Now that the transfer deadline has passed and teams can’t sign players till January, lets take a look at some of the bigger moves clubs around Europe have made during the last couple of days of the summer transfer window.
Asamoah Gyan – Rennes to Sunderland
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Gyan had an impressive World Cup with Ghana, making it to the quarter finals, scoring three goals (two of them from the penalty spot), including the extra time winner against the United States in the second round. Overall, he was one of the more impressive strikers showcased in the tournament, which ended in a huge tragedy for him, missing the penalty that would have made Ghana the first team to reach the World Cup Semi Finals.
Still, his skill set was obvious, and Sunderland decided to make him their most expensive purchase ever, buying him from French Club, Rennes, for 13 million pounds, hoping he can partner up well with goal machine Darren Bent. Gyan scored 13 league goals for Rennes last season.
Robinho – Manchester City to AC Milan
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From one of the most expensive signings ever two years ago, Robinho became a burden at Manchester, and will bring his enormous talent and potential to suddenly super threatning AC Milan for an undisclosed fee. After a successful start with City in 2008-2009, scoring 14 goals, Robinho didn’t fit into Mark Hughes’ 2009-2010 plans, and played only 10 matches before getting shipped back to Brazil, where he played with Santos. Two goals in the disappointing Brazilian World Cup campaign didn’t save him a spot at Eastlands, and he will now attempt and help Milan, as part of an exciting Brazilian trio (Pato and Ronaldinho as well) win their first Serie A title since 2004.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Barcelona to AC Milan
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He won three league titles with Milan’s city rivals Inter and two with Juventus (later removed), and now he’s going to try and help the Rossoneri reclaim their dominance in Italy. Ibrahimovic spent only one season at Barca and despite scoring 16 league goals for the Spanish champions, didn’t really find his place in Guardiola’s team. He has been loaned out to Milan with a purchase option at the end of the season (24 million Euro) attached to the deal. Very quickly, Milan look like a very strong contender for the Champions League title.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar – From AC Milan to Schalke
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The tall and lanky striker who had an amazing scoring record from his time with Ajax (although scoring in the Dutch league isn’t THAT hard), with 76 goals in 92 matches, didn’t find his place and the net too often among the continent’s bigger clubs – one season with Real Madrid where he scored 8 goals, and one season with AC Milan, scoring 7. With the new overhaul in the Rossoneri front taking place very quickly, Hunterlaar was deemed surplus to requirements, and will partner up with Raul at the Schalke front, joining the Bundesliga club, craving for their first Bundesliga title since 1958.
Rafael van der Vaart – From Real Madrid to Tottenham
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After two season with Real Madrid and finishing second to Barcelona, Van der Vaart brings along his super hot wife to London as Tottenham attempt to become a permanent fixture in the Premiership’s top four and maybe even more. The Dutchman had a good season with Real but a very disappointing World Cup campaign with the Netherlands, losing his place in the first team along the way, playing on the left wing where he is obviously very ineffective. Tottenham have plenty of talent in the attacking midfielder position, and it’ll be interesting to see how well Van der Vaart adapts to the Premiership and to Harry Redknapp’s wishes.