It’s the time of year again where we all sit in anticipation; either waiting nervously to see who our clubs will sign or to see who won the bet in “Harry Redknapp car window bingo”. There are shock moves and twists throughout the day that even the very best scriptwriters wouldn’t dare make up! Only… that didn’t really happen this year. Transfer deadline day was very aptly summed up when we were brought live images of the Stoke City directors celebrating and patting each others backs, only to discover the only deal they had completed was securing some pepperoni pizza to their stomachs for a disclosed fee of £8.50 all in with a 2 litre bottle of Pepsi.
Heading into the final day, we were promised lots, but were ultimately delivered very little (transfers, not pizza). Arsenal were all set to sign Julian Draxler, until they didn’t sign Julian Draxler. Instead, Arsène Wenger opted to have a go at running his own hospital ward, bringing in Kim Källström on loan from Spartak Moscow, and putting him straight onto the in-patients list at the Emirates, as a back injury was detected during his medical that leaves him out until March.
On Merseyside, Liverpool fans were left gutted when they failed to sign Yevhen Konoplyanka, a Ukrainian winger, after already missing out on Mohammed Salah earlier in the window to Chelsea. Reports suggest that rather than the deal stalling on price, or personal terms, this transfer failed as Dnipro, Konoplyanka’s club, were unwilling to sign off on the winger despite the release cause being met, which is the only saving grace if your name is Ian Ayre. Still, it will have left Reds fans disappointed.
Manchester United and David Moyes had arguably the biggest moment of the transfer window when they signed Juan Mata from Chelsea. But because it wasn’t on deadline day, Moyes will probably find himself on the hitlist of deadline day master Jim White, where, because of the lack of actual headline news, Jim and the team at Sky Sports News were having to try and build up any ounce of excitement they could for rumour such as “Lee Cattermole to Stoke”. Come the big day itself, Manchester United didn’t really do anything, except confirm that Federico Macheda is still alive by sending him to Birmingham City on loan along with a host of youth players, and loan out Wilfried Zaha to Cardiff.
Elsewhere, Chelsea snapped up a deal for highly-rated prospect Kurt Zouma from Saint Etienne. He’ll remain on loan at the French side for the rest of the season as Jose Mourinho looks set to build his future bus to park at a Premier League ground near you. Of course, Chelsea, like Manchester United, had already done business, in signing Nemanja Matic for £22 million, years after they sold him to Benfica for £4 million. You be the judge of those figures.
To Fulham, and part time striker Dimitar Berbatov was sold to AS Monaco, whilst the Cottagers made a raft of signings, including Lewis Holtby on loan from Spurs, Johnny Heitinga from Everton and Kostas Mitroglou from Greek side Olympiakos as Rene Meulensteen looks to keep Fulham from the drop.
Tony Pulis also made a host of signings at Crystal Palace, snapping up no less than 5 players. Part of me believes that this is because he wants squad depth as Crystal Palace battle it out in the lower depths of the table, but I can’t help but feel he was offered a free piece of club merchandise with every purchase.
But that pretty much sums it up. Nothing else of interest really happened. This again was underlined, when the breaking news banner on Sky Sports popped up to announce Flamingo Land had stopped sponsoring Leeds United. My thoughts for the next deadline day bonanza? Must try harder.
