Although Wigan may well be a million miles away from reaching the promised land of the Premier League any time in the near future, it really has been a pleasure this season to see some of the finest footballers on the planet competing in our country.
Spain, quite rightly, gets the plaudits for showcasing the majority of the world’s best talent in La Liga, but we are’nt far behind the Spanish league when it comes to quality on offer.
Here are five players which have enhanced the Premier League following the summer transfer window:-
Alexis Sanchez – Arguably the best signing of the summer transfer window from any Premier League club. Without the Chilean’s goals, the Gunners would be in big trouble this season and even further away from the top four.
Sanchez had an excellent World Cup and bizarrely Barcelona were happy to let him go. Arsenal could not get in quick enough and were desperate to get the player to sign on the dotted line. He may have cost £35 million, but I am sure Arsenal fans will agree, that is money well spent.
Arsene Wenger would love to sign another Sanchez in the January transfer window, however, his odds on finding one don’t look very good.
Angel Di Maria – Manchester United fans have probably not seen the best of Di Maria just yet as he has been unlucky with injuries since joining from Real Madrid. However, there is no doubting the fact that the Argentinian is one of the best players on the planet and would certainly be welcome at Wigan any day of the week.
It is beyond belief that Real would let go of a player with Di Maria’s ability, but for whatever reason that may be, Madrid’s loss is United’s gain.
Di Maria has everything you look for in a winger/attacking midfielder. He is quick, full of trickery and will chip in with his fair share of goals over the course of the season.
United are still a long way off challenging for the Premier League title again, according to Betfair’s odds, however, if they continue signing players of Di Maria’s ability, they’ll soon be back in the hunt.
Diego Costa – Only Cristiano Ronaldo scored more goals that Diego Costa in Spain last season so it was some coup for Chelsea to sign the former Atletico Madrid striker in the summer.
The major piece of the jigsaw that Jose Mourinho was missing last season in order to win the title, was a proven goalscorer. Fernando Torres could not hit a barn door with a banjo, whilst Demba Ba could only take advantage of slip ups, meaning the Blues lacked goals up front.
Mourinho went out and rectified that problem with the capture of Costa, who had caused the west London club all kinds of problems in their Champions League semi-final encounter back in April.
Costa has proven he is not a one trick pony with goals in England, to add to his impressive record in Spain.
Cesc Fabregas – This was a controversial signing as the obvious destination for the Spanish international looked to be for a return back to Arsenal. The Gunners, however, refused the transfer thus allowing Chelsea to come in for the Barcelona man.
Some Chelsea fans didn’t want Fabgregas due to his previous ties with Arsenal, however, I am sure some those concerns have been quickly thrown out of the window as Cesc has been breath-taking since his return to the Premier League.
No player has assisted as many goals as Fabregas in the Premier League this season and if the Chelsea midfielder continues at the rate he is going, he will break the record for the league at the end of the campaign.
Graziano Pelle – Southampton fans probably had a chuckle to themselves when it was announced that the Saints were signing Pelle. Thoughts of the legendary Brazilian probably came to mind and the usual jokes along the lines of ‘can he still do it?’ were brandished about.
The Italian, bought from Feyenoord, has quickly established himself as a fans’ favourite at St Marys. The 29-year old has scored 11 Premier League goals and is one of the reasons why Southampton are flying high in the top four of the table with over half of the season gone.
Pelle cost just £8 million, which in today’s market for a goalscorer, is superb value, especially when you consider the club picked up over £100 in transfer fees for some of their players in the summer.
The target for Pelle will now be 20 Premier League goals this season, which may be enough to help the Saints qualify for the Champions League. The danger for Ronald Koeman may be keeping hold of his star asset in this January transfer window or in the summer, as some of the bigger clubs in the league – least yet Europe – will no doubt be keeping an eye on the Italian.