Transfer Deadline Day: Live(ish) Blog

Chris Wright

31st, August 2011

28 Comments

By Chris Wright

Today’s the big day for dedicated gossip hounds like me, so we’ll be posting regular updates of all the rumours, comings and goings and OFFICIAL news that transfer deadline day has to offer – and, unlike watching Jim White over on SSN all day, you’ll probably wake up tomorrow with both eardrums intact.

Hit refresh to see the latest shenanigans at the top of the pile as and when, and please feel free to share your thoughts on the day’s happenings in the comments box below…

– Last one, Arsenal have confirmed that Nicklas Bendtner has joined Sunderland on a one-year loan deal and Cameron Jerome has finalised his move to Stoke.

–  Right dudes and dudettes, that’s me done for today (17 bloody hours at the coal face!) – be back with a ‘grizzly aftermath’ round-up tomorrow morning. Thanks for stopping by, it’s been epic!

You can probably expect Arteta’s move to Arsenal and Meireles’ move to Chelsea being squared away by the FA over the course of the next few hours. Scratch that, Meireles’ move (£12 million, 4 years) has just been announced on the Chelsea website, and the BBC are confirming that Arteta has indeed joined Arsenal.

– Via SSN, Aston Villa have completed the signings of Tottenham pair Jermaine Jenas on loan and Alan Hutton on a permanent deal.

– The British transfer window is now closed. Still lots of time for deals to be announced though – tends to go on for several days, expect announcements on Crouch, Arteta, Meireles et al sooner rather than later.

– According to all and sundry, Arsenal have agreed terms and struck a deal with Mikel Arteta but have NOT got the papers to the FA on time…time to play the waiting game.

– Shaun Wright-Phillips to QPR is a done deal…

– We’ve got word that Asamoah Gyan is waiting on an offer from Galatasaray which may see him engineer a move from Sunderland right at the death. He’s got seven minutes.

– The BBC are claiming that ‘Arry’s “spurned £40m Chelsea bid for Modric” was actually £30 million + Alex.

– Twente have just confirmed that Bryan Ruiz is now a Fulham player – Cottagers to make an announcement shortly.

– OFFICIAL: Craig Bellamy re-signs for Liverpool on a two-year deal (will wear the No. 39 shirt), Scott Dann joins Blackburn on a four-year deal.

– RE: Meireles – Chelsea have made a £15 million bid for the Liverpool midfielder and Daniel Sturridge may be about to toddle off in the opposite direction! Very exciting, 30 minutes left for anything to happen!

– “I have signed with Arsenal. Very happy and excited.” Yossi Benayoun completes his loan move to the Emirates.

– ‘Blue sky’ thinking here, but Meireles to Arsenal rather than Chelsea?

– Shocker! Liverpool have received a written transfer request from Raul Meireles – confirmed on their official site…

– A bit of  non-transfer related news: Ricardo Carvalho has quit the Portuguese national team this afternoon after being ‘disrespected’ by manager Paulo Bento at their training camp.

– Tottenham have just officially confirmed that Wilson Palacios has joined Stoke on a four-year deal. Still nothing on the Crouch deal.

– Yossi to Arsenal will be a season-long loan.

– News is breaking that Yakubu has completed a move to Blackburn – plenty of chicken for him to graze on at Ewood. This transfer window hasn’t been particularly kind to Everton, has it? Still, Straqualursi!

– The Mirror are pressing ahead and rubber-stamping Yossi Benayoun’s move to Arsenal on the footballing world’s behalf. Nothing official…yet.

– Per Mertesacker £8.8 million transfer finally confirmed on Arsenal’s website. Herr Per will wear the No. 4 shirt…

– Adam Johnson spotted at Loftus Road?

– We’re hearing that Spurs midfielder Wilson Palacios has now completed his £8 million move to Stoke and that we’re not long from hearing a similar announcement vis-a-vis Peter Crouch.

– Reports are coming in that Mikel Arteta has asked to leave Everton but will not hand in a transfer request. Makes…sense?

– Almost done: Peter Crouch has passed medical at Stoke City with a four-year deal agreed. Last few contract details are being finalised…

– More on the Arteta kerfuffle: Apparently the fee (£10 million) isn’t the problem, the sticking point is that he’s chasing £90,000-a-week. Still, the odds are that it’s going to go through before the cut-off. Yossi Benayoun still expected to join Gunners as well.

