Transfer Deadline Day: 10 Deals That Should Have Happened This Summer

David Hendrick@@DaveHendrickTLWX.com LogoContributor IIIAugust 31, 2011

Transfer Deadline Day: 10 Deals That Should Have Happened This Summer

0 of 11

    As the transfer deadline day madness comes to an end, many teams will be patting themselves on the back for their dealings in the transfer market since June 1. Many teams will be happy with the players they bought; many others will be happy with the players they sold.

    There will also be teams that will regret some of the players they failed to sign, and others will regret keeping hold of players they really should have sold. With that in mind, I thought I'd take this opportunity to explores 10 deals that didn't come off, but really should have.

    I hope you enjoy the article.

Carlos Tevez to Corinthians/Inter Milan/Real Madrid

1 of 11

    Manchester City's Argentine striker Carlos Tevez ended last season not wanting to be in Manchester and then spent the entire summer trying to engineer a transfer away from Manchester, yet he begins the new season still in Manchester.

    Tevez's desire not to spend another season with the Citizens is apparently a result of his wife's dislike of England, a place he doesn't seem overly fond of himself if reports over the summer are to be believed.

    Over the summer, Tevez has been linked to Real Madrid and has also been the subject of numerous reported offers from Inter Milan, who are rumoured to have offered a swap deal including Dutch superstar Wesley Sneijder as late as last week before City filled their need for a creative midfielder by signing Samir Nasri from Arsenal.

    The closest Tevez appears to have come to leaving City was when they agreed a deal which would have seen him heading to Brazil for a second spell with Corinthians. The deal collapsed after Corinthians decided that the transfer fee and Tevez's desired salary would be too much of a financial burden on the club.

    One of the reasons for City's failure to sell Tevez has been the high transfer fee they are demanding, rumoured to be in the £35-40million range. While Tevez is arguably worth that in today's market, no club was willing to pay it, and City would have been better served loaning him out to a Spanish, Italian or South American club if it meant facilitating his wish not to remain in English football.

    Instead, they are now stuck with an unhappy player who does not want to play for their club, and although I have no doubts that he will give his all for the cause every time he takes the field, the off-field effect of having an unhappy player in the dressing room could spread onto the pitch and cause discontent. 

Luka Modric to Chelsea

2 of 11

    Luka Modric is Tottenham's best player. Forget Bale. Forget Van Der Vaart. Modric is the man who makes Spurs tick. A fantastic talent, Modric is arguably one of the five best players currently playing in the English Premier League. By all accounts, he is happy in England, and more specifically, happy to be playing his football in London.

    Unfortunately for Tottenham and their fans, he does not want to be at their specific London club. He wants to play for Chelsea, who are rumoured to have had multiple bids rejected for the Spurs playmaker.

    Modric asked not to play in Spurs opening game against Manchester United and was omitted from the line-up. He also asked to be left out of the team against Manchester City but was talked into playing by manager Harry Redknapp. When a player asks not to play for his club, it's generally a sign that he wants to leave, and Modric himself did state earlier in the summer that he desired a move to Chelsea. 

    Redknapp refused to accept any of that, declared that Modric would be staying and that his "head wasn't in the right place" to play at the moment, and that's why he was left out. The simple fact is that Modric wants to leave and, by forcing him to stay, Spurs will have a very unhappy player in their team. What's worse is it's their best player. They really should have sat down with Chelsea a month ago, agreed a fee, sold the player and gone out and bought some replacements.

Gary Cahill to Tottenham Hotspur

3 of 11

    Spurs need a top class central defender. Right now, Michael Dawson is their own reliable option at the heart of the defence because of Ledley King's horrible luck with injuries and Sebastian Bassong not being quite good enough. Gary Cahill is a top class defender and is deserving of a move to a big club.

    Unfortunately Spurs left it too late to enter negotiations for Cahill and had their only offer rejected by the Trotters. Cahill would have been the answer to Spurs' problems at the back, and they really have no one else to blame for this deal not going through.

