Deadline Day Onion Bag: Poor Peter Odemwingie, Nacho to Arsenal, Brek Shea to Stoke, Andrei Arshavin's Creepy Modeling Shoot
By Ty Duffy
It was was a relatively quiet close to the January transfer window in Europe. Even Beckham moving to the world’s fashion capitol only moderately moved the meter (he turned down an 8th division club in Norway), though there were a fewnoteworthy happenings…
Awkward… Poor Peter Odemwingie. The West Brom striker tried to force his way to QPR. Believing a deal was complete, he said his goodbyes, showed up at QPR’s training ground in front of television cameras and referred to his new club in the third-person plural. The problem was he didn’t have a deal. QPR barred him from the training ground, because they did not have permission to talk with him. The West London club tried to sign him at the last minute, but negotiations fell apart. He was given a few days off before having to slink back to the West Brom dressing room. The scene when he returns should resemble this.
‘Arry Was Wheeling and Dealing Though… Few are more adept at spending others’ money than Harry Redknapp. The QPR manager did break the club’s transfer record, spending $20 million to sign former Blackburn defender Christopher Samba, who had spent the past year in Russia. He won’t be earning the $157,000 per week he was making there, but his agent assured everyone his wages were “Premier League-sized.”
Nacho: Arsenal signed Spanish left back Nacho Monreal from Malaga, engendering a stream of Tex-Mex themed twitter jokes. The thought of having Andre Santos, who only displays some impetus when he’s about to get a traffic ticket, start for two months was just too much for Arsene Wenger to bear. Monreal is cup-tied for the Champions League, but Arsenal weren’t equipped to compete there anyway.
USA USA: Brek Shea and his hair signed with Stoke, with the English club paying a transfer fee to MLS of around $4 million. He will join fellow USMNT member Geoff Cameron.
Andrei Arshavin: The Russian star is going nowhere, despite having not started a single match for Arsenal this season. He did pose for this creepy set of modeling shots though. Alas, this is only the second most embarrassing Arsenal moment of the calendar year.