– West Ham have signed Guy Demel on a free, two-year deal.

– Arsenal back in again for Mikel Arteta according to SSN. Agent working hard to hammer out acceptable personal terms.

– Most barmy rumour of the day goes, unsurprisingly, to SSN’s Chris Kamara, who reckons Man City have offered £100 million plus Mario Balotelli for Messi – and that Barcelona ‘considering it’. Riiiiiiiight.

– ‘Arry has just confirmed that Chelsea actually lodged a £40 million bid for Luka Modric earlier today. If Luka’s head wasn’t right before, he’s going to be a jibbering mess now!

– After being cornered in the Spurs Lodge carpark (where else?), Harry Redknapp has told SSN that ‘a big one got away’, i.e, Gary Cahill transfer is not going to happen, which means that Seb Bassong won’t be leaving for QPR. However, Jenas and Hutton are still set for Villa.

– Twitter is alive with talk of ‘Kaka to Tottenham’, mostly slating the very thought of it!

– Tim Cahill is being mentioned in passing with a deadline day switch to Stoke, now that would be a surprise deal!

– A few bits and bobs to keep you abreast of: Arsenal have ended their interest in Mikel Arteta after having their £10 million offer knocked back, Burnley have signed Junior Stanislas from West Ham, Newcastle have hijacked Fulham’s £10 million deal for Bryan Ruiz, Gael Kakuta has joined Bolton on loan until January and the Trotters have also completed the £4 million signing of David N’Gog from Liverpool.

– Man City have confirmed that Owen Hargreaves is officially on board for the next year via their website…

– Shaun Maloney, Celtic to Wigan, £1 million. Done.

– Right. seeing as though it’s gone a little quiet on the bullshit front, I’m going to take a strategic tea-break. Be back shortly.

– Sky Sports News reckon that Craig Bellamy is having a medical at Liverpool as we speak after receiving word from his agent that his Man City pay-off has been successfully negotiated.

– Just a little heads up that the Italian transfer window is now closed (as of 18:00 BST) meaning clubs can still sell but not buy.

– Finally, ‘Arry makes his move…

[Via Oscar Pye-Jeary]

– A sad, sad day to be a Liverpool fan. First Poulsen, now Phillip Degen is in Glasgow putting the finishing touches on a move to Rangers. And you thought Scottish football was in the mucky muck before…

– Looks like Yossi Benayoun will be heading to Arsenal if the BBC Sport team are to be believed.

– Tottenham are currently favourites to sign Gary Cahill from Bolton though the move is being rated as 50/50 by those in the know. Good signing for Spurs if they can pull it off and ship out Bassong/Kaboul?

– A classic rears it’s ugly head: Arsenal sign Messi…

– Tottenham have just confirmed via their official Twitter feed that David Bentley has ‘reached an agreement’ and will move to West Ham on loan for the rest of the season.

– Here’s a little picture of Mikel Arteta’s missus, Lorena Bernal, to help pass the time…

– The real (we think) Guillem Balague is suggesting that Asamoah Gyan has indeed handed in a transfer request at Sunderland, but that he fancies a move to Turkey rather than Tottenham after talks with Mallorca fell through.

– THIS COULD BE THE ‘BIG ONE’. Rumours starting to spread that Mikel Arteta could be the midfielder that Arsenal are going hell for leather to sign. Several well-placed sources seem to think that the Gunners might get their man for around £8-10 million.

– The odds on Daniel Sturridge joining Liverpool before the window closes have just been dramatically slashed – surely the Blues wouldn’t flog him to their resurgent rivals, smacks of insanity to us.

– Per Mertesacker’s personal website has confirmed that the German defender has signed for Arsenal on a five-year deal.

– ‘Royston Drenthe to Everton on a free’ is now a thing that might happen. Fingers crossed he doesn’t choose to rap about it any time soon!

– OFFICIAL! Fulham have confirmed the signing of former Juventus defender Zdenek Grygera on a free transfer on a one-year deal.

