Transfer Deadline Day: February 2nd, 2009

By: Daryl | February 2nd, 2009

The winter transfer window is officially closed in Europe, but there are still plenty of deals waiting to go through. Since the weather gods decided to bury most of western Europe under snow today, the Premier League – for example – will apparently make allowances for any paperwork that doesn’t get filed, medicals that don’t get done etcetera.

Keeping up to date with some live stories as the end of the window comes nearer and nearer:

Latest news on Arshavin: to Arsenal til 2012. The Free Andrei! movement has finally worked. And did Arsene Wenger just buy someone in his prime? Surely not.
Ricardo Quaresma to Chelsea is official and doesn’t appear to have anyone – that’s you, Malouda – heading in the other direction.
~~Arsene Wenger has reportedly told someone the Andrei Arshavin deal will go through. Believe it when you see the contract written in blood.~~
David Villa reportedly spotted in Liverpool today? (Spaniards stand out in the snow.) No way in a frozen hell he’s sold…..unless Valencia’s financial problems are more dire than thought. And would Rafa sell Keane without another striker coming in? No, Villa would never move….right?
Bayern are already the summer’s busiest team, signing Ivica Olic from HSV, sending Lukas Podolski back home to Koln and today bringing in Ukrainian midfield vacuum Anatoliy Tymoshchuk from Zenit.

The good news is that Robbie Keane is back at Spurs for around £15m. That’s a definite. Why’s that good news? Because it means no more Rafa vs Robbie rumous. Rafa now officially dislikes Robbie enough to sell him at a loss.

Very odd to see Spurs resigning all their old players. Apparently they put in bids for Berbatov, Mido, Kanoute and Gary Lineker today as well.

The other big expected deal – Andriy Arshavin from Zenit to Arsenal – is still in the balance. Apparently they’re still haggling over money, and there’s a story breaking right now that the deal is off.

Roque Santa Cruz has not gone to Man City, but City striker Jo has left to join Everton on loan. Good bit of business from David Moyes.

City did sign Shay Given for £6m last night, but that was the only big signing at Eastlands.

For some reason Chelsea are being linked with signing Inter’s golden trashcan winner Ricardo Quaresma on loan. Massive gamble from Big Phil Scolari if he signs Tricky Ricky.

Charles N’Zogbia (or is it Charles Insomnia?) has got what he wanted. A dream move to Wigan. Wait, that doesn’t sound right.

Interestingly, no deal has been announced with David Beckham and AC Milan. His loan deal expires March 9th, and – as I understand it – any deal beyond that would need to have been agreed before today’s deadline.

Any other big deals or rumours? Let us know in the comments…

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Diane

Robbie Keane, no LFC supporter wants to be the club that treats a player like that, it was painful to watch. I wish him the best (except against LFC).

$$$ -- Liverpool still owed Tottenham 10m for Keane if that helps the number crunchers any.
Diane

Daryl, regarding both Donovan and Beckham, since transfer papers are held by the club a player goes to they are subject to the club's FA regulations. So
technically they are both already considered January aquisitions in Europe. Any arragnements that end their loans before June, when the window opens again in Europe, would be a "handshake" agreement between the clubs. I've never heard of one that was blown off, for obvious reasons, but it does mean that no announcement about either Beckham or Donovan had to be made today.

If Galaxy want to let either of them stay in Europe -- and no one has said that Beckham has made the request yet, only Donovan so far -- all they have to do is let them play out their loans. Hmmmm, I can't remember whether money can change hands between now and June...on top of everything else that would be a big timing issue for the Galaxy if they were to give up either or both players.
Rob

Goodness knows Spurs could do with Lineker. They could also get Gazza in while they're there.
Shazback

Anthony : Instalments.

Most football clubs are very good at circumnavigating regulations to keep their figures confidential. Even player salaries are often nothing more than educated guesses. Most likely, Tottenham have agreed to pay three 5M£ installments (one every 6 months, or something), as well as a performance-related package. Like that they don't need to declare it.
Anthony

Daryl, if it is true that Robbie Keane has returned to Spurs for the reported £15m how come it was an "undisclosed fee"? As a Ltd company anything over £10m must be put on the stock market so as I don't see the deal being less than £10m, I am still wondering...

Any idea on this ?
Laurie

I am shocked that there's no Beckham news. What gives?

(Oh, btw, I got to this post by doing a google news search (UK) for "Beckham". You were apparently the third-most relevant.) :-)