Top 5 Shrewdest Summer Swoops

Gather round, be all ears! As promised, here are my choices of the finest pieces of efficient business done during the summer transfer window. I included free signings and pre-deals for judging, but loans deals are not eligible. I have factored in fee, need, age, skill, potential, field impact and financial boost capabilities.

Please do note that, combined, my five picks would have run your club a mere €14.5 million - not bad to buy a defensive pairing for the new decade, a veteran midfield stopper, a solid young handyman and a slashing forward prodigy. Any team pondering some front office changes can request my résumé at the email address on the right.

#5 - Claude Makélélé - Paris St. Germain

Some might snort at this choice, but it had wide-ranging benefits. Not only was he free, but Makélélé still has the stuff to be a Ligue 1 star and mentor-on-the-field type to some promising youngsters. Perhaps more importantly, his capture legitimized the capital crew's quest to regain stature, a recruitment drive which eventually also yielded Ludovic Giuly and Mateja Kezman.

#4 - Promise Isaac - Trabzonspor

Anybody who watched this 20-year old power forward (pictured above) skipper Nigeria to Olympic silver can tell you that Trabzonspor got a €2 million bargain. Not only will they make some mean coin when they are ready to let him go, but he can first return them to lucrative European play. Until a big name comes calling, he can refine his finishing thanks to all those chances he's sure to get in the wide-open Turkish top flight.

#3 - Vincent Kompany - Manchester City

I've already explained at length what a huge mistake it seemed to me for Hamburg to throw him out so arbitrarily, but now I'm going to tell you why Man City were brilliant to waste no time in scooping him up for the 2006-era price of €10 million before the likes of Arsenal started sniffing around. Kompany is a wildly talented, big and rangy 22-year old who already has 25 senior caps for Belgium and three years of Champions League group stage experience. This is one of the guys who won't be pushed out by the Blues' new free-spending owner.

#2 - Mathieu Flamini - AC Milan

No 24-year old Arsenal starter should be a free transfer, much less one who can play 2-3 positions well. Flamini will bring some badly needed stability to a Rossoneri midfielder that sits in front of aging defenders and behind outright attackers. Now, Milan has an extra deep pivot man to keep traffic headed towards Kaká, Ronaldinho & Shevchenko, and not away from them.


#1 - Sebastian Prödl - Werder Bremen

I'm sure this pick will surprise... well... almost everybody. But consider this: Bremen sealed this deal with previous employers Sturm Graz in January (long before Prödl could shine at Euro 2008) for only €2.5 million, a paltry amount for a 21-year old this big, this mobile, this good in the air at both ends and this comfortable on the ball. And with Tim Borowski off to Bayern for free (an honorable mention move for this list), don't be surprised if the daring center back sees turns at defensive midfielder. Forget last week's shoddy performance at 'Gladbach; it'll take more than three Bundesliga games to make him the first real Austrian star since the Andreas Herzog/Toni Polster duo worked a fair amount of magic in the '90's. Remember who told ya...


More Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Genoa - €4 million), Philipp Degen (Liverpool - free), Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City - €10 million), Tomáš Ujfaluši (Atlético Madrid - free), Giovanni (Hull - free), Brian McBride (Chicago Fire - free), Francisco Javier Rodríguez (PSV Eindhoven - €3 million), Marc Crosas (Celtic - €1 million) Theo Janssen (FC Twente - €1.5 million), Omar Bravo (Deportivo de La Coruña - free), Oleguer (Ajax - €3 million), Fernando Meira (Galatasray - €5 million), Solomon Okoronkwo (FC Saturn Moscow - €1.2 million), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus GF - free)

- Greg Seltzer

[Photos: AFP & Werder Bremen]