Transfer Roundup – Yeehaw!

By: Chris | August 28th, 2008

For HSV supporters, the departures of Rafael van der Vaart and Vincent Kompany portended bad things to come. The club directors sold the most talented players on the side in the span of 17 days and there was, at the time, nothing to show for it. Fast forward a week (since Kompany’s sale) and things are looking up.

The club addressed the loss of goal-scoring production from Rafael van der Vaart by trading for Mladen Petric of Dortmund on 17 August.

They filled the hole in central defense created by Kompany’s departure with Alex Silva of São Paolo.

They attempted to add depth to the defense by going after left back Luciano Monzon of Boca Juniors, and when their target was hijacked by another side, they quickly and decisively switched their focus to another young talent, Marcell Jansen of Bayern.

And finally, they are adding a true number 10, a creative midfielder to fill VDV’s rather sizeable shoes. Hamburg supporters, I give you Thiago Neves of Brazilian side Fluminense. Neves is considered somewhat of a late bloomer by Brazilian standards but does hold the rare distinction of having scored a *hat trick* in a major cup final (the 2008 Copa Libertadores), but his supreme efforts were unable to lift Flum past all-time underdog LDU Quito of Ecuador (one commenter posted that LDU winning the Copa was like a team from Belgium winning the Champions League, it was that big an upset). Neves also bagged a brace at the Olympics in Brazil’s 3-0 victory over hosts China. He is known for his endurance, his pace and his accurate long passing. What’s not to love?

This is it folks. HSV have ponied up the dough and are serious about mounting a challenge for the CL next season. Even if we don’t get rid of Atouba (and as much as I don’t like the guy, keeping him makes some sense for the purpose of depth in the back), this is a strong side. To quote Bundesliga Meister Jan:

Hamburg:

-van der Vaart

-Kompany

-Zidan

-Atouba(?)

+Petric

+Alex Silva

+Marcell Jansen

+Thiago Neves

+Jonathon Pitroipa

= Stronger HSV?

Ja, Jan, I do agree.