Ah the rumor mill. Such a crazy addictive hobby. And it’s always a load of rubbish.
The thing that will stir it up more than anything is a massive purchase. Due to the particularities of January and the desperation of clubs, there tend to be more ridiculous purchases than during the summer. This winter we have seen Edin Dzeko go to Manchester
City for €32 million, followed by Darren Bent moving from Sunderland to Aston Villa for a suggested £24 million.
And what do Wolfsburg and Sunderland have in common because of these transfers? They command a large amount of paper space, forum chat, agent talk and tweets discussing who they will buy next. After all, they both have a lot of money just burning a hole in their pocket. They have to spend it, right?
Wolfsburg have been linked to Eljero Elia, Mark van Bommel, Patrick Helmes, Amauri, Paul Konchesky, Milan Baros, Mirko Vucinic, Papiss Demba Cisse, Mario Gomez and Mark Arnautovic since selling Dzeko. That’s a lot of players. Considering how little movement there has been in the Bundesliga this January, possibility takes the place of happenings.
Wolfsburg don’t need most of these players. If they switch their tactics, they only need one or two players at most. If they stick to the 4-4-2 they only need a replacement for Dzeko at best. But any player that they possibly could forr, at this point, would cost them way more than they are worth, because every selling team would know they have so much cash on hand. It’s in their best interest to wait until the summer when they are removed from the giant price they were able to obtain for Dzeko. And even if they do decide to test the waters, are they going to stick with McClaren or make a managerial change. If they do, they could end up wasting a purchase. Maybe the new guy loves Ziani, who looks on the outs with McClaren, but could be a contributor for a new trainer.
Do they have enough to survive? Yes. Do they have enough to get into the top six? No. But even adding Messi might not give them the ability to jump 9 spots and catch up 10 points. They are probably better waiting it out, hoping that Diego start to find form and put some trust in the kids. There is too much talent not to start climbing the table. But they do need to break this streak of 7 straight draws.
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bradlovesthebudesliga
January 24, 2011 at 11:27 pm
Have to say real quick that teams have a spirit that is made up of an enduring permanence AND IN ADDITION to the current team;
Schalke selling off so many of the teams players who are the back bone of their spirit was very unfortunate. I miss that Scahlke team from two years ago….
David H
January 24, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Alright guys, let’s remember why we’re here — because we love the Bundesliga. We all know how the written word can be misconstrued. How about we delete the comments above & start over with the next story?
Misunderstandings happen. Let’s recognize that & move on.
Dylan Thomas
January 23, 2011 at 12:24 am
Wolfsburg are a sad story for me. They’re losing a lot of their top players to bigger clubs, and I really don’t think it’ll stop at just Dzeko. Barzagli and Kjaer look set to leave with Juventus and Chelsea ready to pounce, and Ziani’s already made his way out of the club as well. McClaren inherited a team full of promise, and now they’re a team full of holes – in midfield, in confidence, in results. I don’t see how things are going to get better from here, but stranger things have happened!
David H
January 21, 2011 at 5:45 pm
One aspect of Bent’s transfer that hasn’t been much publicized is that part of the deal that took him to Sunderland from Tottenham called for Tottenham to receive £7m if he was sold on for more than that. Tottenham had bought him for £17m, but sold him to Sunderland for £10m, and wanted the chance to recoup their loss.
So Sunderland in fact have only netted about £7m, as they essentially have now paid £17m for Bent’s transfer from Tottenham, which leaves £7m from the £24 they’re getting from Aston Villa.
There aren’t a lot of £7m bargains out there who can contribute, i.e. score goals, immediately. So I doubt they’ll do anything w/that money except maybe fund a loan, or perhaps try to make Wellbeck’s loan permanent.
I think part of Dieter’s plan at Wolfsburg is a little addition by subtraction. They’ve already gotten rid of Džeko’s bad influence, and there may be some more bad apples sent on their way if they can find a replacement or two. VfL are at a big disadvantage, of course, trying to restructure somewhat their team in this transfer window, when prices are high & good players are scarce. Though one thing they have going for them is that some teams are looking ahead to the financial fair play rules & may be wanting to shed some cash from their payrolls.