– Brighton are closing in on the signing of former Valencia winger Vincente, Yes, that Vincente. The 30-year old Spaniard is a free agent after his contract with Los Che dwindled to nothing this summer. WOWZERS!

– “I’ve still got two years left on my Chelsea contract.” – Florent Malouda refusing to be used as ballast in ongoing pursuit of Luka Modric.

– Apparently Arsenal are beavering away trying to sign a midfielder before the close of play but they won’t let on who it is – only heard Yoann Gourcuff and Adam Johnson’s names crop up so far, neither of which seem particularly likely.

– The deal’s been in the can for a few hours but Arsenal have just confirmed that Per Merstesacker has agreed terms with the club via their official website. Just a few last details to be sorted – squad number, registration, etc…

– Everton cast-off Yakubu looks like he’ll be joining Blackburn at some point in the (very) near future.

– BBC Live Stream is reporting several intances of Shola Ameobi being linked with a move to Blackburn, last thing Newcastle need to lose is a striker – though there are whispers that Toon have bid for NK Maribor’s 6’2”, 20-year old target man Robert Beric.

– Ligue 1 side Evian have confirmed the signing of Christian Poulsen from Liverpool. The fee is listed as ‘undisclosed’. After Cole and Konchesky, Poulsen becomes yet another of the ‘Hodgson players’ to barely last a year at Anfield.

– Tweeted by the man himself, Forlan at Inter…

– A Gyan/Crouch swap deal is apparently being mooted by Tottenham, with one deal essentially facilitating the other. Might be the biggest move to go through on deadline day?

– The definition of a ‘journeyman’ – after spells in Canada, Moldova, Hungary and Germany, former Arsenal and Tottenham midfielder Rohan Ricketts has just signed for Europa League new boys Shamrock Rovers.

– Neil Warnock has got his hands on a Trani – young ‘keeper Tommaso Trani that is, who has joined QPR on a two-year deal following his release by AC Milan.

– Arsenal have confirmed via their official website that Andre Santos has joined from Fenerbache on a ‘long-term deal’ – also adding that the Brazilian left-back will wear the No. 11 shirt…

– Along with Mauro Zarate, Inter Milan have also confirmed that Diego Forlan has signed up with the Nerazzurri on a two-year deal.

– As well as Liverpool, Sky Sports News seem to think Craig Bellamy may also be having a medical at Stoke. Seems like Bellers is definitely going somewhere before the clock strikes midnight.

– We’ve got sources telling us that Asamoah Gyan has handed in a transfer request at Sunderland in order to push for a move to Tottenham. It’s a bit of an oldie, but we’re being assured it’s true – we’ll keep thee posted…

[Image: @JamesMawFFT]

– Who’d have thunk it? Turns out Mauro Zarate hasn’t been milling around in Blighty all afternoon. Sky Italia have just announced that he has signed for Inter Milan – initially on loan (€2.7 million), with a permanent deal (€15.5 million) up for grabs if he impresses between now and the end of the season.

– Tottenham have just officially confirmed that an undisclosed (we’re hearing £6-7 million) deal for Scott Parker has gone through on their club site, here’s a spot of pictorial evidence – good deal folks? Any thoughts?

– Speaking of Twitter, Yossi Benayoun has just let slip that it will either be “Spurs, Arsenal or Liverpool” if he leaves Chelsea this afternoon.

– Bit spurious, but Mauro Zarate (or someone pretending to be him) has tweeted that he “has just arrived in England”. Expect a full and frank debunking in the next ten minutes or so.

– Here’s a photo of Max Gradel signing on the dotted line with St Etienne – looks absolutely gutted to be leaving Leeds!

– THE JODHPURS ARE BACK IN THE BIG TIME! Scott Parker to Tottenham is now a done deal according to Sky Sports News – and why would they lie to us?

– It’s OFFICIAL: QPR have signed Anton Ferdinand from Sunderland for really rather modest £1 million.

– This could well be poppyfeathers but Goal.com are reporting that Craig Bellamy has arrived at Melwood for his Liverpool medical.

– Rumour is that, after ‘missing out’ on Joe Cole (we’re not sure how close they actually came), Aston Villa are ready to turn their attentions to snaffling Jermaine Jenas from Spurs.

