Less than 5 hours to go and there are still plenty of deals
to be concluded. In the words of Deadline Day favourite Jim White, “Expect the
unexpected!” and hopefully there are still more surprises in store. Here is a
roundup of the transfer activity that has taken place this afternoon.
David Beckham has completed his free transfer to Paris
Saint-Germain. The 37 year old has signed a 5 month deal and announced during
his unveiling at the press conference that the salary he was due to receive
from the club will go towards a local childrens charity. A very class move from
the former England captain. Aston Villa completed the signing of 22 year old Yacouba
Sylla from French second division side Clermont Foot as well to strengthen
their midfield.
We are still waiting for confirmation of Stoke City
completing the signing of Birmingham City’s goalkeeper Jack Butland, it is also
public knowledge that Stoke are trying to sign 22 year old American winger Brek
Shea from FC Dallas, but the only thing stopping that deal from going through
currently is a work permit issue. Everton are also very close to signing Barnsley
full back John Stones. An undisclosed fee has been agreed and the 18 year old
has travelled to Merseyside for talks. While Stones might be leaving The Tykes,
they’ve managed to sign Stokes throw-in specialist Rory Delap on loan for the
rest of the season. Two other confirmed Premier League departures both come
from Sunderland, Egyptian midfielder Ahmed Elmohamady has rejoined Hull City on
loan for the rest of the season and experienced French striker Louis Saha has
had his contract with the Black Cats cancelled following the £5 million signing
of Danny Graham.
Throughout the day there has been plenty of speculation with
regards to potential big movers to The Premier League. Earlier on today
Tottenham Hotspur and Everton were being linked with Leandro Damiao and Alvaro
Negredo respectively but no bids were made and it seems unlikely that any will
be made now. Despite adding Luciano Becchio to their ranks, Norwich attempted
to further strengthen their front line by making a fourth bid for Gary Hooper,
but once again it was rejected. The Canaries also had a bid for Birmingham’s
Curtis Davies rejected due to the offer being below their valuation of the
defender. It remains to be seen if they will return with another offer.
The clock is ticking and without a doubt we are approaching
the period where clubs begin to get a little bit shaky and begin to ponder
panic buying. Any deal done between now and 11pm I will be analysing later
tonight or tomorrow and giving my opinion on whether I think a club has put a
great deal of thought into a deal for a player, or if they’ve maybe just
bottled it a little bit given the amount of time left and the transfer could be
considered a “panic buy.” If any previous deadline days are anything to go by,
the spending is far from over! Catch you again soon for the early evening
roundup.
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