News: Republic of Ireland midfielder Kevin Kilbane last night became the 16th senior player to leave Sunderland this summer when he joined Everton for £1 million.

Kilbane arrived on Wearside in a £2.5million move from West Brom in December 1999, but has rarely reproduced the form which made him such a hit at international level under Mick McCarthy.

He landed himself in hot water with the club's fans last summer during a pre-season tour when he let his frustration get the better of him and made a gesture towards the crowd. But despite the tough time that error of judgment earned him for some time Kilbane, whose contract was due to expire next summer, never gave less than 100 per cent for the cause, and there is little doubt that McCarthy would have been happy to keep him on board.

The move to Goodison Park will reunite him with manager David Moyes, the man who sold him to West Brom from his home-town club Preston.

Portsmouth's attempt to take Kilbane's international team-mate Ian Harte to Fratton Park collapsed yesterday as a result of complicated Premier League rules regarding loan deals.

Pompey manager Harry Redknapp and his Leeds counterpart Peter Reid had agreed a season-long loan for the Republic of Ireland defender.

However, league rules state that clubs can only enter into two domestic loan deals - the managers thought it was two from the Premier League plus others from the Nationwide.

With Portsmouth having already taken Russian Alexei Smertin on a temporary basis from Chelsea, the agreement they struck with West Brom striker Jason Roberts to join on loan earlier yesterday means the Harte deal has been ruled out.

"It's a blow because we were all set to bring Ian in and both clubs were extremely happy with the circumstances of the deal," chief executive Peter Storrie said.

Bolton boss Sam Allardyce joined the deadline day loan club, signing Burnley's former Republic of Ireland and Everton midfielder, Gareth Farrelly, on a month's loan.