Elia would be a good buy for them. They need some wide players to open up space in the middle for Grafite, who can score bucketloads of goals given the proper service.
Too bad Sammer turned down HSV. Now the idiots running the club are more likely to do something stupid, like screw their team by selling their best players, because they still see themselves as a selling team. I don’t know why they’d want to let Ruud go, especially to those mother***kers at Madrid, unless they pony up €5m or thereabouts. No need to subsidize the club who have the most expensive squad in the world.
Of course, as I said, HSV’s upper management are complete idiots, so I’m sure they’ll find a way to shoot their team in the foot & miss out on Europe entirely. Then they’ll sell more of their best players in the summer, and start the process all over again. They seem to have a good youth setup & a well-functioning scouting department, so they can get away with this idiocy every year & still stay in the top half of the table.
Despite the Swiss Ramble showing how Manchester City could conceivably conform with the new financial rules, I don’t see how they can possibly do so w/o some fiddling of the books. Though the big test for the new rules will be Real Madrid.
If they (or Barcelona, who are also heavily indebted) fall foul of the rules, it’ll be very interesting to see UEFA’s reaction. I’m sure they’d find a way to make it look like Madrid’s in the clear with some loophole or other, essentially gutting the new rules in the process & exposing it for the fraud it will probably be.
Eskender
January 21, 2011 at 3:55 am
Dzeko’s transfer can be viewed with several perspectives. I do like his approach to snatch a goal which really what Wolfsburg will miss in the future. But in the other hand his inspiration and leadership is not good in the first half of the season.
To Generalize M’claren should sign a striker who has a bundesliga experience and really capable of holding the number 9 spot. In addition the captain armband must be given to the loyal Wolves man Josue.
Double Pivot
January 21, 2011 at 8:25 am
Who has it now? Reither? Josue would seem a very good candidate. Is Reither a good figure in the dressing room? I don’t know.
Hendry Wijaya
January 21, 2011 at 8:40 pm
Schaefer. I suspect you didn’t watch last week Wolfsburg – FCB then.
bradlovesthebundesliga
January 20, 2011 at 9:56 pm
Lots of spelling errors im on a crappy blackberry sorry. And I meant HE needs to quit
dreaming of Barca-like conquests…he needs to brush off Juve mistake and
make do
playing for the other green W team ! He’s a hero of mine I am quite similar
in size to him so he inspires!! So Diego get to it!
bradlovesthebundesliga
January 20, 2011 at 9:50 pm
So I want to say thanks for doing this site its great wish we had more contributors
but that’s not a complaint. Much respect I learn a lot here.
Anyway, I am sad that Dzeko is gone but I hate that feeling when someone
puts off the air that “you know, I could be playing somewhere else better
than here.” I felt that from Dzeko. I don’t entirely blame him so many changes
while he was there. Still wondering why Magath left.
These are just steams of thogutht but Diego needs to wake up! He was a monster
At Bremen and I wish he was still there! Those were great times especially with Klose
still there….anyway I want to quit dreaming of Barca like conquests and just find a
team or get it on with Wolfsburg. I think he fits in better as the magic man, not one
Of a whole herd of equally great players…disperse disperse disperse! Its important for
Talent to get spread around I’m tired of powerhouses sometimes you know? Anyway
More later thanks for listening….
Double Pivot
January 21, 2011 at 8:33 am
Thanks for the kind words Brad. I think I will do a piece in the future on the internet community and what sites to read, twitters to follow and forums to join. I will stick to English as those that know German (I should) have so many sources.
The blogroll has some of them. But if any of you have other sites you read or tweets you follow let me know at cdmphy@yahoo.com so I can include them
I don’t even mind if they are team specific as I would love an English language site for any team just to keep up with their news.
I remember Dortmund used to have a fantastic site called Planet Dortmund, but its been down forever.
Cheers
Oh and the team will pick you. It always does 🙂