Well, after a month filled with a few moves and a lot of speculation, we’ve finally reached the final day of the transfer window. I’ll be reporting later on all of the action from what should be a frantic day, but for now, here’s all of the latest from yesterday and the early part of today.
One of the big questions of the month has been whether or not Rangers right back Alan Hutton would go to Tottenham. Well, that one’s been answered, as money and persistence on both sides looks to have done the trick, as Hutton is signed, sealed, and delivered as a Tottenham player.
The deal is reportedly close to the 9 million pounds Sunderland paid for Craig Gordon, so Hutton could be the second-most expensive Scottish player in history.
He’ll be making his debut against Premiership table-toppers Manchester United (whom he had supposedly been waiting for a move from earlier in the month) on the weekend, so we’ll quickly find out if he’s worth all the cheese.
Unfortunately for Pascal Chimbonda, the transfer comes at a pretty bad time, because Hutton’s arrival means that he might be spending a lot more time on the bench now, barring more injuries, and it might be a little late for him to get away from White Hart Lane.
It’s one in, one out at Spurs, as winger Wayne Routledge is on his way to Aston Villa in a 1.5 million pound deal. The former England U-21 international will have the chance to make an immediate impact on the right at Villa, and will look to rejuvenate his career after a forgettable few years with Tottenham.
Villa could try to snap up two more Tottenham players before the window closes, one of them being Chimbonda, who they’ve been linked with since the Hutton saga started. The other player is midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng, who only moved to Tottenham in the summer from Hertha Berlin. Reports say that Tottenham have accepted a 3.5 million pound bid for the 20-year old, but Tottenham have refuted that speculation thus far.
It’s highly apparent that Newcastle could really use some new defenders, or a kick in the pants to the ones they have already, but that fact isn’t going to make them up their bid for Derby’s Giles Barnes, after having a 2 million pound bid for the 19-year old rejected by Derby.
Pompey just brought in Milan Baros on loan, but it looks like they’re trying to wrap up a 10 million euro swoop for Mallorca winger Jonas Gutierrez before the deadline. Pompey have been after Gutierrez, whose Spidey sense is triggered when he scoring goals, for more than a year, and Mallorca had even threatened to report them to UEFA for trying to tap up the 25-year old.
Gutierrez’s agent is his mother, and she’s none too happy about the fact that Mallorca actually didn’t alert them to the bid until the last few days, when Pompey had actually tabled the offer on the 16th. Bad move Mallorca, bad move…you don’t mess with the mother.
Gutierrez could be on his way to the south coast, while Benjani might be on his way to Manchester City, who have finally had some success in their long search for more strikers, as they’re set to sign Ecuadorian striker Felipe Caicedo in a 5 million pound deal from Swiss club FC Basel. Caicedo won’t turn 20 until next week, but he’s already become a regular for his country, and was part of their Copa America squad last year.
City are also reportedly closing in on a move for midfielder Miguel Angel Angulo, one of the three major cast-offs from Ronald Koeman’s rebuilding project at Valencia, and the club are also holding out hope for the Home Office to reverse their decision on refusing to give Iraqi star Nashat Akram a work permit due to the fact that Iraq’s average FIFA ranking was just a shade outside of the requirements.
Roma have made a late bid to snatch Heerenveen’s Afonso Alves from Middlesbrough, with the Brazilian striker set to have his work permit appeal hearing today. Boro have actually not agreed a deal with the club for Alves, so Roma could very well step in before the window closes.
Boro are set to bring in at least one striker, either way, as they’ve agreed a deal with Inter over 18-year old Macedonian striker Goran Slavkovski to bring the promising prospect in on loan for the rest of the season. Could they have the next Zlatan Ibrahimovic on their hands? Just like Ibrahimovic, Slavkovski has Swedish-Balkan roots, and just like Ibrahimovic, played for FBK Balkan and Malmo in his younger days.
The only difference between the two tall strikers is their international affiliation. While Ibrahimovic suits up for Sweden, it looks like Slavkovski is going to turn out for the Macedonian U-21 side after representing Sweden since his U-15 days.
Chelsea have had a 15 million pound bid for Palermo’s Amauri rejected, according to the Corriere dello Sport. I suppose they didn’t get the memo that Palermo want nothing less than 18 million for him.
Bolton have signed Aston Villa’s Gary Cahill for a fee believed to be in the 5 million pound range. Bolton beat out Birmingham for the 22-year old defender, who has signed a three and a half year deal.
Birmingham are set to make at least one more signing before the transfer window closes, in experienced Georgian midfielder Levan Tskitishvili. The 31-year old, who has 50 caps for his country, last played for Greek side Panionios, who released him recently.
Rangers have snapped up two Scottish internationals, as they signed West Ham’s Christian Dailly on loan for the rest of the season, and have signed Ipswich keeper Neil Alexander on a three and a half year deal. Their move for Alexander should pave the way for Derby to complete the signing for Roy Carroll, which will be a big boost to Paul Jewell.
Celtic could very well get pipped at the post by Nottingham Forest for Dundee United star Barry Robson after Forest came in with a bid of more than one million pounds for the 29-year old midfielder, who is second in the SPL with 11 league goals, and has 12 overall this season.
Money talks, money talks, money talks…
And for the final run-through…Barcelona are looking to make a move for highly-rated Racing Santander center back Ezequiel Garay, who is valued at 20 million euros…Lyon have signed Nice’s Brazilian midfielder Ederson for 15 million euros, and will likely loan out the 22-year old, who reportedly rejected offers from Manchester United and Real Madrid, back to Nice until the end of the season…Ousmane Dabo has moved back to Lazio from Manchester City, signing a three-year deal to rejoin his former club…FIFA have not yet made a decision on Daniel Cousin’s move to Fulham, contrary to reports that had said they’d already blocked the move.
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