Transfer Window 2008 Final Day LiveBlog

By: chris | September 1st, 2008

It’s the final day of the transfer window and we’ll be bringing you all the juicy stuff that happens as the deadline approaches at midnight:

• Or not: Berbatov to Manchester United for £30.7m and Fraizer Campbell on a one year loan. Well that only took 8 months.

And that’s where we end ladies & gent.

• At this point it looks like Tottenham Reserves just got a fantastic new signing.

• MIDNIGHT. It’s over, but news will surely be trickling in as the papers go through and all that good stuff.

• Citeh/Binho officials: 42 million euros, 6 million euros wages after tax, Robinho was crying because he wanted to leave, threatening to go back to Brazil if they didn’t release him, etc.

• A very quiet last 15 thus far…

• 15 minutes and no sign of a Berba deal. How funny would it be if in 10 minutes, dripping with sweat and in a panic because he’s burned his London bridges, he called up Citeh and agreed to head across town?

And you have to wonder if Real is just turning that Robinho money around and offering it to North London. Or maybe even Amsterdam….

• Reports from Spain (stop snickering) state Robinho will be earning £92k per week. Wonder if he got a “Chelsea out clause” too?

• Anybody else think Shaun Wright-Phillips wishes he’d held off til today to agree to the transfer? I’d imagine these Citeh contracts are looking particularly delicious right now.

Ditto for Chelski, because they surely could’ve netted at least 3-4x the £8.5m they got when Thakky was owner.

• Citeh has the best slogan up on their official website right now…Investment in MCFC: “Period of due diligence entered”.

• Sky Sports just announced “Robinho is a Manchester City player…the clearance from the Spanish end for the registration and the transfer has gone though.”

And may I just say….what a fucking mercenary.

• Fraizer Campbell is reportedly a part of the Berbatov deal, but yet to be concerned. If so, watch him be immediately sent out on loan to Hull or something.

• Real Betis have swooped for European champion Sergio Garcia, formerly of Real Zaragoza. Great signing for them. Not enough to make up for Sobis, but still.

• Guardian is reporting two young studs are very close to the Prem. Swedish sensation (they’re all sensations) Ola Toivonen is headed to Stoke and Marouane “Peter Crouch of the Midfield” Fellaini is headed to the blue side of Liverpool.

• Daryl just posed a very good question: wonder if Vedran Corluka’s thinking “shit, wish I’d stayed at City”.

Let’s see…Tottenham lost Berba and Citeh gained a Robinho. But in London he got himself a Croatian playtime buddy. Worth a ponder.

• I was just berated with this quote about Calderon: “That quote is a few minutes old”. Love this technology age.

Anyway, it reportedly is Man City, I just need to get the latest quote.

• Ask and ye shall receive; Calderon:

“We have agreed to sell the player for human reasons, and for footballing reasons and for an important quantity of money,” Real president Ramon Calderon told Spanish television station VEO. “After consulting with the technical staff we have decided it was the best decision for the group and the club.”

To Man City, presumably, but who here wouldn’t be shocked to learn Chelsea came through at the last minute to save the young man?

• One hour left and all is relatively quiet for the moment. But the last time I said that, ManU photogs were seen en route to OT and Binho was just piledrived by a Man City offer (what do you think it took to convince him to go, if such is the case? £10m per?). Stay tuned.

• Best news of the day:

Joey Barton has texted Sky Sports News to say he’s staying at Newcastle!

Love the technology age. Also, this brings up an important safety tip: don’t give your number to Joey Barton. Never know what that drunk dial will turn out like.

• Berba has a page on the official ManU website, and he’s wearing #9.

Unfortunately it’s saying he joined 9.9.06, which is not today’s date last time I checked. Doesn’t do much for the validity. (Site’s a fake, now confirmed.)

• Nom for worst transfer of the window, if true: Rafael Sobis to Al-Jazira in the UAE for €6.8m. Real Betis bought him for €24m just two years ago, and he’s still a huge talent. But it’s Marca, we shall see.

• Stoke has reportedly made a £6m bid for Joe Ledley of Cardiff City. His wiki was just down when I checked, presumably due to a number of people asking the same question as I: who?

• Per Daryl via Sky Sports (not the most reliable middle man, I know), the official team photog has arrived at Old Trafford.

Well that about seals it, doesn’t it?

• Is this it? Is this the day’s shocker?

But here we go, this is the big one, a deal has been AGREED for Robinho to move to Manchester City, £32m.

