Summer Transfer Window Series: 10 Best Bargain Buys

As any football chief executive will undoubtedly tell you, laced among the big money moves and the anonymous acquisitions are the gems, the one in a million transfers. Though often not involving large sums, these buys didn't shake the footballing world when they happened, but would have far wider implications for the club, and the game, as time elapsed.

But, as with the other posts in this series, who makes my top 10? Who should be considered the best bargain buys?

10. Demba Ba - West Ham United to Newcastle United (Free, 2011)
Having made the move from Germany to East London in the January of 2011, Ba made an immediate impact for West Ham, scoring seven goals in 12 games to take the Hammers to the brink of survival. However, it was not enough, and Ba opted to leave for Newcastle. He would find his feet similarly quickly, scoring 16 goals in his first season as Newcastle narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification. After a strong start to the following season piqued the interest of Chelsea, Newcastle made a tasty £7m profit, in addition to their European appearance.

9. Alessandro Del Piero - Padova to Juventus (£2m, 1993)
Arguably the best example of a young signing coming to fruition for his new employers. At the age of 16, Alessandro Del Piero was an up and coming Padova youngster, and despite having only scored one goal in 14 games for his first club, Italian giants Juventus saw something in him. In the summer of 1993, they paid just £2m for the services of a player who would go on to become a club legend.

Over the next 10 years, Del Piero would score 208 goals in 513 appearances for The Old Lady, racking up six Serie A titles, a Coppa Italia and a Champions League victory. Such was his loyalty, he remained at Juve despite their relegation following the match-fixing scandal in 2006, helping the club reclaim its former glories.

8. Andrea Pirlo - AC Milan to Juventus (Free, 2011)
Juventus have also proven to be rather astute when it comes to signing elder statesmen too. In 2011, it was the general consensus that Andrea Pirlo was past his prime, having been part of the all-conquering team of the late 2000s that included the likes of Kaka, Nesta, Maldini and Shevchenko. However, Juventus, just like Del Piero, saw the potential that Pirlo could provide, and made an inspired free purchase. The midfielder would go on to claim four Serie A titles - double that achieved for AC Milan, in addition to leading Italy to the final of Euro 2012.

7. Frank Lampard - West Ham United to Chelsea (£11m, 2001)
To suggest that £11m is a bargain buy, particularly in 2001 when prices were comparatively low, is perhaps surprising. However, with the benefit of hindsight, I think there are few Chelsea, or indeed football fans that would disagree. Already with considerable experience, having played almost 150 games for the Hammers, scoring 24 goals, Lampard completed his £11m move to Chelsea. And, as they say, the rest is history. 429 matches and 147 goals later, Frank Lampard is the club's all time leading scorer, and second in the Premier League's all time assists table.

6. Cristiano Ronaldo - Sporting Lisbon to Manchester United (£12.24m, 2003)
Similarly to Frank Lampard, £12.24m seemingly makes it difficult to consider how this may become a bargain. However, while Ronaldo may not have the longevity to match Lampard, he certainly made one hell of an impact at Old Trafford. At times mercurial, and at times petulant, the Portuguese magician solidified himself as one of the best players in the world, scoring 84 goals in 196 games for Manchester United. It was therefore unsurprising when Real Madrid came in for the winger, giving United a £68m profit.

5. Joe Hart - Shrewsbury Town to Manchester City (£600,000, 2006)
When Manchester City, perennial Premier League strugglers, bought an unknown young English goalkeeper called Joe Hart in 2006, few could ever have predicted the way it would turn out. Through all of the changes surrounding the Blues in the last six years, one thing has remained constant - their number one. In his 236 games for the club, he has had many memorable moments, whether it's keeping City in games against Borussia Dortmund or Barcelona in the Champions League, or his iconic arms outstretched run around the Etihad to celebrate Sergio Aguero's last minute Premier League winner in 2012.

4. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - Molde to Manchester United (£1.5m, 1996)
Bought in 1996, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was one of Sir Alex Ferguson's more underwhelming signings. Rather unknown and unproven, he was signed as a backup to Andy Cole and Eric Cantona. However, it was here he made his mark, quickly earning the reputation as a 'super-sub'. Though a moniker few footballers want, the Norwegian proved adept at scoring off the bench, scoring 18 in his opening season. He will perhaps be best remembered for his 1999 winning goal in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich, but in his 11 years at Old Trafford, he more than made back his £1.5m - scoring 91 goals in 235 games for United.

3. Gareth Bale - Southampton to Tottenham Hotspur (£5m, 2007)
Coming from Southampton's famed youth system, much was expected from what was a flying Welsh left back. Bought by Spurs in 2007, Bale always looked to possess talent, but it was only after a number of years in North London that the Welshman demonstrated his full potential. Having moved position into midfield to help Spurs into the Champions League, Bale terrorised full-backs across Europe, particularly on one night in Milan, where he put on a remarkable display in a 4-3 defeat to Inter. He picked up where he left off the following year, claiming the PFA Player of the Year Award, before a world record move to Real Madrid, earning Spurs £80m profit.

2. Thierry Henry - Juventus to Arsenal (£11m, 1999)
There are very few transfers that radically change the history of a football club, but when they do, you have to consider them a bargain, almost regardless of price. When Thierry Henry arrived at Highbury, Arsenal were a side on the back foot. Having lost the Premier League title to Manchester United, they signed the Frenchman who, disillusioned at Juventus, was designed to play as a central striker. Though £11m seemed steep at the time, Henry has surpassed everyone's expectations. In the following eight years, he led the club to two league titles, including the iconic 'Invincibles' season, three FA Cups and a Champions League final. Despite his short stay, he scored 174 goals in 254 games, making him Arsenal's all-time record goalscorer.

