A few high-profile deals were concluded on deadline day, and there were a few that didn’t go through.
What deals went through, and which deals didn’t?
England
So, Arsenal have finally signed Andrei Arshavin. Finally. But it didn’t come without a little more unnecessary drama, as Zenit St. Petersburg said the deal was off, when it was, in fact, very much on. Arsenal ended up getting it done without overpaying, as the initial fee for the deal is only £10m, half of the £20m that Zenit had been angling for.
Analysis: After the way things that Arshavin’s transfer situation dragged on from the summer, how many clubs are really going to want to deal with Zenit in the future?
Six months after leaving Tottenham for what looked to be the greener pastures of Anfield, Robbie Keane has left Liverpool to return to White Hart Lane in a £15m deal.
Analysis: Could the timing be more perfect? Tottenham needed a striker, and Keane needed to get out of Liverpool. Better yet, his re-debut, if you will, is on Sunday, at home, against hated rivals Arsenal.
Chelsea, quiet for all of January, pulled off an impressive deal on deadline day by signing Inter’s Ricardo Quaresma on loan.
Analysis: All he has to do is pretend like the Premier League is the Portuguese top flight, and he’ll be a success.
After it looked almost certain that Roque Santa Cruz would leave Blackburn in the January window, it’s come and gone, and he’s in the same place as he was when it started.
Analysis: If they get relegated, they’re going to regret not having cashed in on him when they had the opportunity to, when they could’ve gotten £20m for him, because they’ll be lucky to get half of that for him in the summer if they go down. I guess that’s a risk worth taking, even with him not scoring on a regular basis.
I didn’t get a chance to include this one in the Sunday roundup, but Shay Given has made his move from Newcastle to Manchester City in a £6m deal.
Analysis: I’m sure he’s all too excited to leave Newcastle, but how long will that excitement last?
Their business stopped there, however, as Newcastle failed in a late £8m bid for City midfielder Michael Johnson.
Analysis: Johnson may have a future at Manchester City, if he can overcome injury problems that have plagued him thus far.
Also leaving Newcastle for the Manchester area is Charles N’Zogbia, who moves to Wigan in a 6m deal, with Wigan’s Ryan Taylor also going to St. James’ Park.
Analysis: Nice of him to donate some of his wages to a couple of charities, including Sir Bobby Robson’s cancer charity, should help him win over a few people after looking like a real whiner for the last several months.
Portsmouth pulled out of a deal for Tottenham’s Giovani dos Santos due to the Mexican forward’s lack of match fitness. However, they did sign Greek international midfielder Angelos Basinas from AEK Athens.
Analysis: Tough break for dos Santos, who won’t really get a chance to improve his match fitness at Tottenham, if his lack of appearances since Harry Redknapp’s arrival is any indication.
Fulham wrapped up their January spending by signing former Leeds man Olivier Dacourt from Inter on loan and making their loan deal for Coventry winger Julian Gray permanent.
Analysis: With Fulham pushing to consolidate a place in the top half of the table and maybe even push for the top six, it doesn’t hurt to have someone with Premier League, European, and international experience like Dacourt.
Sunderland filled a need for defensive reinforcements by signing Manchester City’s Tal Ben Haim and West Ham’s Calum Davenport on loan.
Analysis: Good finish to the January window for Sunderland, who managed to hold on to Kenwyne Jones, disposed of a safety risk in El-Hadji Diouf, and made a couple of key defensive signings.
West Brom have signed PSG midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu and San Lorenzo midfielder/striker Juan Carlos Menseguez on loan for the remainder of the season.
Analysis: It might have helped West Brom to have saved some of that money that they spent in the summer for some January reinforcements, but Mulumbu, who has eight caps for the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Menseguez, who played for Bundesliga side Vfl Wolfsburg for several seasons before moving to San Lorenzo in 2007, could both play a role in helping West Brom stay in the hunt for survival until the very end.
Italy
Christian Panucci will be at Roma until at least the end of the season. The veteran defender had been linked with a move in the last week, and Hull had shown interest in making a move for him, but he’s staying in Rome.
Analysis: He seems to have seen the error of his ways after reacting poorly about being a substitute in a recent match, but the pine is something he may have to get used to.
Scotland
The maddest man in Scotland right now has to be Hibs striker Steven Fletcher, who won’t get his dream move to Celtic (for now) after Hibs rejected Celtic’s offer for the 21-year-old.
Analysis: He doesn’t know it now, but they may be doing him a favor by not letting him move just yet.
If there’s a deadline-day tidbit that we’ve missed, post it in the comments along with a link to the source.
And if you want to check out all of the confirmed transfers from the January transfer window, check out our updated January 2009 transfer lists.
See you in the summer!
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