    Bolton also need to question their own actions with regards to Cahill this summer. Liverpool and Arsenal both showed interest, but due to Bolton's ridiculous asking price of £18million, they went elsewhere. Liverpool signed Sebastian Coates from Nacional in Uruguay, whilst Arsenal have today completed the signing of Per Mertesacker from Werder Bremen.

    Bolton will now receive far smaller offers for Cahill in the next transfer window, and if they refuse to sell him at that time, he will walk away for free next summer when his contract ends. Bolton may believe that Cahill will sign a new deal, but they are fooling themselves. Cahill deserves to play for a top six club, and that's something Bolton will not become any time soon.

Guiseppe Rossi to Tottenham Hotspur

4 of 11

    According to an interview given by Guillem Balague on Sky Sports News today, Spurs also failed in a late bid for American-born Italian striker Rossi, who currently plies his trade in Spain with Villareal. This represents the second deadline day in a row that Spurs have failed with late bids for the former Manchester United hitman.

    It again begs the question as to why they continually leave these things so late. Spurs desperately need a goalscorer and Rossi, who has scored 79 goals in 181 games for his current club, would have given them just what they need.

    Are Harry Redknapp and Daniel Levy aware that you are allowed to bid for players on days other than deadline day?

Raul Meireles to Juventus

5 of 11

    From the beginning of the summer, there were rumours that Meireles would be a casualty of the revolution taking place at Liverpool. One deal that was rumoured was a part exchange offer from Juventus, which included Felipe Melo plus cash. Liverpool rejected that move on the grounds that they wanted cash only.

    Chelsea were linked with Meireles after their attempts to sign Modric were rebuffed, and Liverpool are believed to have turned down offers from both Chelsea and Tottenham in recent days and had announced earlier today that he was staying put. Incredibly, a deal was announced just after the transfer window closed, which sees Meireles go to Chelsea for a fee of £12million.

    Meireles, for his part, handed in a written transfer request at approximately 22:30 GMT  and forced through the move to Chelsea. Most surprising is that he already had contract terms agreed and seems to have signed without taking a medical which may suggest that Chelsea have broken several rules to sign a player they didn't really want to begin with.

    Liverpool should have sold him earlier in the summer and taken the deal that included Melo, who would have offered depth in the centre of midfield as well as competition for Lucas Leiva. Instead, they ended up with money they can't spend until January and are lacking a midfielder. Damien Comolli must accept a part of the blame, but Meireles' actions earn him the vast majority of it.

    As a Liverpool fan, I can only say that I hope he enjoys the Stamford Bridge bench because there's little chance of him getting a starting berth whilst Frank Lampard occupies his best position. Perhaps he should have taken a look at how the last two players to make that move have faired. As the saying goes, "Those who betray us will walk alone". 

Nedum Onouha to QPR

6 of 11

    Onouha spend last season on loan to Sunderland, and with Manchester City's wealth of options in defence, he is unlikely to feature for them this coming season. QPR were among a number of teams linked with the talented young defender who seemed anxious to secure another year away from his parent club so that he could continue his development and further his career.

    QPR have looked quite poor at the back this season, and a defender of Onouha's quality would have given them a big boost. While they have made a couple of signings to bolster their back-line, I don't believe any of them are of the same quality as the England U-21 international who can play at right-back or in the heart of the defence.

Hugo Rodellega to Liverpool

7 of 11

    Liverpool have been linked with a number of strikers throughout the transfer window and one of those whose name popped up regularly was Wigan's Colombian frontman, Hugo Rodellega. Wigan boss Roberto Martinez warned the Reds off making a bid for his star striker last week, but in truth, Martinez and his board really should have invited an offer. 

    Rodellega is a player deserving of a bigger stage than Wigan can offer and will leave them, either in January for roughly half of the £9 million fee that was being touted in this transfer window, or on a free transfer next summer when his current contract runs out. He has already turned down a number of new contract offers from Wigan and seems intent on leaving the club to display his talents at a bigger club.

