So the transfer window slammed disappointingly shut last night. No major moves of note, and who would have thought Sunderland would have been the big spenders? With a total of around £250m spent by top flight clubs this transfer period this has been the quietest since 2006.
At the Cottage we bode farewell to Konch and waved a friendly hello to Lauri Dalla Valle and Alex Kacaniklic from Liverpools reserve side. Now, the Observer claim that these signing are somewhat of a coup for us, but who exactly are they?
Dalla Velle is a young Finnish forward. He played in the Reds Youth team which reached the final in 2009. According to media reports there was some interest in the past from both Barcelona and Ajax in signing him. For a youth system which has seen both Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen pass through it in recent years, when a Liverpool Academy scout says “I would say he is the most natural finisher in the history of our academy,” you should probably take note. Finnish sports magazine Urheilulehti has named him as “ultimately one of the most talented Finnish players of all time” (and we’ve seen Shefti Kuqi play so that’s high praise!)
Sweedish youngster Kacaniklic joins Fulham. Gel suppliers in Putney rejoyce.
Kancaniklic is a Swedish left winger who also played in the Youth Cup final time in 2009. “Alex is a clever, close dribbler whose delivery of the ball into the box is very good.” said Liverpool Academy Manager John Owens. Promoted from the academy to the reserve side after just two years it was thought on Merseyside that he has what it takes to make the step up to Premiership level football.
Christopher Buchtmann in his Liverpool days.
Who remembers the last hot prospect we got from Liverpool? Christopher Buchtmann. Signed by Roy he was trumpeted as being something special for the future. But as is somewhat traditional with Fulham’s young players he didn’t live up to what was promised. A year younger than Dalla Velle, Buchtmann signed an 18 month contract with us in January this year but left us without much noise being made in the summer for him to return home to Germany. Incidentally, where he plays at Koln alongside former Fulham fans favourite Pierre Wome.
The picture text is wrong, Alex Kacaniklic is from Sweden and Lauri Dalla Valle is from Finland. The picture is about Alex.
Shame that Buchtmann went back to Germany. I would’ve liked to see him in the first team eventually.
Hope Lauri and Alex will become great players for us!
Saw Buchtmann play for the reserves a couple of times. Certainly looked very impressive, excellent dribbler of the ball with decent passing. Versatile, played LB, LM and CM. Seemed much too small to play CM effectively though, but thought that he might make it as a winger. His return home to Germany had little to do with a lack of quality – more to do with personal reasons.
I must confess that I haven’t seen anything of Kacaniklic, whose name I’m going to have a lot of difficulty spelling in coming years. But from what I’ve seen of Dalla Valle, he reminds me of a mixture between Erik Nevland and Mikael Forssell. Not the quickest or biggest, he makes intelligent runs and is an opportunistic finisher, with a knack of being in the right place at the right time. Might not become a world-class striker, but could very well make it at this level.