When managers ask their respective chairmen for the money to recruit, it is sometimes in more hope than expectation. On other occasions, however, it can be a triumph of judgment and planning. These, then, are the signings of the times...
William Gallas
With his fondness for a soundbite, Harry Redknapp introduced the latest addition to his defence by insisting he had not signed the Yorkshire Ripper. Because of his performances, the controversy of recruiting William Gallas died down to such an extent that there was little outcry when the former Arsenal captain and ex-Chelsea defender skippered Spurs. A centre-back signed on a free transfer helped Tottenham keep two clean sheets against AC Milan, formed a fine partnership with Michael Dawson and merited the extended contract he has since signed. Gallas may have only joined because of a defensive injury crisis, but short-term fixes are rarely as successful.Daniel Sturridge
In retrospect, it seems a no-brainer, a signing that at least half-a-dozen other sides should have attempted to make. But the borrowing of Daniel Sturridge, just like Jack Wilshere's loan move to the Reebok Stadium 12 months earlier, is a move which has exceeded expectations for Bolton. Besides proving a more prolific foil to Kevin Davies, the Chelsea striker's return of seven goals in nine league games has kept Owen Coyle's side on course for a top-eight finish and indicated that Sturridge could yet have a major part to play at Stamford Bridge.Luis Suarez
Just pipping another exuberant South American, Chelsea's David Luiz, to the title of the best January buy, Luis Suarez has had an influence that goes far beyond a comparatively meagre total of three goals. In part, that is the consequence of his scintillating performance against Manchester United; in part, it is because he has given the Kop a new hero after Fernando Torres' exit. With his speed and sharp skills, Suarez has become the poster boy for the new regime at Anfield, a reason to be optimistic after 18 awful months.Ben Foster
Some players prosper out of the limelight, which can be a problem for those who have been earmarked as a future first-choice for Manchester United and England. Joining Birmingham City seems to have suited Ben Foster. No goalkeeper has made more saves in the Premier League this season and, assuming the Blues beat the drop, his excellence will be a prime reason. And Foster's performance in November's win against Chelsea may go down as the goalkeeping performance of the season.Ali Al-Habsi
Loan signings have an increasing importance but if many are the results of the sizeable squads the biggest clubs boast, Ali Al-Habsi is an exception. Borrowed from Bolton, where it was his fortune to understudy the ever-excellent Jussi Jaaskelainen, the Omani has been a revelation for Wigan. There has been a solitary error, at Manchester City, in a season of consistency, with Saturday's penalty save from Everton's Mikel Arteta one of many highlights. Should Wigan go down on goal difference, they ought to lament the decision to leave Al-Habsi on the bench for their first two games, when Chris Kirkland conceded 10 times.DJ Campbell
Wherever Blackpool's destiny lies, their improbable bid to stay up has been boosted immeasurably by Ian Holloway's transfer dealings. Men such as Marlon Harewood and Luke Varney had an immediate impact, but DJ Campbell has been a rarity by sustaining it over the whole season. His high-energy approach has worried many a defender and his total of 11 league goals puts him ahead of, to name but a few, Wayne Rooney, Fernando Torres, Frank Lampard, Nicolas Anelka, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe. It's not bad for £1.25 million (and scandalous to think that Blackpool's opening bid was just £100,000).Cheik Tiote
Signed for £3.5 million, now worth many times as much, Cheik Tiote threatens to be the most profitable player Newcastle have had since, well, Andy Carroll. A midfield enforcer with the stamina to roam from box to box and the ability to play for a top-six side, Tiote provided one of the moments of the season with his spectacular long-range equaliser against Arsenal, capping Newcastle's comeback from 4-0 down. Besides a disciplinary record that includes 13 cautions, the only criticism on Tyneside might be that Tiote has done too well: he may not be at St James' Park for much longer.Rafael van der Vaart
Liberated from the bench at the Bernabeu, Rafael van der Vaart and Tottenham can seem the ideal match: a flair player who needed to be appreciated and a club with a craving for finesse and excitement. The Dutchman has provided it in abundance, along with plenty of goals. Despite a tougher 2011, Van der Vaart is still almost averaging one every other league game and a fondness for inspiring comebacks against Arsenal is a shortcut to hero status at White Hart Lane. Spurs' only concern is that since he arrived, their strikers have stopped scoring.Peter Odemwingie
The recent rumours are that Juventus are interested in Peter Odemwingie. Not too many players have traded West Bromwich Albion for the Bianconeri, but that is an indication of Odemwingie's impact at the Hawthorns. After a debut winner against Sunderland, 24 hours after training with his new team-mates for the first time, the Nigerian has continued to prosper. No Albion striker had managed more than 11 goals in any previous Premier League season, but he already has 14, 13 of them in matches that have produced a total of 25 points for the Baggies. This is already their most successful top-flight season in recent years and Odemwingie, bought for just £1.5 million, has a case to be deemed their greatest Premier League recruit.Javier Hernandez
Whenever Sir Alex Ferguson next suggests there is no value in the transfer market, a short but pertinent response is available: Javier Hernandez. The £6 million Mexican has had a thrilling impact in his first season in England, displacing the Premier League's top scorer, Dimitar Berbatov, in the team, reinvigorating Wayne Rooney and scoring 19 goals with displays of exemplary finishing. His predatory instinct and raw pace make him probably Ferguson's best buy since Nemanja Vidic and, with his habit of scoring late goals and striking on the big occasion, he already seems a quintessential Manchester United player.
