Top 5 Foreign Buys Of 2013/14: Ozil Misses Out But Chelsea & Spurs Stars Feature

Now the dust has settled on another enthralling Premier League season, Prasanna Mainkar gives us his top 5 foreign imports from the 2013/14 season.

The top 5 foreign signings from the 2013/14 Premier League season might include some surprising names or players many may not have known alot about 12 months ago, but they are all household names now after impressing last term. Notable names that narrowly missed out include:

• Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) – Had a decent season overall but couldn’t cope with high pressure of English football when it mattered the most.

• Jesus Navas (Man City) – In terms of goals and assists, he doesn’t stand too tall. However, his pace was influential for City.

• Willian (Chelsea) – Looked flamboyant in his style of play but never really cemented his place in the side due to healthy competition from Schurrle, Oscar, Salah, etc.

• Alvaro Negredo (Man City) – Started the season very brightly, scoring in consecutive 9 home games. Lost his form over the course of the season and lost his place to Dzeko.

5. Nemanja Matic (Benfica, £21 million)

Came in the second half of the season and immediately established himself in Chelsea’s starting XI. After re-joining the Blues, he played substitute role in the first games and then started all till the end of the season. The midfielder showcased his impressive tackling, long range passing and was a rock in front of the defence.

4. Dejan Lovren (Lyon, £8.5 million)

While he is calm on the ball, he has conceded just 24 fouls in 28 appearances this season, which is superb for a defender. Lovren along with Fonte at the back contributed to the 3rd highest clean sheets in the league (15) behind Arsenal and Chelsea. Lovren slipped in to the physical English game seamlessly following his move from Lyon to Southampton.

3. Christian Eriksen (Ajax, £11.5 million)

Paulinho, Erik Lamela, Vlad Chiriches, Nacer Chadli and Roberto Soldado, all turned out to be disappointing as the season progressed. Christian Erikssen was the only Spurs signing who impressed. The Dane has an excellent cross and scored a number of fine free-kicks. In 25 appearances, he managed to score 7 and set up 9 others, and at the age of just 22, he has got plenty of years ahead of him to improve further.

2. Wilfried Bony (Vitesse, £12 million)

Wilfried Bony has already scored more goals in an EPL season (16) than Torres’ personal best for Chelsea (8, 2012-13), and he didn’t cost anywhere near £50m. He is a nightmare for any defender marking him as he is a powerful, pacey striker, who is good in the air and an excellent finisher. Turned out to be a superb signing for Swansea and they’ll do well to keep hold of him this summer.

1. Fernandinho (Shakhtar Donetsk, £30 million)

The little Brazilian was one of the best central midfielders in EPL last season. There were doubts raised with his big money move to Man City but he has silenced all his critics with some superb performances. His role sitting in front of the defence allowed Yaya Toure to play forward in a more attacking position but Fernandinho also showed he can join in the attack on occasion, and can be a box-to-box midfielder when required.

This article was originally published on Prasanna’s own blog. Thanks for reading and feel free to comment below….