Daily Archives: August 29, 2012

Javi Martinez signs for Bayern Munich: Is he worth the German transfer record?

  By O-Posts Team | August 29, 2012 - 19:27 | , , ,
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Javi Martinez

Javi Martinez has moved to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich on a 5-year contract today.

The central mid-fielder was praised as one of the two most important stars of the Athletic Bilbao team that qualified for the Spanish Copa Del Rey and Europa League finals, but will spend his next 5 seasons chasing “bigger” titles in the Alianz Arena.

 

Position:

He mainly plays as a central mid-fielder where he controls the flow of the game by making good, solid passes. He was also used as a central defender multiple times and was very effective in that role. It will be interesting to see where Jupp Heynckes will install him in the Bayern line-up.

With Schweinsteiger already in the central mid-field Martinez may have been confined to the bench had he just been a mid-fielder. Luckily he can play in two places, which means that he can fill in, in both places when needed.

 

Game style:

Javi Martinez plays a very controlled and calm match. He works well under pressure and you will rarely catch him making a mistake. He does not score a lot of goals (22 for Bilbao in over 200 matches), but that is still a high number for a player playing mostly in defensive positions.

His passes is what makes him unique and what made the Athletic Bilbao mid-field tick last season and with Bayern he will definitely keep the ball rolling.

He plays very consistently, but rarely really sticks out in a crowd. Which brings up another question…

 

Is he worth the German transfer record?

With a reported 40 million euro fee agreed upon, Javi Martinez will have broken the Bundesliga transfer record and became one of the most expensive mid-fielders in history.

He was arguably Bilbao’s best player last season, that Bilbao side won no titles, but surrounded by the world-class players might just be what he needs to become the best mid-fielder in the world.

He certainly has the potential, but with all of the current amazing play-makers it might be a while before he gets an assured place in the Spanish National team and a spot amongst the worlds elite.

He might not be worth 40 million to most people right now, but in a couple of seasons 40 million might look like a steal.

 

Written by Deon Beauzec

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Another piece of the Tottenham jigsaw – Moussa Dembele

  By O-Posts Team | August 29, 2012 - 17:05 | , , ,
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Moussa Dembele sporting Tottenham's jersey

As there are just two days left of the transfer window, Daniel Levy is finally making his moves. Tottenham fans are used to this. The Media are used to this. Other chairmen are becoming used to it. It’s as if he sets himself a challenge of trying to do as many deals as possible in the shortest possible time.

There is a logic to his mad genius, however, and this time he has managed to sign Fulham’s Moussa Dembele for half the price that Real Madrid paid for Luka Modric. And more surprisingly was it only seemingly took little under 24 hours.

Of course, there are differences between the two but signing a Modric replacement, a quality Modric replacement at that, for half the price is great business by the Spurs chairman. With money left over to strengthen in other areas expect, as usual, Tottenham’s transfer dealings to come down to the last 10 minutes of the window. Maybe even beyond that if the fax machine is playing up again!

So, what exactly will Moussa Dembele bring to Tottenham?

It was quite apparent in Tottenham’s opening two games that they missed Luka Modric’s craft and intelligence. Modric’s ability to bring the ball out from deep and open up the field was integral to the way Tottenham played. Dembele is similar. He lacks the passing ability and vision of Modric but excels in retaining possession, dribbling out from deep and using the ball intelligently.

Dembele has been Fulham’s creative heartbeat this season. Running the show in their 5-0 demolition of Norwich and earning rave reviews for his display against Man United. Alan Hansen on Match of the Day described him as being, “head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch.”

He was quite frankly, brilliant. His awareness and positioning against them make it hard to believe that he is, infact, a striker converted to the midfield role. His ball retention was excellent, misplacing few passes, and he had more successful dribbles than the United team put together.

His stats last season showed him as one of the most accurate passers in the Premier League with an accuracy rating of over 88%. More than the Croatian maestro, Luka Modric.

One thing he does give Tottenham which Luka Modric didn’t, however, is a lot more defensively. He was the best midfield tackler last season, in both success rate and tackles attempted which highlights his defensive qualities, and his sheer strength is a massive bonus. A midfield of Dembele next to Sandro will be quite a formidable pairing.

The departure of Luka Modric left a gaping hole in the creative force of Tottenham which Moussa Dembele will be hoping to fill. He doesn’t bring the vision or passing ability of the Croatian but is blessed with outstandingly quick feet, positional awareness and a far greater ability to defend. He will be able to intelligently dictate play and keep it ticking over in much the same way the Croatian did.

With a must win home game against Norwich on Saturday, Tottenham fans will hope that Dembele will be able to have some sort of impact and help guide them to three points. They’ll also hope that the window finishes with a bang and the squad is adequately strengthened. Though, if this is anything to go by, it’s looking extremely likely to be an exciting end of window.

Selling Modric for £32 million and signing a quality replacement for £15 million?

Great piece of business.

 

Written by William Hold

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Zenit Set To Sign Hulk For €50 million- Money well spent?

