Best foot forward: Paul Konchesky goes through his
medical before signing for Liverpool
While Liverpool's doctor waited in vain for a green
light to put Carlton Cole through a medical, Robbie Keane was left
in limbo over a move to Turkey.
The Spurs striker had even been the target of late interest from
Manchester City, who would have considered a swap deal with Roque
Santa Cruz.
Liverpool's Ryan Babel, meanwhile, was said to be in a
helicopter heading for West Ham when Tottenham declared an
interest. Soon after, however, he was tweeting: 'I'm going
nowhere.'
Harry Redknapp, disappointed not to have landed Babel, was on
his way home when Spurs chairman Daniel Levy suggested he could
sign Rafael van der Vaart from Real Madrid - £10million cheaper
than was being asked 24 hours earlier.
'I was ready to go home when the chairman contacted me
at around 4pm and said we had a chance of Van der Vaart,' said
Spurs boss Redknapp. 'He's a quality player, so I said, "Let's give
it a crack and push on." He was going to Bayern Munich on Monday
for £18m. Then he became cheaper and we could get him for less.
It's a last-minute job, but I'm hopeful.'
The bid was lodged by 6pm, which means the Premier League will
extend the deadline to allow the transfer to be completed. It was
one of those days. Redknapp had been looking for Babel's pace.
'We were interested this morning, we felt he had pace and is
lightning quick. We made an enquiry, but it never got close,' said
the manager.
Liverpool would not sell unless West Ham dropped their asking
price for Cole. It was a mixed day for Redknapp as he awaited
confirmation on Van der Vaart. Keane was last night considering a
£7m move to Besiktas on a deadline extended to 5pm today, keeper
Stipe Pletikosa signed in, Scott Parker stayed put at West Ham and
Everton resisted all proposals for Steven Pienaar - despite a
sweetener of David Bentley on loan.
Park footballer: Gyan is a Sunderland man after the
Black Cats splashed out £13m
Fulham were another club who were interested in Bentley,
but ran out of time. Everton, however, did agree to allow Joseph
Yobo to join Fenerbahce on loan. Sunderland delivered the biggest
signing of the transfer window's last day with Asamoah Gyan's £13m
arrival from Rennes.
Stoke and Birmingham were among the biggest movers as fans were
left asking of their clubs: 'Why did we leave it until the last day
and a mad scramble?'
A recession and a demand for greater austerity will provide the
answer as many owners appeared determined to hold on to their
cash.
Even so, a late scramble saw agents and managers complain of a
backlog of faxes at Premier League headquarters.
While Santa Cruz waited and might have joined either Fulham or
Spurs, Robinho's £16m departure to AC Milan meant the Paraguayan
must hope he makes Manchester City's 25-man squad.
'I'm staying and happy to fight for my place,' said dazed Santa
Cruz. But a relieved Robinho grabbed the No 70 shirt and dreamed of
teaming up with Ronaldinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic as he declared:
'Milan are a fantastic club. I hope to show that our attack is the
strongest in Europe.'
The second coup of the day went to Alex McLeish as Birmingham
signed Club America's Chilean winger Jean Beausejour hot on the
heels of Spartak Moscow captain Martin Jiranek and Barcelona's
Alexander Hleb on a year's loan.
Hleb was courted by big clubs but revealed: 'There were many
interested - Liverpool, Tottenham and Benfica. Birmingham
apparently wanted me more than anyone else, so they were my
preference.'
Agent Willie McKay, acting on behalf of Monaco, guided Eidur
Gudjohnsen into the grateful arms of Stoke and Jermaine Pennant
ended his brief reign in Spain with Real Zaragoza by moving to the
Britannia.
And Stoke completed a hat-trick by signing Portsmouth's Marc
Wilson, with Liam Lawrence and Dave Kitson going the other way.
Sunderland offloaded Martyn Waghorn to Leicester and Teemu
Tainio to Ajax to make way for Gyan's arrival but Liverpool's hopes
came to nothing. No Cole. No Mario Gomez. At least Paul Konchesky
finally arrived from Fulham.
It brought to a close a summer in which Premier League sides
spent the lowest amount for four years, with only one club guilty
of the 'kamikaze' spending that so irritated Sir Alex Ferguson.
That was Manchester City, responsible for more than a third of
the top flight's £330m outlay. Their £129m spree was a rare sign of
excess in a sedate market.
Premier League clubs spent a quarter less than last year, the
lowest total since 2006. Chelsea continued last summer's relative
thrift as Ramires (£18m) and Yossi Benayoun (£6m) were the only
senior players to arrive, while Manchester United spent £23.4m on
Bebe, Chris Smalling and Javier Hernandez.
But City bucked the trend. If the arrivals of £200,000-a-week
Yaya Toure, World Cup-winner David Silva and Mario Balotelli raised
eyebrows, James Milner's £26m move showed the strength of the
club's intentions. This is a club who can pay threequarters of
Craig Bellamy's wages after his loan move to Cardiff and watch
Robinho join AC Milan for half the fee paid two years ago