    Wigan are in the same situation with Rodellega as Bolton are with Gary Cahill. They are stubbornly refusing to sell a player that they will simply not be able to hang on to in the long run, and they are denying that player the opportunity to further enhance his career. 

Juan Mata to Arsenal

8 of 11

    Arsenal agreed a fee for Mata with Valencia in late July and seemed to be on the verge of capturing the perfect player to replace want-away Samir Nasri, who had voiced his desire to move to Manchester City, a move which did eventually go through.

    Mata would have been a great signing for Arsenal, as they looked to rebuild their team with both Nasri and club captain Cesc Fabregas leaving for greener pastures. With Mikel Arteta now signed to replace Cesc, Arsenal could have built their new team around the two Spaniards as well as existing stars Robin Van Persie and Jack Wilshere.

    Instead, Arsene Wenger bungled the deal, allowed Mata to slip through his fingers and into the waiting arms of Chelsea, who have already seen their investment begin to reap dividends with a wonderful cameo appearance against Norwich on his debut. 

Papiss Demba Cisse to Newcastle

9 of 11

    Newcastle were rumoured to be close to signing the Freiburg striker earlier today before the deal fell apart, and he returned to Freiburg, who he has now agreed to stay with. Allegedly, the deal fell apart over the transfer fee. Newcastle had a £10million bid rejected for the Senegalese striker, and their second bid of roughly £11mill was also turned down, as Freiburg held out for £13million.

    When Newcastle refused to increase their offer the deal was called. What makes their refusal to make a bigger offer even stranger is that they then bid £12million for FC Twente striker Bryan Ruiz who turned them down in favour of a move to Fulham.

    You can't help but wonder what goes on behind closed doors at Newcastle. They have needed a striker to replace Andy Carroll since January, Alan Pardew was publicly promised the £35million Liverpool spent on Carroll to spend this summer, and yet, they refused to up their bid by £2million for a proven goal scorer and then made a higher offer for a lesser player than what they were willing to pay for their initial target.

    Newcastle fans have yet more reason to be annoyed at Mike Ashley, and it's such a shame because Papiss Demba Cisse combining with his friend and international team-mate Demba Ba would have been an exciting prospect for the Toon faithful.

Scott Dann to Stoke

10 of 11

    Stoke pursued Dann for a number of weeks and were rumoured to have agreed a fee for the Birmingham defender in mid July. The deal made a lot of sense for all parties. Birmingham were going to sell a player that they knew they could not hang on to at a massive profit, Dann would go to a solid club building a good team with a European campaign ahead of them and Stoke were getting a proven Premier League defender who could slot right in alongside Ryan Shawcross at centre back.

    The deal fell apart over Dann's wage demands, which Stoke were unwilling to meet, and Dann spent several weeks in limbo as his name was linked to Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea. While a move to any of those clubs would have been great for him, it's questionable whether he would have started for any of them as he would have at Stoke. 

    In the end, none of those clubs moved for Dann, who has instead moved to Blackburn. It's a fantastic signing for Blackburn, who filled the void left by Phil Jones, who departed for Manchester United earlier this summer, and Birmingham got a good fee for the player, so they will also be happy about the deal.

    I think it's a poor move for Dann personally, as he is walking right into another relegation battle rather than into a top half team with European football, as he would have done had he joined Stoke. I also feel that while Jonathon Woodgate and Matthew Upson are decent signings for Stoke, neither of them are as good as Dann at this point in their careers. The two parties really should have found a way to make the deal happen.

In Closing

11 of 11

    Those are the top 10 transfers that I believe should have happened this summer but which failed to materialize or be finalized. In my opinion, most of the parties involved would have been far better off had these deals been successful.

    Obviously, I have missed a few, so I invite you to leave comments with transfers that should have happened over the transfer window.

    Oh, and I specifically left Wesley Sneijder to Manchester United off because that was a non-starter from the beginning.

    Thanks for reading.

X