Best Signing
It’s rare that ‘best’ also equates with ‘biggest’, but Sunderland’s acquisition of Asamoah Gyan does look very promising indeed. The Ghanaian forward was one of the most impressive players at the World Cup, and his all-action style ought to be well suited to the Premier League.
Most Surprising Move
Incredibly, Jermaine Pennant managed to fly below the radar before joining Stoke on loan from Real Zaragoza. His tag must be broken.
Most Predictable Move
Marcus Bent going somewhere, anywhere on loan. Having signed for Wolves, he becomes the first player to have played for every known football team.
Most Embarrassing Climbdown
There’s a few candidates here. There’s Shay “I need to be playing” Given, who elected to stay at City and count his cash on the bench. There’s Arsene Wenger, who must call on the services of Manuel Almunia having spent the summer trying to replace him. But the winner has to be Aleksandr Hleb, who left Arsenal citing a dislike of London, and has today moved to picturesque Birmingham.
The ‘Andrey Arshavin’ Award For Late Arrivals
We still don’t know if Rafael Van Der Vaart is a Spurs player. If he is, he must have rolled through the closing window with all the dexterity of a double-jointed Indiana Jones.
The ‘Harry Redknapp’ Wheeler-Dealer Award
Remember, Harry definitively isn’t a wheeler-dealer, so is no longer eligible for the award. The winner instead must be Stoke’s Tony Pulis, who brought in Eidur Gudjohnsen, Jermaine Pennant, Salif Diao and Marc Wilson, offloading Liam Lawrence and Dave Kitson to Portsmouth in the process.
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Your own awards, gloating and wailing are all, as ever, welcome.
