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A memorable World Cup was won by Germany, the best team in the competition. Let's get straight to the more succulent and nourishing transfer news available for visiting eyes to feast on.
World Cup winner headed to Champions League holders.
Toni Kroos has confirmed that his association with Bayern Munich will soon come to an end after he told reporters that he's "going to Madrid" and it's not to put his feet up on holiday before returning to Munich. With only one year remaining on his contract with no agreement reached on an extension, a departure was always likely to happen this summer. His agent claims nothing has been decided; the move is done. He'll probably replace Sami Khedira, his international team-mate, at the Champions League even if they're quite different players. The prospect of Xabi Alonso, Luka Modric, and Toni Kroos will be a beautiful passing midfield but will both Khedira and Ángel di María move to make that a reality? What about the prospect of James Rodriguez joining Carlo Ancelotti in the Spanish capital?
London club in further striker madness shock.
Fulham have sent £11 million in the direction of Leeds United for 27-year-old striker Ross McCormack. Fulham are in the Championship. Leeds are in the Championship. This is a transfer between Championship clubs. This is madness! This is the transfer window. Oh joy. The Scotland international will presumably be trusted by Felix Magath to provide the goals to secure a return to the English Premier League. What about Konstantinos Mitroglou? As a resident of London, it may be worth heading to Craven Cottage to witness the potential madness of seeing one eight figure striker start in the Championship while another is on the bench.
Southampton getting started under Ronald Koeman.
The talented and versatile playmaker Dusan Tadic has joined Koeman's new era at Southampton. FC Twente have reportedly received an undisclosed fee believed to be between £8 to £11 million. The Premier League may become accustomed to technical Serbian operators in the final third next season. 50 goal in 57 games Graziano Pelle has joined Tadic at Southampton for a fee hovering around the £9 million mark.
The Italian striker follows Koeman from Feyenoord and is very much a Koeman signing. He's only had a decent scoring record in the past two seasons at Feyenoord and struggled in Italy as well as the Netherlands before arriving under the encouraging guidance of the Dutch coach. Either he's a late bloomer or he found a little patch but will struggle in a tougher league than the Eredivisie. Well, Koeman knows him and seems to be positive about Southampton's incoming transfer activity so far.
Goals mean points, and we needed a good player in that position after Rickie Lambert left. In terms of his qualities, he's a tall striker with a lot of movement and he's fast. He's a player who gives confidence to the team because he keeps the ball, and he's very dangerous in front of goal. He's almost 29 years old, so he brings a little bit of experience to a young team. Overall, we're pleased to have brought in Graziano after signing Dusan Tadic earlier this week. This shows we are committed to strengthening the team and progressing after last season. We know that we need some more players because we haven't occupied all of the positions. We need more players to bring the squad to where we need and expect.
Does anyone wonder where Dejan Lovren fits in with all this? Nope? Okay then.
Yann goes to Italy.
Yann M'Vila has agreed to join Inter Milan so the Lucas Leiva to Inter rumours are probably not something that one can consider with any discernible consciousness. At least that's one midfielder to Liverpool rumour that can finally retire for the next couple of seasons with dignity and grace. Walter Mazzarri is adding to the midfield like he wanted so that should be good news for a club that will be pushing to finish in the top three in Serie A so that Champions League football will be on the menu for 2015/2016.
In other news...
Bayern Munich have shown Liverpool that good left backs can be secured by signing Juan Bernat from Valencia. Robert Lewandowski's arrival at Bayern Munich has pushed Mario Mandzukic into the arms of El Cholo to replace Diego Costa who departed for Chelsea. Neat. Remy Cabella has joined Newcastle United after a long pursuit and signs a deal for six years, which he'll probably try to break with four to go if he impresses enough to interest bigger clubs. The only club in the city of Newcastle will replace Mathieu Debuchy with Netherlands' World Cup right back Daryl Janmaat from Feyenoord. West Ham are close to signing Ecuador's World Cup star Enner Valencia. Juan Iturbe could be close to moving to Juventus after reports that a €29 million bid was made for the talented 20-year-old's services.