Best and worst buys of the season 10-11
Whenever footballers, managers or supporters suggest their club needs new players, it is tempting to point out that recruitment can make things worse, not better. As ESPNsoccernet's worst 10 signings of the season show...
Tal Ben-Haim
Since excelling at Bolton, Tal Ben-Haim has managed the sort of sequence of underachievement that might be some kind of record. He has passed through five Premier League clubs without impressing at any. West Ham clearly ignored his immediate past when they borrowed the defender from Portsmouth in August. What they got was a plummet to the foot of the Premier League, not helped by Ben-Haim's form: his first five league games produced just two points, while his last was a 5-0 hammering at Newcastle.Sebastien Squillaci
When Arsene Wenger discarded his usual strategy by paying a sizeable sum (around £6 million) for a 30-year-old, the question was if the Arsenal manager had ignored his youth policy for a good reason. Eight months later, the answer appears not: Squillaci, unlike most Arsenal recruits, has a lower resale value. But, more pertinently, he has not performed on the pitch. The centre-back appears especially incompatible with his fellow Frenchman Laurent Koscielny - the Gunners' first five Premier League defeats occurred when they were paired - and when Thomas Vermaelen is eventually fit, will probably rank as the fourth-choice central defender.Alexander Hleb
"Here you just need to fight, run, not too much passing," Alexander Hleb said. "This, for me, is something new." As Birmingham have rarely been confused with Barcelona, what did he expect? And as Hleb appears the antithesis of no-frills workaholics like Craig Gardner and Lee Bowyer, what did the club imagine he would do? From the start, Birmingham and Hleb were a marriage of convenience that was doomed to end in divorce: he needed a club, they a flair player after Charles N'Zogbia's wage demands ended a bid to bring him south from Wigan. It is unsurprising that he rarely starts for Alex McLeish's side and, in its own way, just as predictable that Birmingham's battling qualities, rather than Hleb's skill, will keep them up.James Milner
A staple diet of unofficial awards is the choice of the most improved player. Last year, it may well have been James Milner. This season, however, Milner appears the prime contender for whatever the opposite is: the player who has regressed most, perhaps. Factor in a £26 million fee in an almost uniquely unsuccessful swap (Stephen Ireland, who went to Aston Villa in the same deal, was another contender for this list) and a player who was supposed to have cemented his arrival at the division's top table instead seems to have made one of the misguided moves of the year. No longer in the Manchester City team, he has only played well on a handful of occasions, and one of those was his valedictory appearance for Villa.Roque Santa Cruz
Blackburn's January quest for a galactico earned ridicule aplenty, and rightly so. When David Beckham, Ronaldinho and Juan Roman Riquelme took the utterly unexpected decisions that an offer from Ewood Park was one they definitely could refuse, the returning Roque Santa Cruz became the biggest name to arrive in East Lancashire. But fame isn't everything and Rovers' bizarre attempts at recruitment are backfiring. Santa Cruz is yet to score since returning to the club who somehow pocketed £18 million when selling him to Manchester City; apart from one header that hit the bar, he has rarely looked like finding the net. Predictably, he has seldom appeared fit and his struggles are one cause of Blackburn's descent down the table.Mauro Boselli
Wigan's low profile can be a benefit. At most of their rivals, rather more questions would be asked about the failure of the club record signing to muster a solitary league goal. Instead, Mauro Boselli disappeared on loan to Genoa without too many noticing. Yet should Wigan's six-year spell in the Premier League come to an end, the £6 million man's drought - incorporating a crucial missed penalty in a potentially decisive defeat at West Ham - will be the major cause, especially in a squad that lacks scoring strikers.Christian Poulsen
In a department of the Liverpool team where the recent alumni include Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and Dietmar Hamann while Steven Gerrard and Raul Meireles are among the current competition, the standards are high. To say Christian Poulsen fell short is an understatement. Anfield has seen few less positive passers than the Dane and, while his long association with Roy Hodgson was one explanation of his unpopularity, Poulsen's performances were another. His first season on Merseyside seems certain to end with youngster Jay Spearing ahead of him in the queue for the central midfield places.Paul Konchesky