– Looks like Joe Cole is going to be wearing the No. 26 shirt for Lille…

– Manchester United’s Federico Macheda is being linked with a loan move to either Newcastle, Sunderland or QPR and it also looks like Tomasz Kuszczak may be about to join CSKA Moscow.

– Reports are filtering through that Arsenal have sold Gilles Sunu, who was on the bench for the Manchester United pasting, to Lorient. The 20-year old spent the latter half of last season on loan at the French club.

– Nah, scratch that. The general consensus seems to be that the Beckford bid was £4+ million after all!

– While we’re on the subject, it seems that Leicester’s accepted bid for Jermaine Beckford was actually somewhere down around the £2.5 million mark. Talks are ongoing.

– Everton are reportedly on the verge of actually signing someone! BBC reckon Tigres’ 23-year old Argentine striker Denis Stracqualuisi is set to join the Toffees on loan. Who???

– First Swansea news of the day: Brendan Rodgers is looking to tie up a few ‘defensive-minded’ deals by this evening with Matthew Bates (Middlesbrough), Rafik Halliche (Fulham) and Adrian Mariappa (Watford) all mentioned in passing.

– Sources in Russia are claiming that Porto will make a late move for Tottenham’s Roman Pavlyuchenko.

– Birmingham are to move for Newcastle’s Nile Ranger if Cameron Jerome opts to join Stoke before the end of the day. As we speak, Ranger himself is “sitting at home, watching Eight-Legged Freaks”.

– Interesting Joe Cole stat via Opta: “Cole created nine goalscoring chances in 796 Premier League minutes for Liverpool, Charlie Adam has created six in 270 minutes so far.”

– It’s OFFICIAL: News has just appeared on the Lille website that Joe Cole has joined for the rest of 2011/12. Apparently he’s going to commute via the Eurostar on a daily basis..

– Arsenal whippersnapper Henri Lansbury is putting the finishing touches on a season-long loan move to West Ham.

– Eurosport are reporting that Joe Cole’s loan move to Lille c’est officiel.

– The BBC’s inside sources are reporting that Carlos Tevez is definitely staying at Man City until January at the earliest, and that Romelu Lukaku may be allowed to join Porto on loan for a year as part of Chelsea’s offer for Uruguayan wing-back Alvaro Pereira.

– Stoke and Sunderland are bartering away with Tottenham over a deal for Peter Crouch, with Spurs ready to sell but unwilling to budge on their £10 million asking price. We’re also hearing that there’s been absolutely no interest in Roman Pavlyuchenko…so far.

– Wouldn’t be a proper deadline without a decent Mauro Zarate rumour – this time Liverpool are being mooted, but we reckon there’s more chance of Gadhafi handing himself in at the White House by midnight tonight than any deal actually going through!

– Roma are having a hell of morning. With Fernando Gago already on board, the Serie A side have also ‘struck an agreement’ with Lyon for Miralem Pjanic as well as adding Maarten Stekelenburg, Dani Osvaldo, Simon Kjaer and Bojan Krkic to their ranks over the summer.

– One player that Arsenal will not be signing today is CSKA’s Japanese midfielder Keisuke Honda. Word was that he’d be flying in to London and Paris today for talks with the Gunners and PSG respectively – though his agent has rubbished both claims comprehensively.

– There seems to be a lot of buzz surrounding the ‘Clint Dempsey to Arsenal’ rumour – more ‘as’, ‘when’ and indeed ‘if’.

– BREAKING! The very first ‘cone on head/charge behind SSN reporter’ incident of the day has now occurred at Tottenham – unless that’s Luka Modric sneaking off to Chelsea?

– Eden Hazard HASN’T handed in a transfer request at Lille, the ‘Guillem Balague’ Twitter account responsible for the news has been debunked as a fake.

– Birmingham centre-half Scott Dann is in talks with Blackburn after being linked with Arsenal and Liverpool all summer.

– Fernando Gago has joined Roma on a year-long loan from Real Madrid.

– L’Equipe are reporting that Andre-Pierre Gignac is in London for talks with Everton, Blackburn and Fulham.

– Celtic winger Shaun Maloney is heading for talks with Wigan after the two clubs agreed fee believed to be in region of £1 million.

