the last three years. He was infrequently worth owning, and that likely will not change following his arrival at Craven Cottage, but Sunderland offer a number of discount options to fill a squad and a buying opportunity could present itself in the coming weeks.
Finally, Nigel de Jong is out at The Etihad – the jack Rodwell era has begun in ernest:
Nigel de Jong has signed for AC Milan, bringing an end to his three-and-half year stay with City. One of the Blues’ most popular players, De Jong made a total of 137 appearances during his time in Manchester having signed from Hamburg in January 2009.
SAF throws some words around, hopefully with a great deal of care, as Fantasy Premier League managers face last minute tinkers heading into the last match before the international break. Berbatov is off – but to what destination?
The striker has undergone a medical with Martin Jol’s side and will depart Old Trafford before the deadline but there could be yet another twist regarding his future after he had initially seemed set to join Fiorentina or Juventus.
Via ManUtd. Which also carries the news Ashley Young is out of contention for this weekend with an ankle knock:
Sir Alex Ferguson has ruled Ashley Young out of Sunday’s trip to Southampton but Jonny Evans’ return should allow Michael Carrick to move back into midfield.
As we tweeted last night, BBC have it that Liverpool are out of the running for Dempsey and have turned their lonely eyes to Chelsea and Daniel Sturridge:
Chelsea are understood to be open to allowing the 22-year-old England player to leave on loan, but Tottenham are also interested.
That same posts suggests another marquee signing for the Blues as they continue their pursuit of German international Andre Schurrle:
The future of Sturridge may depend on Chelsea’s pursuit of Bayer Leverkusen’s Germany forward Andre Schurrle.
The thought of Sturridge pairing with Luis Suarez is interesting, the young English striker does appear to be more of a poacher. He created one chance every 91′ last term. In all other facets of the game, Sturridge’s statistic last season best the departed Carroll which appears to be all Rodgers cares about.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa have also withdrawn from the Dempsey chase. Via their lovely ticker, er, Clockwatch:
Sky Sports News’ Pete Colley is at Bodymoor Heath and says Aston Villa have dropped their interest in Clint Dempsey as the Fulham midfielder would rather move to Liverpool. The Reds have yet to comment on any move for the American international.
For fuck sake. “Clockwatch”? But, moving on, it’s interesting to see the Villans involved because they are in dire need of something to kickstart their season. With apologies to Jordan Bowery, of course:
Paul Lambert has described new signing Jordan Bowery as “battle-hardened and one for the future” as the 21-year-old striker completed a three-year deal from Chesterfield which will keep him at Villa to the end of the 2014-15 season.
Lambert has aparently been strengthening his side. Could work, they look capable of earning promotion to the Premier League this season. What’s that?
Bowery is the sixth acquisition of the transfer window for Villa following the arrivals of defenders Ron Vlaar, Joe Bennett and Matt Lowton and midfield players Brett Holman and Karim El Ahmadi.
Another move we’d hinted at earlier has finally come to fruition, though nothing official reported, still just with BBC:
[Van der Vaart]‘s agent, Robert Geerlings, has confirmed the Netherlands international is on his way to the German club. A fee of around £10.5m is reported to have been agreed.
Fantasy premier league players have to be happy with this. Van der Vaart has been a constant source of frustration throughout the Harry Redknapp tenure and the arrivals of Sigurdsson and Demebele provided more competition and greater chance to Villas-Boas to make both in-game substitutions and frequent lineup rotations. We’re hoping this ups the value of Bale, Gylfi, Dembele and perhaps one of Lennon and Defoe. Certainly, this departure does not dimish the attacking prowess of the starting XI at White Hart Lane, though it significantly scarifies their depth.
The rest include more rumoured additions to Laudrup’s Swan Revolution:
Pablo Hernandez is expected to complete his move from Valencia, and the loan deal for Israel striker Itay Shechter should be rubber-stamped stamped before the transfer deadline after significant delay with the paperwork.
New Swansea manager Michael Laudrup has already recruited Chico Flores, Michu, Jonathan de Guzman (loan), Kyle Bartley and Ki Sung Yueng.
Swansea City are hoping to sign winger Jerson Cabral from Dutch club Feyenoord. Cabral has also been linked with a move to Spurs and Newcastle.
Via.
More as it develops and be sure to follow our Twitter @FantasyGaffer for the latest.