Half-time in the transfer window

As we enter the second half of January, this transfer window suddenly seems to be hotting up. Everyone knew that City would sign Dzeko or a similar blockbuster but Aston Villa's swoop for Darren Bent yesterday took everyone by surprise. It's a real coup for Villa and reverses the recent trend of talent walking out of the door, though if it's offset by Young or Downing leaving it might not look so much of a good deal. That said, there's no commodity more valuable in football than goals and Bent guarantees them. Young and Downing, good as they can be on occasions, don't.

Which brings me to the blues. I posted back in December that I felt Moyes absolutely had to get some players in during this transfer window, and of course as it's Everton, I appreciated this would require players to leave. In that posted i suggested the best strategy may be to sell one 'big' player for mega-money and replace them with two or three.

Well, it doesn't look as though Davie thought that was the way to go. Instead he's opted to offload some fringe players and cash-in on Steven Pienaar before he left for free in the summer. This may give a small budget for transfer or loan fee's and more crucially free up some wage budget to accommodate new faces. So Yakubu and Pienaar gone, Vaughan on his way soon and the possibility of Heitinga joining him before the end of the month. And on the way in? Well, strong rumours of interest in two youngsters, Eric Dier of Sporting Lisbon and Dale Jennings of Tranmere but other than that nothing concrete. My guess is that Moyes has two lists of targets, one for the budget we have now (the two youngsters above + 2 loanees - striker+midfielder) and one for if we sell Heitinga (in which case the extra money would almost certainly go on a striker). One things for sure, this is at least going to be an interesting window for Everton. It could all be doom and gloom, but i'm a positive person. I think the squad needs freshening up and it'll do us no harm to shuffle the pack. Moyes has got a good record in the transfer market, especially when he's up against it and funds are tight. We'll see i guess.....