Transfer deadline signings can really shake things up on Betfair's markets

Premier League / Dan Fitch / 29 August 2007 / Leave a Comment

Betfair's Dan Fitch looks at who still needs to bring in players and the impact that may have on their season

Managers love to spend money. Ferguson invests in horses, Mourinho splashes out on designer suits and if he's wise, Martin Jol will have recently started to buy the local jobs paper. With the transfer deadline beckoning, the Premier League managers will be asking their chairmen to get out their cheque books, once more. But who will go where and what impact will it have on prices?

Having spent all summer doggedly pursuing the missing piece of their jigsaw, Manchester United have discovered that it doesn't quite fit. I'm convinced that Carlos Tevez will eventually form a great partnership with Rooney, but so far only the teenage Morrissey has cut a lonelier figure on Manchester soil than the isolated Argentine. A price of 17.5 for Tevez to be top Premier League goalscorer is poor value.

However, United continue to be linked to Nicolas Anelka (trading at 25) and Obafemi Martins (23). Both are available for different reasons. Martins has a get out clause of £13,000,000 and Newcastle need that money to strengthen their defence. Whilst Anelka looks destined to leave, because he's really good at football and Bolton aren't.

Either price would plummet should they join United, or indeed Arsenal, whose Harlem Globetrotter-like midfield play is at odds with their Rodney Trotter-like attack. One man's whose price is guaranteed to fall through the roof were he to go to Old Trafford, or indeed anywhere where he might play regular football, is Jermain Defoe (140). Defoe has yet to extend his contract and now is the time to sell, if Tottenham want to get top money for him.

Despite Tottenham's terrible start to the season, Spurs are a stingy 3.4 in the Winner without the big 4 market and just 6.4 to break into those Champions League places. Martin Jol is rumoured to want Portsmouth's Matty Taylor to finally fill the void in the left wing position, which was created back when Cliff Jones joined Fulham in 1968. Whether Jol will be given any cash to splash, will depend on if Daniel Levy wants to keep some money back for severance pay.

Over at Stamford Bridge, things seem back to normal at Chelsea. They're winning games 1-0, Frank Lampard is scoring deflected goals and they are again being linked with the world's best players for ridiculous sums of money. The papers are full of talk that Abramovic is willing to pay £50,000,000 for Ronaldinho. Presumably because Chelsea got so much stick last season for being 'toothless' upfront.

If Ronaldinho does leave, it will have little impact on the skinny price of 1.85 for Barca to win La Liga. If anything, it will allow them to blend the talents of Henry, Eto'o and Messi into a better balanced side. One Brazilian who doesn't look like he's going to Chelsea is Daniel Alves, after the Blues decided to go with the cheaper option of Juliano Belletti. More importantly, Seville have managed to keep hold of Kanoute and Juande Ramos and look good value at 24 for the Champions League, having won the UEFA cup in successive seasons.

But no transfer window would be complete without some final wheeling and dealing from Harry Redknapp. "Ladies and gents, have I got a bargain for you today. An England striker with a better goals per game record than Charlton, Lineker or Greaves. Now I aint asking £20,000,000. I aint even asking £10,000,000. All I'm asking for is £6,000,000... Cos I just realised that's he's about a good a striker as my Jamie is a TV pundit and I want the money for Anelka."