– A photo of Joe Cole emerging from a Lille hotel this morning is circulating on Twitter, adding a little substance to the whispers that he’s all set to join LOSC on a year’s loan – though Aston Villa are still hopeful of gazumping the French side…

– Leicester City have made a £4.5 million bid for Everton striker Jermaine Beckford and apparently it’s likely to be accepted.

– Crikey O’ Reilly! We’re now hearing (via Guillem Balague) that Eden Hazard has handed in a transfer request at Lille to force through a move…to Arsenal perhaps?

– Bump! We’re hearing that Liverpool stand to get first dibs on Eden Hazard as part of the ‘Joe Cole to Lille’ loan deal, and that King Kenny has no intention of making a move for the Belgian starlet due to his mammoth asking price.

– Harry Redknapp is ‘1,000,000%’ sure that Luka Modric won’t leave Spurs today – said from the window of his car so you know it must be true.

– Bolton are hoping to secure the £4 million signing of David N’Gog by this afternoon.

– QPR have also opened talks with Man City striker Craig Bellamy but those pesky, hugely-inflated wages may be a stumbling block.

– Tottenham midfielder Wilson Palacios is ‘within a hair’s breadth’ of completing his move to Stoke. Good signing for the Potters, that.

– Twente forward Bryan Ruiz is undergoing a medical at Fulham after the Cottagers agreed a relatively ma-hoo-sive £10.6 million fee for the Costa Rican.

– QPR are busy trying to rush through a £4 million deal for Birmingham defender Liam Ridgewell, who handed in a transfer request last night.

– Could be something, could be nothing – Mario Balotelli’s player profile page on the Man City website is DOWN!

– Nicklas Bendtner is still in negotiations with Stoke, though it seems the smart money is on him staying at Arsenal.

– Here’s a round-up of this morning’s gossip: Napoli playmaker Marek Hamsik is high on Arsene Wenger’s deadline day wishlist as is Rennes’ destroyer Yann M’Vila, Tottenham are now favourites to land Gary Cahill by offering Seb Bassong and David Bentley in p/x, Fulham are exploring the possibility of signing Sulley Muntari from Inter, Liverpool are weighing up a double offer for Spurs’ Croatian pair Vedran Corluka and Niko Kranjcar.

– According to The Sun, Chelsea have come out all guns blazing this morning with a £30 million offer for Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery, though the Germans are holding out for nearer £36 million.

– Blackburn are lining up a cheeky season-long loan offer for Juventus striker Luca Toni

– Leeds have agreed to sell nippy forward Max Gradel to French club St-Etienne

– Leaving City will be SWP who, along with Sunderland’s Anton Ferdinand, is ready to sign with QPR.

– Man City are expected to sign Owen Hargreaves at some point today, though the deal will be ‘highly incentivisied’ – i.e, if he falls apart again, he won’t get paid.

– Stoke have agreed a fee of £6 million with Birmingham for Cameron Jerome

– Here’s a quick round-up of last night’s action: Liverpool’s Christian Poulsen is on the verge of joining Ligue 1 newboys Evian Thonan Gaillard, Liverpool have officially completed the signing of  Sebastian Coates, Villa have made a £3 million bid for Alan Hutton, Wigan have signed Almeria winger Albert Crusat, Davide Santon has joined Newcastle, Scott Parker has handed in a transfer request at West Ham to spirit along his move to Tottenham and the Hammers have already bought in Papa Bouba Diop to replace him.

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28 Comments

  1. drkingkenny says:

    ngog goin 2 bolton

  2. Paul says:

    The transfer deadline day always reminds me of when you have homework and you think you have plenty of time to do it, but you still leave it to the last minute and do a half-arsed job of it. AKA Ngog going to Bolton.

  3. dd says:

    I’m happy that Modric is staying put. Great player but the price that Spurs are asking for is ridiculous. If Tottenham are that desperate to keep hold of an unhappy player, then they go right ahead. I really think Chelsea need to be a creative player. But time is fucking running out.

  4. bucci says:

    hahaha quality @paul.

    zarate looks like he will be off to Inter.

  5. Montesquieu says:

    If Chelsea get Ribery, they will have one of the ugliest line ups (appearance wise) in the Premiership. Anelka, Essien, Ribery, Bosingwa, Benayoun and Drogba.

