Top 5 Winter Transfer in 2010
- Andrew Cheam
- Feb 5, 2020
- 4 min read
Since the implementation in 2002-2003 season, football clubs all around the world have a second chance to make either a quick fix or strengthen their squad depth in the middle of the season. In recent years, the winter transfer also requires a huge sum of transfer fees. However, this is not always the case. Below are the highest transfer fees paid during the winter transfer window in 2009-2010 season.
1. McDonald Mariga (22, 10.0mil Euro from Parma to Inter)
Verdict: Failed
It is unbelievable to see that 10.0mil Euro is enough to be the highest transfer fee paid in that season. What is more unbelievable is Mariga didn’t even justify his price tag in his short spell in Inter Milan. Mariga moved to Inter on the last day of the transfer window. He is the first Kenyan to play and win the UEFA Champions League. However, this is the most notable thing that he had done in the Nerazzurri. Mariga was on loan to Real Sociedad and Parma in the later stage of his Inter career.
After his failed stint in Inter Milan, Mariga re-signed with Parma. Which he failed to impress again. He was then signed for Serie B side Latina and Spanish second division side Real Oviedo. Mariga retired from professional football on July 2018 at the age of 35. He announced his plan to contest for a parliamentary seat in Kenya in September 2019.
2. Oleksandr Aliyev (24, 8.00mil Euro from Dynamo Kyiv to Lokomotiv Moscow)
Verdict: Decent
Just the transfer to Lokomotiv Moscow alone, this transfer is a decent one as he scored 15 goals in 27 games in all competition in his sole season in Moscow. However, when we discover his footballing career as a whole, Aliyev’s career is below average as he is the player who blossoms on the early stage of his career and wilted very soon compared to the others.
Aliyev returned to Dynamo Kyiv after just one year in Moscow. Since then, he started his nomadic career in between Ukraine and Russia. Despite the amount of football club he joined since then, Aliyev never recovers his form back in his youth career when he scored 53 goals in 99 games in Dynamo-2 Kyiv side. He is currently playing in the Ukrainian amateur side, Meliorator Bucha.
3. Adam Johnson (22, 8.00mil Euro from Middlesbrough to Manchester City)
Verdict: Failed
Oh, Adam Johnson. He was a bright talent that half of the England football clubs are looking for securing his signature. His breakout performance in Middlesbrough had subsequently earned him a dream move to a rising Manchester City side for 8.00mil Euro. Back in those days, this is considered quite a big fee for raw talent.
His playing time in Manchester was limited due to the appearance of top-class players such as David Silva, James Milner and Samir Nasri. In order to gain more playing time, Adam Johnson signed for Sunderland in which the manager at the time, Martin O’Neill praised that he is a player who will excite the fans. Everything went well in Sunderland until the child grooming scandal emerged in March 2015. Adam Johnson was found guilty and sentenced to six years in prison. He was released on 22 March 2019. However, he has not returned to the football pitch yet.
4. Douglas Costa (19, 8.00mil Euro from Gremio to Shakhtar Donetsk)
Verdict: Success
Finally a relative success story in this transfer season. Douglas Costa moved to Ukraine at the age of 19 with bags of potential. He literally blossoms in Shakhtar Donetsk and become the hot prospect in European football. Douglas Costa’s pace and chance creation ability often helped Shakhtar Donetsk to overcome their opponent. He won the Ukrainian league in every single season he stayed there any numerous other achievements. He surely justified his 8.00mil move to Shakhtar.
He was then signed for mega-clubs such as Bayern Munich and Juventus, in which he also won almost every tournament available in club level. Currently playing in Juventus, he is still playing at the top level of football despite he is almost 30. His chance creation ability is still the key factor that he is still remaining at the top level of football pyramids.
5. Eduardo Salvio (19, 8.00mil Euro from Lanus to Atletico Madrid)
Verdict: Miss
Salvio has a very slow start in Europe when he first joined Atletico Madrid from Lanus. He was supposed to be the attacking option that helps Diego Forlan to provide firepower to this Atletico side. However, he only scored two goals in all competition in that season. In the 2010-2011 season, Salvio was subsequently sent to Benfica on loan for a season to rediscover his form. In which he did it quite well. On July 2012, Benfica and Atletico finally agree on terms to transfer Salvio permanently.
In Benfica, Salvio is one of the main striking options that enlightened the Portuguese league. In his seven years stay in Benfica, he scored 62 goals and 54 assists in 266 games overall. He is the cult hero of the red side of Lisbon. On July 2019, Benfica announced that Salvio had returned to his home nation to join Boca Juniors. This is the first time he played in his home nation since he joined Atletico Madrid in 2010.
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