EPL Black Holes

It is said in life that it is better to not buy something you might need then buy something you definitely don't need and overpay for it. This works in buying a business, a sweater, or even just a piece of food, because if you don't buy it you can (usually) just buy it at a later time. But if you do buy it and overpay for it, you (usually) are stuck with something you don't want and are unsure on what to do with this overpriced something.

This happens in sports all of the time and is one of the main themes of what separates a management team run successfully, and one that is run poorly. Unless you are the Yankees and Man City's of the world, vastly overpaying for a single player can ruin a team financially and make it extremely difficult for a team to be successful in the years directly after signing the idiotic contract. In American sports, think of the Dodgers after signing Dreifort, the Wizards with Arenas, Redskins with Haynesworth, the Devils with Kovalchuk now, and the Knicks with basically everyone Isaah signed. These buys put the teams in a black hole that can take years to overcome.

I bring this all up because of what happened recently with all the top teams in the EPL and how its directly affected this past Jan transfer window. The past month has seen rumors fly and go of huge multimillion dollar buys, Tevez in particular, but ended with an unknown Senegalese forward being bought by EPL's new stingiest management as the biggest buy of the transfer window at a cool 9 million quid. (yes guys I had to put a Newcastle comment in there) Even just recently as a year ago, a buy of that scale wasn't big enough to be a top story in the English back papers (kidding slightly), but o how the world changes when you purchase a black hole. Of most importance, it is what the team does after the buy that is worth talking about. Let's take a look at the top 7 teams in the EPL and how it has affected them.

Newcastle- After purchasing an already on the decline Michael Owen for over 18 mil (rather then a future superstar 16 year old Rooney for the same price), Newcastle took in a player that got injured so frequently that even if he still had the speed from his Liverpool prime, he still would have been one of the worst buys in EPL history. The good news for fellow Newcastle supporters is that compared to the rest of the list, this signing occurred less recently and the new Newcastle management team spends their money much wiser.

Tottenham- Pavlenchenko and Defoe have not been as bad of a signing as the others on this list, but put together, they are around the same field. I do not rate either of them as more then a mid table starter, but on a team with title aspirations such as the Spurs, with superstars around them such as Bale and Modric, they are simply not good enough. Redknapp, with his high acumen in transfer dealings, feels the same and was basically begging other teams to take these players in the last month just so he can bring in a poorly out of form Saha. (I would put Crouch in the same boat but Stoke were dumb enough to buy him for around 10 mil)

Liverpool- A player with essentially a good half a year in the top league is worth 35 mil? Yes Andy Carroll is young, English, and looked unstoppable for a decent Newcastle team, but 30 or more mil should only be spent on the superstars of the world, not for a great player whose max potential is star status. I do think Carroll will come good in the somewhat near future, and Dagleish needs to keep playing him to build his confidence, but that will most-likely come at the price of missing the top 4 this year and at about 15 mil more then what he was ever worth. (Downing should be here but 35 mil is much worse then 19)

Arsenal- Due to Wenger's stinginess, unlike the other top teams who have bought a black hole, Arsenal has created their black hole by losing 2 of its 3 superstars and replacing them with players not of the same quality. By losing Fabregas and Nasri so late in last summer's transfer window, Wenger got desperate and everyone knew it. Thus, he payed over 26 mil on Santos, Arteta, and Mertesacker when their real combined value is around half that. Because none of them cost over 10 mil, none of them are true black holes, but they are not of title EPL quality, and its being shown this year.

Chelsea- When star players get sold from within the same league, the buying team almost always overpays, because the seller never wants to give away one of its best players to one of its rivals. Add in a desperate, billionaire owner who always gets what he wants, no matter the price, and you got all of the ingredients of a black hole buy. The perfect example of this is when Abramovich payed 50 mil for a hamstring issues, don't even want to be in this country, Torres. While, at the time of the buy, I still believe the Schevenko signing was even worse because he was already past his prime and Torres was supposedly hitting his. But now, either way you look at it, they may end up as the 2 worst signings in EPL history. I do believe, though, that Torres still has some left in him, and once he gets his scoring confidence back, he will be a force to deal with.

Man U- Besides Buffon, goalies don't get bought for huge amounts of money. That's just how its always been. Ferguson bucked the trend recently when paying almost 18 mil for 20 year old Spanish star, Da Gea. Da Gea has showed his young age and inexperience this year in the big games. However, the biggest concern for Man U fans has been that for a keeper known to be a spectacular shot blocker, his shot blocking has been particularly poor. And poor does not cut it at Old Trafford so Ferguson has essentially given the starting job to Lindegard. The good thing about Da Gea, even more so then Carroll, is that he is so young so there is a lot of time for him to come through and justify his high price tag. But will Ferguson jeopardize the title this year for a better chance of long term success? We shall see.

Man City- After another horrific game yesterday in their loss to Everton, I am not sure how much longer Mancini will keep playing Dkeko. Even earlier in the season when he was on form (besides one of his hat trick games where he played out of his mind), Dkeko did not look like much more then a solid hold up striker who can score with his head. His touch, movement, and skills on the ball are average, and on a squad surrounding him with the best players in the world, average is not even close to good enough. For a price of around 30 mil, I see Mancini cutting his losses and selling him in the summer for half that and using that money plus the Tevez money to buy a young superstar striker. Since Neymar seems better suited for the Spanish League, I have no idea who Mancini will buy in the summer, but I do know he will buy someone young, good, and expensive. Man City has so much money though, that even with a signing such as Dkeko, they still should have enough leftover to take the title.