    Than again, all the players are United are just as ugly.

  6. AdamWest says:

    @Montesquieu

    You can’t look ugly when you’ve got a Premier League Champions medal hanging around your neck. Beauty is in the gold on the sleeve.

    Suck on that one for awhile.

  7. 'Sota Dan says:

    Ruiz to Fulham would be great. Dempsey to Arsenal would suck. Rafik Halliche, it was nice knowin’ ya.

  8. Rayne Wooney says:

    @AdamWest

    An old Premier League winners medal looks so outdated though

  9. Chris says:

    @Sota Dan: Surely £10.6m is a little on the rich side though? Especially for a fairly hit-and-miss striker (or so I’ve heard) and ESPECIALLY for Fulham, who rarely spend more than a few million on a player.

  10. JuanSolo says:

    Arsenal are coming along nicely. Merstesacker and Santos are the type of players they desperately needed. I think Arsenal really missed out Parker though. He would have fit in nicely.

    Thanks for the blog Chris! This is Fun!

  11. Papi says:

    This is bat shit crazy. Good job on keeping up, Chris bro.

  12. Chris says:

    @Papi and Juan Solo: Cheers people, starting to flag a little bit now though…

  13. Chris says:

    @AdamWest – Don’t kid yourself, Ribery would still look ugly even made of gold and cradled in the hands of God Himself.

  14. Martin Jol looks like he has pulled one out the bag. Bryan Ruiz could be an excellent addition to the Fulham team.

  15. Harry says:

    According to AVFC.co.uk Alan Hutton and Jermaine Jenas are both having medicals as we speak. Huttons deal being permanent and Jenas on a season long loan.

  16. sir tom mac says:

    only a few hours left m8….any news on the tricky trees?…….

  17. Chris says:

    @Mac: Absolutely nothing mate. Still, there’s always the loan window…

  18. Nick says:

    Come on McClaren. Please? I’ll chip in £20 for anyone. Not Sol Campbell though, please.

  19. sir tom mac says:

    probly best we dont sign anyone….i rekon he tells the aqusition board a list of decent players and like chinese whispers down the line of board menbers, some how ryan bertrand turns into george boateng…..

  20. Madjair says:

    Meireles, how the hell could Liverpool let him go?

  21. anonimosity says:

    bye bye miereles

  22. Tiago says:

    Something tells me Liverpool are going to miss Meireles.. and something tells me that all that Arsenal commotion won’t be enough to save this season. Also, good job Chris

  23. Jeffrey Lowery says:

    Disappointed to see Meireles go. It’s honestly baffling.

  24. S-League Player says:

    ABSOLUTELY gutted Meireles left. Really fancied him a future Kop Legend. But I guess there’s just not enough space in central mid for a 28++yr old foreigner in Liverpool’s team. But WHY to CHELSEA?? They’re direct competitors Kenny!

  25. Chris says:

    Completely agree! Kenny’s just never been into Raul. I don’t get it! He has such serious class and quality when he’s actually played in his preferred position. As soon as he was actually allowed to play as an attacking mid-fielder he was gold. Seeing him at Chelsea worries me.
    Granted, he has looked like one seriously miserable fella since last May…

  26. Anonymous says:

    yes miereless was a good player and very likeable, but there really were too many midfielders, he’s 28 and they got a pretty good fee (more than they paid a year ago). and he handed in transfer request, and since when has letting players go who didn’t want to be there been a bad idea? anyway, leaves more room for spearing and shelvey to have a go. this isn’t a tragedy.

    goodbye cole, poulson, degen, insua, el zhar, ngog, ayala, and any more deadwood i’ve forgotten.

  27. Papi says:

    Had I tried something like this, it would have been full of spelling, grammatical errors, etc., because there is no way that I could have followed the transfer window on deadline day for 17 hours without a few drinks!

  28. […] loan is finished Excerpt from: Bendtner vows to never return to Arsenal, Arsenal probably not upset The most confident life-form on the planet , Nicklas Bendtner, was finally sent out on a season-lon… according to The Sun , he's saying that he has no plans to return to Arsenal once his loan is […]

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