  By O-Posts Team | August 29, 2012 - 16:05 | , , , , ,
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Hulk

€50 million appears too much for Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, to part with as Chelsea are set to miss out on ‘The Incredible’ Hulk. He looks set to move to the current Russian champions, Zenit St Petersburg. But is this a coup for Zenit or a near-miss for Chelsea?

Hulk rarely settled as a young player as he moved from Vilanovense to Sao Paulo to Vitória. He made his professional debut for the latter, but that was his only appearance for the Bahia club (not to be confused with Esporte Clube Bahia – Vitória’s fiercest rivals). Other players who came through the youth set up at Vitória include Chelsea’s David Luiz, Dida and baby cradler Bebeto.

After Vitória, Hulk moved to Japan and signed for Kawasaki Frontale – first on loan, then permanently at the age of just 19. He was loaned out to Consadole Sapporo where he scored 25 in 38 and then a year later to Tokyo Verdy where he scored 37 in 42. Now, the ideal strike rate for any striker is 1 goal every 2 games. Essentially, Hulk almost had a goal every time he stepped onto the pitch at Tokyo Verde, although he is no Fernando Peyroteo or Josef Bican (Google them).

So, when he finally rocked up at Porto at 22, Hulk was already at his seventh different club. Porto paid €5.5 million for 50% of the player’s rights. They currently own 85% which is the main reason for the over-inflated transfer tag. If Hulk is sold to Zenit for €50 million, Porto will receive €42.5 million while the other €7.5 million will go to an unnamed investor.

At Porto, the Brazilian managed 77 goals in 168 appearances all competitions as well as 55 assists. His best season came in 2010-11 where he managed 36 goals and 21 assists in 53 games.

At international level, he has 5 in 13 for the full Brazil side and managed to score in the Olympic Final against Mexico for the Olympic side. Despite this, he is very much unfancied by a large section of football fans in Brazil as they prefer to see the more skilful Lucas Moura or Oscar ahead of the more brutish character of Hulk on the right side with Neymar on the left and Leandro Damiao in the central forward position.

Iit’s clear to me that this is a massive coup for Zenit. Hulk is a world class forward. The only sticking point is the price. But, to move around as often as he did at such a young age meant Hulk had to mature quickly.

If he can replicate his 2010-11 form, Zenit will take some beating in both the Russian Premier League and the Champions League.

 

Written by Youcef El Barhdadi

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Manchester City: Selling Savic is just Nastastic business by City

  By O-Posts Team | August 29, 2012 - 14:42 | , , , , ,
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Matija Nastasic

 

There were moments during January when, as a Manchester City fan, I winced when looking at City’s starting eleven.

Given that Vincent Kompany had recently received a four-match suspension, and that Kolo Toure was absent due to his participation in the African Cup of Nations, Roberto Mancini was left with two options, play Stefan Savic next to Lescott or put Micah Richards in there, and stick Pablo Zabaleta at right-back. He sided with the former, even though Savic had looked shaky in his one previous Premier League start, away to QPR.

In his first game of this horrible period, Savic conceded a penalty against Liverpool after a rash challenge on Daniel Agger, then in his second, he misjudged a header which allowed Jermain Defoe to round Joe Hart and score. He even looked like a nervous wreck two games later in the return leg of a League Cup game against when he had a centre-back either side of him in a five-man defence.

Always a solid game away from being a very good, confident centre-half, but an embarrassing mistake away from being as good as Andy Morrison. It was clear that City needed defensive cover, and that Savic just wasn’t ever going to cut it in England.

 

The solution?

So, if Mancini learned anything from this period, it’s that City needed to be rid of Savic, and more defensive cover was needed.

A swap deal that comprises Stefan Savic and £9.5M in exchange for Matija Nastasic of Fiorentina is now being reported in Italy.

Nastasic is only nineteen years-old but has already played twenty-six times in Serie A for La Viola and impressed hugely. He’s a young, hungry centre-half with a knack for pulling off thirty, forty yard passes- the elegant, ball-playing defender that Mancini has longed for.

On the other hand, he has a nasty streak in him, the like of which that have gained Martin Skrtel and Nemanja Vidic so many admirers.

However, what is perhaps most impressive about Nastasic is that, despite his tender age, he has the tactical nous of a seasoned general, I doubt many anticipated his ability to read the game when he first made the step up.

The fact that he already has two caps for the Serbian national team is testament to this. In fact, many ‘experts’ expect Nastasic to overtake one of Ivanovic or Subotic in the team over the next year.

Sure, Nastasic probably won’t be more than third/fourth choice centre back and he will need time to adapt, and I still expect City to dip into the market for a Javi Martinez/Javi Garcia type player that can play both in midfield and defence, but it’s still an excellent piece of business by City nonetheless.

One for the future without any doubt, and if City are lucky, he’s one for the present.

As for Savic, I genuinely expect him to succeed in Serie A, if he can have more of those ‘solid games’. Some of his main qualities are on the ball, carrying the ball out from the back and passing it, and in Italy he will be allowed the time and space to do this that he so critically isn’t afforded by forwards in England.

As is the same with many other players, he simply won’t ever adjust to the pace and intensity of the league.

Good luck to him, I’ll try and remember him for having a Premier League winners medal rather than being a recipe for disaster in the English game.

 

Written by Josef O’Brien

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