A FRENZIED last day of football’s transfer window featured West Ham United doing some extraordinary business and Manchester United, strangely, none at all. But, perhaps inevitably, Chelsea made the headline capture of the day when they finally lured Ashley Cole from Arsenal more than 18 months after infamously meeting him over tea and biscuits.
It was not until 1.25am, 85 minutes after the midnight deadline had passed, that confirmation of the deal was made public, but it came at a cost for Roman Abramovich. The Russian billionaire and Chelsea owner reluctantly allowed William Gallas, the France defender, to move the other way, along with a top-up fee of £5 million. Gallas had been refusing to play for Chelsea.
Cole, who was allowed to leave the England camp in the North West to take a medical at a private hospital in Rochdale, is now free to publish his autobiography setting out the reasons for his spectacular fallout with Arsenal, particularly the perceived double-dealing over wages. The England left back claims that Arsenal reneged on a £60,000-a-week offer and will be paid £75,000 a week at Stamford Bridge.
The transfer is not the end of the matter because, on top of Cole’s forthcoming book, Jonathan Barnett, his agent, is due to face a Football Association disciplinary commission at the end of the month. Barnett is accused of inducing his client to break his contract, the charges arising from the notorious meeting with Chelsea in January 2005 that was the subject of an FA Premier League inquiry.
Advertisement
Gallas is understood to have secured around £80,000 a week from Arsenal, who also concluded a swap deal taking José Antonio Reyes to Real Madrid in exchange for Júlio Baptista, the Brazil attacking midfield player. Although Arsenal are understood to have favoured a permanent switch, sources in Spain suggested that it would be a one-year loan, to be reviewed next summer.
With two hours to go before the midnight deadline, Arsenal also sold Pascal Cygan, the central defender, to Villarreal for £2 million and were hoping to conclude a deal with São Paolo for Denilson, 18, the Brazilian midfield player, that could cost them £4 million, while, as well as offloading Gallas, Chelsea sold Robert Huth to Middlesbrough for £6 million. But, with Peter Kenyon, the chief executive, busy completing the Cole deal, the paperwork had not been signed by 10pm.
Still, it was West Ham who concluded the most spectacular coup by signing two highly regarded Argentina internationals. In a deal with echoes of Ricky Villa and Osvaldo Ardiles joining Tottenham Hotspur more than two decades ago, Carlos Tévez and Javier Mascherano, two of South America’s finest talents, moved to Upton Park.
West Ham fans will simply enjoy the sight of Tévez and Mascherano in claret and blue, but others will speculate as to the precise nature of the transfers.
Corinthians, the Brazilian club from where they have come, are controlled by Media Sports Investments, which attempted a takeover of West Ham last year. The deals are said to be permanent, but there has already been talk of both joining Chelsea or Manchester United next summer if they adapt well to the Premiership.