Damn. So the question becomes…..has Robinho agreed to the move? (Rumor is yes. Searching…)

• Berba’s reportedly at Old Trafford right now, with an announcement looking imminent. Or maybe he’s just buying tickets for next weekend’s Pool-ManU matchup.

• From The Guardian:

Ok, Man City news. It’s from good sources. Forget Villa and Gomez, they have not made bids for them. But a bid has been made for a certain Bulgarian and Robinho. Is that news? It’ll have to be, it’s all I have.

So what happens if both Berba and Binho accept the deals, just wanting to get the fuck out of Londrid? Can they sign them both? And if so, will they then have to spend another 5m on a premier sports psychologist unhappy with his current practice?

• News about giant Serbians:

Valencia striker Nikola Zigic has shunned a transfer to England and completed a loan move back to Racing Santander.

Stoke City was in for him, which was a laugh, so he’s gone back to Racing.

Now maybe I’m wrong, but doesn’t Valencia have severe financial issues? Like so severe that they have to consider selling off prized assets ASAP? How is a loan helping?

• Another Brazilian leaving Barca for northern Italy, though this one wielding a lower profile and presumably better hair. Falque Silva Iago, formerly of the famed Barca youth setup, has joined Juventus to do absolutely nothing for the senior squad this year. Speaking of Iago’s who won’t play at Juventus, wonder how Tiago’s doing today.

* - Or he’s Spanish. Whatever.

• Realizing 5-0 losses to Wigan isn’t gonna cut it, Hull have signed Daniel Cousin from Rangers. Three cheers for Daniel, because this one went off without too much drama.

• Rumors persist that Portsmouth are after Newcastle’s title as the Dumbest Club in the World by taking one, you guessed it, Joey Barton.

Even dogs learn not to touch an electric fence when it shocks them. Dog > Harry.

• The Ajax exodus continues: Albert Luque has joined Malage and George Ogararu has gone on loan to Steaua Bucharest. Good to see them rid themselves of senior statesmen, considering their opening day lineup had an all too elderly average age of 12 (and they lost).

But the big news involving the Ajax is that Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is staying.

• Tottenham has decided they want to replace Berba with a striker who has scored double digit goals in a season twice since the millennium began. Enter Emile Heskey, who they’re bidding for right now.

• Berba may or may not be having a physical with United right now. With no word of a deal reached with Tottenham, this is a bit strange. Could be a bit overzealous, or maybe he just enjoys coughing while a man cups his vegetables.

• Tyrone Mears, who snuck out of Derby to go on trial with Marseille, has finally signed with the French side. Somehow, I don’t Tyrone was who Frank Lampard had in mind when he said Englishmen should go abroad.

• Hide the women and children, Man City has even more money now. Marca is reporting that they’ve have bid for yet another pouty attacker wanting out, Robinho. Either they’re desperate for reinforcements or this is some extra expensive charity work.

• Liverpool have officially signed Albert Riera from Espanyol for an undisclosed fee. So they’ve swapped an English-speaking player today (Finnan) for a Spanish-speaker. Sounds about right. Stevie G and Carragher are going to need some Rosetta Stone soon.

• Palermo have reportedly put in a huge bid for Nilmar, former lover of Lyon and uber-talent who also happens to be an uber-hassle. Made a huge mess of his Lyon move (illegally, if I recall correctly). Seems to be par for the course for new Brazilian Palermo signings. Tulio de Melo signed for both them and Parma last winter, making more problems for everyone. He’s now at Lille after whining his way out of Sicily due to no starting spot. This Nilmar thing should work out well…

• ManCity is like the super uncool cat who shows up at the party fresh after winning the lotto and tries to pick up every hot chick in the room by telling them how rich he is. They’ve taken the Berba snub so harshly thy’ve gone and made bids for David Villa and Mario Gomez. The latter could happen if they throw enough money at Stuttgart.

• As Dimitar’s World Turns: Berba is reportedly at ManU facilities and may have been picked up at the airport by Fergie himself. Question: Is Dimitar Berbatov the most important person ever? Where the fuck was the Popemobile? They could’nt have scared up that thing for him?

• Chievo have swooped for Kerlon, the infamous seal dribbler from Cruizeiro. Big move for a newly promoted club. So the Flying Donkeys now have the Seal Dribbler. There’s a terrible joke somewhere in there just waiting to happen, I’ll spare you all.

A little teaser. Huge coup for a newly promoted club.

• Favorite headline of the day so far: Saha joins Toffees after clearing medical hurdle. What they didn’t mention is that hurdle was the Great Wall of China.