1. Peter Schmeichel - Brondby to Manchester United (£500,000, 1991)
Simply the greatest goalkeeper of the Premier League era, and to think that he cost just half a million beggars belief. It's not even like Schmeichel was particularly young - he was 27 when Ferguson brought the Dane to Old Trafford. However, Schmeichel proved the bedrock for the successes of the Red Devils through the 1990s, and arguably kept Ferguson in a job in the early years. In 292 games for United, Schmeichel won five league titles, three FA Cups, a league cup and captained United to the Treble in 1999.

So, as we can see, for every misguided and inflated transfer fee that Sir Alex Ferguson paid over his decades in charge of Manchester United, he found a number of gems, which formed the heart of his dominant side in the 1990s and 2000s.

Club legends, as one would expect, are almost impossible to predict on purchase, but is there anyone bought so far that has the potential? Perhaps not the big money transfers of the likes of Raheem Sterling or Memphis Depay, but certainly mid-range signings like Georginio Wijnaldum or Xherdan Shaqiri have promise.

Cardiff's Complaint: Does James Bond Wear A Baseball Cap?

Well, the season just got strange. Rumours of underhand tactics and espionage have engulfed the Premier League in the last few days, with Cardiff manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer accusing Crystal Palace, and indirectly Tony Pulis, of stealing information that led to his side's embarrassing 3-0 home defeat at the hands of their then-relegation rivals. With an official complaint now hanging over the London club, this saga threatens to rumble on long into the summer, and that is the last thing football needs. I must start this with a disclaimer - below are my opinions. I have little to no facts about this case, and this piece is merely to explain my take on the story as it has emerged in the press thus far.

The last time I remember an espionage saga in sport, it took several months for an independent commission to check, double and triple check whether McLaren had stolen confidential information from their Ferrari rivals in the F1 championship in 2007. Very much like I think this will, it ended up ruining an extremely competitive season, tarring all teams with the same brush and casting a shadow of doubt on the whole sport.

However, do Crystal Palace and Tony Pulis have a case to answer? Cardiff allege that Iain Moody, Crystal Palace's sporting director, and a former director of recruitment at the Welsh club, phoned a former colleague, performance analyst Enda Barron, on 3rd April to ask if he could help him obtain the team for the match against Palace. The day before the match (4th April), Moody had apparently been able to obtain the starting line-up from another source. Though Moody and Barron directly deny any and all allegations, the evidence has begun to stack up.

Here is where Tony Pulis comes in. In a subsequent conversation between Moody and Barron, the Cardiff director was apparently overheard saying that he was 'under pressure from Pulis' to obtain the information. After this, more and more people continue to get sucked in, with Bolton boss Dougie Freedman and Cardiff player Aron Gunnarsson also playing bit-parts. Pulis has also been accused of referencing the incident in a chat between the two managers after the game, putting ever more pressure on the ex-Stoke man's shoulders.

In my opinion, there are two options over this case. Either there are too many coincidences to clear Crystal Palace and Pulis, implying that Crystal Palace could be in very serious breach of some of the FA's most important rules. However, the second option, which panders to my more cynical part, thinks that there are too many coincidences to be believable as guilt. Surely no-one can be as stupid as Cardiff are alleging, which implies an act of desperation from the Bluebirds' hierarchy to try and drag themselves out of the predicament they find themselves in.

While this latter option may seem unlikely, it is possible. As I stated, Moody discussing his scheme loudly enough to be overheard is about as idiotic as Al Qaeda making plans for their next attack in front of CCTV cameras or US presidents talking about phone tapping in a recorded conversation (that last one may not be such a good example...). Nevertheless, if we are expected to believe that this was Moody's first dip into the ocean of footballing espionage, mid-way through a season where his side were on a distinct upturn and heading away from danger, along with making several high profile and idiotic mistakes in the process, I'm not really buying it. If Moody has been doing this, he has probably been doing it for some time, which means he should be much better at covering his back than the evidence presented by Cardiff suggests.

Not that I am condoning this sort of practice. If it does occur, which I have little reason to doubt that it does, it is despicable, and brings the sport into disrepute. However, despite the old saying of 'never underestimate the stupidity of criminals', these are not stupid people being caught stealing DVDs from a shop. These are highly educated professionals, and one would expect that they would put considerably more time into the planning and execution of these actions than the allegations suggest.

However, one piece of evidence does appear particularly damning. Should it exist, the text message with the exact Cardiff first 11, which included three changes from the Bluebirds side that faced West Brom the week before, suggests that a real and genuine attempt has been made to obtain the information. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that this text message is real, and that someone tried to get hold of it, but to hear about all these shady but appallingly insecure meetings makes the story less believable to me.

Despite being a City fan, I have always found Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to be a genuine bloke, and my cynical explanation is not in keeping with his character. While this makes me doubt myself, from what I have heard, Vincent Tan's character is not so squeaky clean. The way that he conducts business, particularly the sacking of Malky Mackay, has been wrong, and it would not surprise me to find that he has been responsible for the 'sexing-up' of these allegations, in order to ensure that his side remains a Premier League club (and earns a rather hefty paycheck at the end of it!). Again, I must stress these are not direct allegations (before I get a chunky lawsuit!). I would rather be painted as a fantasist and a conspiracy theorist - I am merely trying to point out a) alternative explanations and b) demonstrate the cynical way my brain works.

So does James Bond wear a baseball cap? I don't know. I have no doubt that this story will run and run for months, tainting an otherwise brilliant season. It is a practice that should never occur, and if Palace are proven to be guilty, I would want to see them punished in the highest regard. If they have been the victims of a set up, however, I would expect Cardiff to receive a correspondingly high punishment.