We know who the big deals of the day were – Mesut Ozil to Arsenal and Gareth Bale shattering the world record transfer fee in completing his move to Real Madrid, but here are five pieces of business that I was impressed with and a statistic to follow each.
1) Stephane Sessegnon to West Brom.
Paolo Di Canio is mad to let the little playmaker leave, in my opinion, but the Baggies have got themselves a cracking little player. Things aren’t flowing in the forward berths up at the Hawthorns just now and they’re still looking for their first goal, and Sessegnon will provide a bit of spark for the strikers, which rolls nicely to my next selection.
Sessegnon claimed three assists and completed 37 key passes, surpassed only by Adam Johnson in the Black Cats ranks.
2) Victor Anichebe to West Brom
The 25-year-old’s bullish approach to the game is similar to Romelu Lukaku’s in the sense that he enjoys using his muscular frame to tear defenders out of position and create space for those playing just off him. I doubt he’ll hit the 17 goals that Lukaku did, but it provides another option for Steve Clarke.
The Nigerian scored six goals and claimed four assists in his 26 appearances last season, although he only played seven full games.
3) Romelu Lukaku to Everton
Going back to Lukaku, the Belgium international has signed a loan deal at Everton have signed until the end of the season, along with Manchester City’s Gareth Barry. He will certainly score goals up in Merseyside, and I for one am glad he won’t be sat on the bench at Chelsea.
Lukaku scored 17 Premier League goals last season – seven with his left foot, five with his right, four headed and one with another part of his body.
4) Niko Kranjcar to Queens Park Rangers
Harry Redknapp was at it again yesterday, hanging out of the window of his 4×4 and signing players up until the last minute. One of his purchases was Niko Kranjcar, who he had previously worked with at Spurs and Portsmouth. A creative outlet, the Croatian is bound to be a hit in the Championship, and defenders in the second division will have to be tactically astute when they come up against him.
Kranjcar played 83 league games for Portsmouth between 2006-2009 and 72 for Spurs between 2009-2012, scoring nine and 11 respectively.
5) Marouane Fellaini to Manchester United
Finally, Manchester united fans can quit their moaning about signing a midfield player! The fuzzy-haired Belgian will plug the gap and add a certain balance to the side, something which was evidently lacking in the game against Liverpool.
Fellaini had a shot accuracy of 60% last season – 39 shots on target and 26 off.
All statistics provided by Squawka.