TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR brought their summer-long pursuit of Pascal Chimbonda to a successful conclusion last night after agreeing a deal worth more than £5 million with Wigan Athletic, but they were facing frustration in their bid for a left winger after being turned down by Middlesbrough for Stewart Downing and, as the midnight hour approached, Fulham for Luis Boa Morte.
While it is not clear that official bids were made, Daniel Levy, the Tottenham chairman, is understood to have made contact with his counterparts at Middlesbrough and Fulham in the final hours before the deadline, but they were told that both Downing and Boa Morte were not available.
It was nevertheless a busy day at White Hart Lane as Tottenham closed in on the capture of Chimbonda, the France defender, and completed the signing of one of his compatriots, Steed Malbranque from Fulham, with Wayne Routledge moving to Craven Cottage on loan.
There was plenty of activity around the Barclays Premiership as the deadline approached, with Portsmouth completing their third acquisition of the day — adding Roudolphe Douala Mbela, the Cameroon winger, to Niko Kranjcar, the Croatia midfield player, and Andrew Cole — but for some clubs and players, time seemed to be running out.
Lucas Neill’s hopes of joining Liverpool seemed to be over, with Blackburn Rovers unwilling to drop their £4 million valuation. This was bad news for Danny Mills, who had hoped to join Blackburn from Manchester City as Neill’s replacement.
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Despite the apparent collapse of the bid for Neill, who was preparing to sit out the last year of his contract with Blackburn, Liverpool sold Jan Kromkamp to PSV Eindhoven, which was the Holland defender’s third permanent move in successive transfer windows since leaving AZ Alkmaar for Villarreal last summer.
Blackburn completed the signing of Shabani Nonda, the 29-year-old Democratic Republic of Congo forward, on a season-long loan from AS Roma, while City concluded a similar deal with PSV Eindhoven to sign DaMarcus Beasley, the United States winger.
Iain Dowie rounded off a busy summer by making Omar Pouso, the Uruguay midfield player, his ninth signing since taking over as manager of Charlton Athletic. Pouso has joined on a season-long loan from Peñarol.
However, Dowie’s record of nine signings was beaten, predictably, by Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager. Mbela arrived on a season-long loan from Sporting Lisbon, while earlier in the day Redknapp had completed the signings of Cole from City, who could earn up to £1 million from that deal, and Kranjcar in a £3.5 million move from Hajduk Split. Despite the signing of Cole, Redknapp was also understood to have made a last-minute bid to lure Jermain Defoe from Tottenham.
Paul Jewell, the Wigan manager, signed Kevin Kilbane from Everton for an undisclosed fee. He also signed two forwards, David Cotterill, for £2 million from Bristol City, and Svetoslav Todorov, on a season-long loan from Portsmouth.
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Of the newly promoted clubs, Reading and Watford found it difficult to bring in reinforcements, but Sheffield United signed Colin Kazim- Richards, the 20-year-old forward, from Brighton & Hove Albion for £150,000. Neil Warnock, the United manager, also blocked a bid from Preston North End to take Chris Lucketti back to Deepdale.
Notable moves in the Coca-Cola Championship included Ricardo Fuller’s transfer from Southampton to Stoke City for £500,000, Jon Macken’s loan from Crystal Palace to Ipswich Town, a £300,000 move from Derby County to Southampton for Iñigo Idiákez and Leeds United’s capture of Stephan Andersen, the Denmark goalkeeper, on a season-long loan from Charlton Athletic.
THE PREMIERSHIP’S TWO CISSÉS HAVE LEFT THIS SUMMER
Portsmouth have released Aliou Cissé, while Liverpool have loaned Djibril Cissé to Marseilles. Souleymane Diawara (Charlton Athletic) becomes the Premiership’s third player of that name in the past six years after Djibril Diawara (Bolton Wanderers) and Kaba Diawara (Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United).
CASH ON DELIVERY
Bolton Wanderers made £400,000 by taking Dietmar Hamann from Liverpool for free, then gaining compensation when he skipped off to Manchester City. Manchester United made £12 million on Jon Obi Mikel, who never arrived from Lyn Oslo. Chelsea paid United the sum to renounce any right to him.