• How about this transfer news, from The Guardian:

Bristol City have signed John Akinde from Ebbsfleet (or Gravesend and Northfleet, as some of us traditionalists still prefer to think of them). Akinde’s switch makes a little piece of transfer history: it’s the first to be decided by a club’s support. 82.3% of Ebbsfleet’s owners, myfootballclub.co.uk, voted in favour of letting the 19-year-old head for Ashton Gate.

Not sure how many people own that club, but knowing that thousands of people think you’re rubbish doesn’t exactly put a kick into your step.

• Real Madrid have made a bid for Berbatov. That had to be coming, though thought it would be Barca. Reportedly €45m. Real Madrid clearly doesn’t fuck around.

• Rafa has sent the unloved Ukrainian gigolo Andriy Voronin on loan to Hertha Berlin. So back to Germany he goes to be blond and more blond.

• CSKA Moscow have made a sneaky great purchase in Tomas Necid, 19yo Czech striker. Seemed all summer Juve were hot & bothered over the young lad and he’d make his way to Torino but the Russians have swooped in. Remember that name.

• Keeping up with the theme of calcio news, Udinese just signed Maurizio Domizzi on co-ownership from Napoli. Always nice to have a hardass thug in the stable.

• Diego Milito has rejoined old club Genoa on loan from Real Zaragoza. Not sure why Zaragoza let him go, but great news for Genoa. (Just been reminded that Zaragoza were relegated last season, so that clears that up.)

• Belgian striker Kevin Mirallas has left Lille for Ligue 1 rivals St. Etienne. The lad’s only 20 and had an impressive Olympics.

• Steve Finnan has joined Espanyol from Liverpool, following the odd Irish tradition of fullbacks leaving the Premiership for so-so Spanish teams, a tradition that dates back to Ian Harte joining Levante.

• Quick thought on Berbatov. Spurs might get an extra few million by selling him to City instead of Utd, but… is that worth the negative impact on Spurs of Berbatov signing for a more direct rival?

• Chelsea right back Paulo Ferreira is talking to West Ham. Not sure how much Ferreira will cost the Hammers, but it won’t be the £13.2million Mourinho originally paid for him.

• No other big news coming in (unless you count Jon Stead joining Ipswich Town on loan….) but Mark Hughes has confirmed that Man City’s Berba bid isn’t just one of Fergie’s whisky-fuelled nightmares. It’s real, and Hughes will meet Berbatov today to try and twist his arm.

• Spotted by Rob in the comments first, but Man City’s new owners are trying to snatch Dimitar Berbatov from under Man Utd’s noses. Drama! That would easily be the biggest news of the day if it goes through. The new owners obviously have the cash to meet Spurs valuation, but they can’t offer Champions League football.

• And here’s the biggest deal of the day: someone has bought a whole club! Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment has bought Manchester City from Thaksin Shinawatra. They know they didn’t have to do this before the transfer window closes, right?

• Looks like one in, one out at Newcastle. Alan Smith might be leaving, but the Toon will apparently be signing Deportivo la Coruna striker Xisco for £5.7million.

• Here’s one that’s actually happened: top Croatian right back Vedran Corluka has joined Spurs from Man City, though we don’t know how much money changed hands (update: £8.5m). Whatever the sum I imagine Mark Hughes has a grumpy face and Juande Ramos has a happy face. But isn’t this a sweet quote from Corluka: “”I am delighted to be here because I am coming to a big club with great players, great ambition and also my best friend [Luka Modric] is here so it is a very happy day for me.” Aw.

• Daryl here with a rumour. Looks pretty certain that Everton are going to sign Alan Smith (remember him?) from Newcastle for £3 million. It’s been downhill for Smudger ever since Fergie tried to turn him into the new Roy Keane and you could argue he hasn’t been the same since breaking his leg in 2006. Let’s hope David Moyes will let him play up front.

• One of the biggest names on the market came off last night, as Porto and Inter finally came to an accord over the transfer of Ricardo Quaresma. Both parties are clearly happy because they found their transfer market comfort zones: Porto selling off a star for insane bank notes, Jose Mourinho bringing Portuguese with him wherever he goes so he can leave them as bread crumbs and Inter buying up anyone but Italians.

• The two soap operas - Robinho and Dimitar Berbatov - look like they’ll stay status quo. Dimitar wanting CL football and Robinho wanting to join the Joga Bonito revolution in West London without either getting their move.

Dimitar I’ve always thought stays, but Real appears to be playing hardball over Robinho. He doesn’t want them, they don’t want him (or maybe they do now) and so it seems like making Chelsea sweat is a nice way of driving up his pricetag.