It was a very busy weekend for transfers in the sport of soccer. Many of the top clubs throughout Europe made moves as some of the game’s biggest international stars packed their bags over the weekend. With the Monday night deadline for transfers to be completed looming, we thought we’d bring you up to speed on the biggest names and players that moved over the busy Labor Day Weekend.
On Friday, we reported the transfer of the newly retired (from the Spanish National team), Xabi Alonso. Alonso left his home country of Spain to sign with the best team in Germany in Bayern Munich. Things heated up on Saturday as Barcelona sent Cameroon native Alex Song to West Ham United of the English Premier League on a one year loan. The 26 year-old midfielder struggled while at Camp Nou, but is revered as one of the greatest African soccer players ever and should provide a much needed boost to the middle of the West Ham team.
Also on Saturday, Danish soccer star, Daniel Agger wrote a heartfelt goodbye to Liverpool fans and teammates as he was sent back to his former club Brondby in the Denmark league. The 29-year-old defender saw his playing time become limited in Liverpool, and with new acquisition Mario Balotelli, stealing all the headlines, it was time for Liverpool to sell Agger.
“Liverpool have been such a big part of my life and my family’s lives for so long, that leaving is extremely difficult,” he said in his letter to the fans. “The opportunity arose for me to return home to Brondby and at this stage of my career it felt like the right decision for me.”
Sunday was the biggest transfer day of them all with just a little over 24 hours to go before teams rosters throughout Europe would be locked up for the next six months, many teams scrambled to lock down some final pieces of the puzzle. Netherlands National team midfielder, Marco van Ginkel, was shipped out of Chelsea and the Premier League and joined Italy’s Serie A club, AC Milan.
Manchester United had a busy Sunday, saying goodbye to midfielder Shinji Kagawa and striker Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez who were transferred to Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid respectively. Both players, who have featured heavily in United’s team in years past, were both told last week that they did not fit into new coach Louis Van Gaal’s long-term plans and were expected to be moved before Monday. Van Gaal did get the left back he wanted when The Red Devils signed Ajax midfielder and Van Gaal’s Dutch national player, Daley Blind. Blind is extremely versatile able to play left back or defensive midfielder. Van Gaal loves him as he featured him frequently during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil
Perhaps the biggest name in the sport of soccer other than Chicharito to be transferred on Sunday was Spanish striker, Fernando Torres. Torres, who was once thought to be one of the best players on the planet, has had a horrible past three years while playing for Premier League club Chelsea. Chelsea ended Torres’ own personal hell by loaning the 30 year-old striker to AC Milan along with Van Ginkel. Chelsea immediately replaced Torres with Loic Remy who was transferred from the Queens Park Rangers to Chelsea. The transfer deadline ends in a few hours and Latin Times will have all the updates as players will be moved down to the wire.
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