Tottenham were the London club making most moves, with wheeler-dealer boss Harry Redknapp bringing in former Portsmouth signing Niko Kranjcar for a slice over £2 million. Redknapp was also reportedly angling for another four players, including David James, Matthew Upson, and Martin Petrov, the last as a swap deal with misfiring midfielder David Bentley being escorted through the White Hart Lane doors clutching a one-way ticket to Eastlands, but nothing came of it. The club did, however, banish David Button, Sam Cox and Oscar Jansson to loan deals.
The biggest winners of the day in London were Brentford and Charlton, though not for any last-ditch signing they made: both clubs will take a £1 million slice of the transfer fee that Sunderland paid for Hull's Michael Turner, due to clauses in the defender's contract. With both London clubs in the financial doldrums, it's a vital shot in the arm.
That happy story aside, shirt printers at the capital's club shops weren't much troubled yesterday by flash new names. West Ham flogged James Collins to Villa for a healthy £5 million, Fulham secured the services of Swedish striker David Elm, while Crystal Palace fans will be dismayed to see that, having had their transfer embargo lifted, the club could only bring in Jamaican defender Claude Davis, whom fans at previous club Derby regarded as their worst ever signing. Journeyman striker Leon McKenzie shlepped up at Charlton on a free, while the flame-haired former Palace midfielder Ben Watson has put a miserable soujourn into the Premier League with Wigan to an end by signing a loan deal with QPR.
No deals now till January, though Football League clubs are still allowed to strike loan signings. Let's hope the purse strings are relaxed just a little bit in the next window, if only for the sanity of Sky Sports News' team of excitable presenters.
