Clint Dempsey was the most watched man on Deadline Day
Conor Bates
Sports Editor
With the dust settling on another transfer deadline day, we are left with the lasting images of various reporters standing outside club training grounds and Jim White his vintage clichés at us. All in all it was an eventful deadline day, with activity starting from the early morning and continuing through the afternoon. In truth, it wasn’t the exciting finish that we all would have hoped for, with most business concluded by early evening, but nonetheless, some tantalising transfers were thrown up by all involved.
Beginning at the exposition of the day, West Ham finalised their loan move for Andy Carroll. The £35 million man hadn’t featured in Liverpool’s games this season, and with Brendan Rodgers continuing his overhaul of the squad, the England striker wasn’t likely to fit into the manager’s plans. Carroll himself seemed to relish the opportunity, and looked forward to playing regular first team football again. The exodus continued from Liverpool, with midfielder Jay Spearing making a year-long loan move to Bolton, and Charlie Adam making the permanent switch to Stoke City. The Scottish midfielder had had a mixed season the year before, and was gradually falling from the grace of the Anfield faithful. The fee was reported to be around £4 million.
Stoke were not too busy on the day, whereas their compatriots of red and white stripes, Sunderland, were considerably more involved. Having brought in City’s Adam Johnson and Wolves’ Stephen Fletcher days before, the Black Cats signed Spurs defender Danny Rose on a season-long loan. Sunderland were gunning for Spurs midfielder Jermaine Jenas, but the deal fell through before any sum could be agreed. Kieran Richardson chose to leave the club on deadline day, selecting Fulham as his new home, for an undisclosed fee.
Fulham added Richardson only days after selling Moussa Dembele to Tottenham, and the diminutive London club sought to make a record signing on the last day of the window. Enigmatic Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov was their target, and he duly obliged, leaving Manchester United for the grand sum of £4 million.
United weren’t making motions on the final day, in comparison to their direct rivals, City. The Blues finally settled on a fee for Scott Sinclair from Swansea, and indicated their interest in Javi Garcia and Maicon from early afternoon. The Maicon deal was sealed up quite efficiently, for a fee believed to be £6 millon, while Javi Garcia took a little longer, eventually moving for £16 million. Nigel de Jong was the highest profile departure from Eastlands; the Dutchman left Manchester in favour of Milan. Roque Santa Cruz and Stefan Savic joined de Jong in vacating the Premier League champions, making Malaga and Fiorentina their new clubs, respectively. Matija Nastasic left Fiorentina for City as part of the deal for Savic.
In terms of activity, Man City were only eclipsed by Queens Park Rangers and Spurs. QPR continued their trend of completely changing their squad at every available opportunity by adding Esteban Granero from Madrid and Sam Magri from Portsmouth. Stephane M’Bia made the move from Marseille, while Joey Barton ended his odyssey with QPR, replacing M’Bia on the Cote D’Azur. Arguably one of the biggest coups in the clubs history, the signing of Julio Cesar, was finalised on the day.
Spurs shocked everyone when they brought in Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey, who was the subject of Liverpool speculation, and a bid from Aston Villa. Spurs added Hugo Lloris to their ranks in goals, while an attempted record bid of £22 million for Joao Moutinho fell through, and the Portuguese stayed at home.
Southampton saw off competition from Spurs and Liverpool to sign Gaston Ramirez at a club record £12 million. Aston Villa were disappointed in their quest to sign Clint Dempsey. The two clubs had agreed a fee before Dempsey called the negotiations off; the player preferred to take his chances with Liverpool instead, before ending up at Tottenham.
Arsenal showed their classical sheepish form on deadline day, making no purchases, and loaning out Park and Bendtner, to Celta Vigo and Juventus respectively, with views to permanent deals on both fronts. Neighbours Chelsea were in a similar boat, only choosing to loan out Essien and the younger Hazard.
Early on in the day Michael Owen had tweeted that he would have a part to play in transfer deadline day, and the footballing world waited with baited breath to see where the veteran striker ended up. As the day drew to a close, that turned out to be nowhere; the striker, a free agent, chose not to sign, as he is not bound by the window itself. In other news of aging strikers, Alessandro Del Piero made what is expected to be his last career move, joining Sydney FC.
With the names in the books and the squads registered until New Year’s Day, the transfers mean different things for different clubs. For Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, the absence of last minute signings means we can judge them on what we have already seen. Liverpool are much in the same boat, only choosing to drop rather than sign on the final day. Sunderland and Fulham will hope that their bolstering will bring them up the table, but they may lack the true firepower to make a difference. QPR, one of the biggest spenders in the window, have made some big name signings, and in truth could do some damage if they all fire. While they aren’t the strongest team in the league, the added depth could give them some advantage.
The big winners of the day were City and Spurs. As City look to retain their crown, the addition of some solid defence minded players, and even more creativity in the squad is equally as important as the offloading of deadweight. Spurs will be looking for that ever-elusive Champions League spot again, and their signings may provide them with that chance. Although they lost a big-gun in van der Vaart, and failed to snap up Moutinho, Dembele and Dempsey give experience and skill that could prove vital to their top ambitions.