Liverpool's summer business was so poor that they could fill much of this list. In the end, unimpressive as they have been, there was no room for Joe Cole or Milan Jovanovic. So there was stiff competition for the title of the worst signing at Anfield, but Paul Konchesky is a deserving winner. Quite how, having worked with Konchesky for two-and-a-half seasons at Fulham, Roy Hodgson deemed him a Liverpool player is a mystery, but the left-back's mistakes were a constant: defeats at Stoke and Tottenham can be attributed to his errors. Tellingly, Liverpool have looked far more secure with anyone else on the left of the defence.Bebe
The strangest signing of the season, Bebe continues to astonish. Not in the right ways, however: utterly dismal displays in the Carling Cup defeat at West Ham and the FA Cup win over Crawley provoke a sense of surprise that anyone could deem him a Manchester United player. Sir Alex Ferguson, famously, had not seen the Portuguese winger before buying him but he paid more for Bebe than he did for Javier Hernandez. Barring a remarkable improvement in the remainder of his United career, the callow forward may go down as one of Ferguson's worst signings.Fernando Torres
The long wait was ended 14 games and 732 minutes into his Chelsea career when the most expensive player in the history of English football finally scored. Yet the verdict on the £50 million man this season may be that his signing cost Chelsea their chance of winning the Premier League and the Champions League; it might inadvertently result in Carlo Ancelotti's departure. Because, while Chelsea have generally fared better with Torres on the bench, his move appears to have revitalised Liverpool and caused his new club no end of problems.
Both lists just about right. Hard to argue with that. Funny early season everyone is saying Koscielny and Chamakh will be the buys of the season... (and also Squid after Sunderland 
)
Squillaci doesn't deserve to be on the bottom list but Dzeko sure does. Also, if Suarez can be included in the top ten then so can David Luiz. Would put Bent in there too.
Demba ba has the potential to be signing of the season
Koscielny was a worse signing than Squillaci, though he's not a worse player.
Haven't seen much to indicate Carroll will be worth anywhere near the £35m fee. Torres Chelsea at least knew could be lethal - it'll be interesting to see whether Chelsea can get any value out of him from here.
- Alexander Hleb
"Here you just need to fight, run, not too much passing," Alexander Hleb said. "This, for me, is something new."
Thats why you're a sack of crap.
Someting quite satisfying in him ending up a Birmingham reserve.
Lumping Torres in seems a bit harsh. Surely he can only be judged for a whole season, not half of one where hes learning how to play with a new team.
Torres could still hypothetically have a blockbuster season next year, especially if Ancelotti gets chucked.
If you spend £50m I think it's fair enough to expect some sort of immediate return.
If you spend £50m on the right player(s) - but maybe not Torres, especially if you're going to give him lukewarm backing and a fairly major role change relative to Liverpool as Ancelotti has done.
Don't think I was alone in considering £50m to be stupid money for Torres ...
Biggus wrote:
- Alexander Hleb
"Here you just need to fight, run, not too much passing," Alexander Hleb said. "This, for me, is something new."Thats why you're a sack of crap.
Doesn't even dribble anymore. He's just a McNoscore nowadays.
BW; As things stand, the Torres signing is probably more of an indictment on Chelsea than it is Torres, agreed. Doesn't change the fact that, imo, it's still the worst transfer of the season.
torres has in a way had the opposite affect that asprilla had to newcastle's title run in the year they signed him
I'd have Yaya in that top 10, think he's been great this season.
invisibleman18 wrote:Someting quite satisfying in him ending up a Birmingham reserve.
Klaus wrote:Biggus wrote:Thats why you're a sack of crap.
Doesn't even dribble anymore. He's just a McNoscore nowadays.
'Happy are those who remain at Highbury'
Jane Austen
Klaus wrote:Doesn't even dribble anymore. He's just a McNoscore nowadays.
McNotpicked you mean 
qs! wrote:I'd have Yaya in that top 10, think he's been great this season.
Not for that amount of cash though. Anyway, is there a better B2B midfielder than him in europe? Surely he must be the best around eh
Well Suarez wasn't cheap either and Yaya has had a bigger impact than him IMO. Great player to watch that Suarez though. I'll give Kenny one thing, he's made Liverpool much more fun to watch.