Buzzin Football

With the January transfer window less than 4 weeks away speculation on who may transfer where, is under way.  There are a few clubs who for one reason or another are on the lookout for a proven striker, and there are at least two Premiership England strikers who are looking to move in the January transfer window.

A few years ago Michael Owen & Emille Heskey were the first choice striking partnership for England.  Both could be sold in January to cash in on contracts that end in the summer. 30 year-old Emille Heskey has resurrected his England career and is a good team player and a work horse, but has never been a 20 goals a season striker; whereas Michael Owen has a fantastic average of one goal per two games ratio, but alas Owen’s constant struggle with fitness makes him an expensive liability unless he is playing every week.

Allegedly Tottenham, Aston Villa & Everton are “interested” in buying Emille Heskey from Wigan.  Everton certainly need a striker after this weekend where Yakubu picked up a ruptured achilles injury that will have him miss the rest of this season, and Louis Saha will be out for several weeks with a torn hamsring.  Add to this, the injury of young James Vaughan, you will appreciate Everton, currently seventh in the Premier League, are in more need than most to add a striker to their team.

I’m not sure Everton could afford Michael Owen’s wages; and though it may be fitting for Owen who supported The Toffees as a boy, surely an injury-prone player to replace a list of injured players would be nonsensical.  Furthermore, with Saha and Yakubu’s wages to pay I wonder if Everton will be look for a short-term loan rather than a big money transfer.

David Moyes could do a lot worse than contacting Henrik Larsson as a short term saviour in the same way as Alex Ferguson did for Manchester United when, faced with a similar situation he brought the former Celtic and Barcelona striker to Old Trafford for two months in the winter of 2007 during the Swedish League’s winter break.

Apparently David Moyes is keen on bringing Polish-born Germany international Lukas Podolski to the Premiership, though I can’t imagine Bayern Munich will let one of their star strikers leave in January, even for an estimated £10 million.

Another star striker that looks unsettled and too often left warming the bench, as far as he’s concerned, is the much troubled and not loved Chelsea striker Didier Drogba.  I personally believe he will be off to Spain or Italy for a big money transfer.  But maybe Manchester City could offer him a ridiculous wage to lure him to stay in the Premiership.

Man City certainly have the money that might just prize a few top players away from top European clubs in the January transfer window; and they certainly need a top striker or two; and unless Zimbabwe striker Benjani and Darius Vassell are happy to become squad members with limited first team appearances, they may well be first to join the transfer merry-go-round come 1st January 2009.