United announce triple signing

After two months of inactivity, Manchester United sent shockwaves throughout the football world when they announced a trio of signings over three days this past weekend. Italian right back Matteo Darmian was the first confirmed player when he signed on the dotted line on Saturday after United paid 12.9 million pounds to Italian side Torino. The second was the biggest of them all, Bastian Schweinsteiger signed for a reported fee of 14 million pounds from German champions Bayern Munich. Lastly, Morgan Schneiderlin agreed to join between Sunday evening and Monday morning, just in time to catch the team’s flight to the United States of America.

The latter two were particularly rushed deals and with the pedigree surrounding both players (one captains the World Cup champions while the other was arguably the best in their position in the league last season), the manager preferred to have both gel into their new squad ahead of the upcoming season.

Sterling in record-breaking move

Raheem Sterling’s protracted transfer saga may finally be ending, but not without sparking another debate. Reports coming out of England suggests Liverpool have accepted a 49 million pound offer for Raheem Sterling from… you guessed it, Manchester City. Such a transfer fee would make Raheem Sterling the most expensive Englishman of all time and would be a club record transfer fee for a player after surpassing the 47 million pounds paid for Carlos Tevez in 2009.

This is good business from Liverpool, as they are getting rid of a troublesome player for 49 million. But how will Sterling fare after forcing his way out of such a big club to join another? Not to mention the pressure of being the most expensive Englishman ever. Also, is he really worth it? There is no doubting his talent – arguably the best in his age group – but only time will tell what he will achieve with this move.

Goalkeepers on the move

Two goalkeepers changed clubs this week. One was more emotional – a club legend, rumoured to have been forced out of his boyhood club, while the other was a more predictable move.

Club captain Iker Casillas has left Real Madrid for Portugese club FC Porto for an undisclosed fee after 25 years at the club. Upon giving his farewell speech to fans, Casillas could not contain his tears and just hours after, Iker’s parents blamed club president Florentino Perez for shipping Casillas to Portugal. We are likely to hear more on these allegations.

Asmir Begovic traded the breezy Stoke-on-Trent conditions for the crickets of Stamford Bridge in London when he joined Chelsea this week from Stoke City for 8 million pounds. With Petr Cech at Arsenal, Jose Mourinho felt he needed to replace Cech with another top class goalkeeper. With Begovic enjoying a good Premier League record these past few seasons, it remains to be seen if he is prepared to play second fiddle.