ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:ARSENE WENGER was frantically trying to push through a deal for Everton's Mikel Arteta in the final hour of the transfer window last night.
Arsenal had enraged the Merseyside club with a move for their midfield player, with their opening offer of £5 million laughed out of Goodison Park. They returned with £10m, which remained too low. Wenger had previously shown an interest in the Everton centre-half Phil Jagielka, for whom he was quoted £20m, and it was made clear to him Arteta was rated in a similar bracket. But the situation took a twist when Arteta asked to leave.
The final day of the window saw several eye-catching deals complete, including Raul Meireles moving from Liverpool to Chelsea and Joe Cole leaving Liverpool for a season’s loan at Lille. Scott Parker finally pushed through his transfer from West Ham United to Tottenham Hotspur for £5.5m.
But the drama over Arteta became the major talking point, as Wenger fought to repair the damage to his midfield and the club in the wake of the losses of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, to Barcelona and Manchester City respectively. Arsenal signed Yossi Benayoun on a season-long loan from Chelsea, in a deal they had worked on regardless, as the club’s business approached the 11pm deadline, with Arteta’s desire to move to Emirates Stadium adding to a complicated situation.
Everton had lined up a move for Royston Drenthe, the Real Madrid midfielder, which looked like a contingency plan in the event of Arteta’s departure. They continued to negotiate with Real in the final hour.
Arsenal confirmed deals earlier for the Brazil left-back Andre Santos from Fenerbahce and Werder Bremen’s Germany centre-half Per Mertesacker.
Santos, who cost £6.2m, was an ever present in Brazil’s Copa America campaign and, has had no problem in securing a work permit.
Mertesacker arrives for £7.6m and Arsenal have also spent heavily on Gervinho from Lille at £10.6m and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Southampton at £12m.
Nicklas Bendtner was on the brink of getting the move he wanted to Sunderland while Wenger oversaw the off-loading of a few fringe players. Henri Lansbury went to West Ham United on a season-long loan while Gilles Sunu has joined Lorient. One of Wenger’s new recruits, the Costa Rica forward Joel Campbell, has been sent on a loan to Lorient.
Benayoun leaves Chelsea despite manager Andre Villas-Boas being thwarted in his pursuit of Tottenham’s Luka Modric and Alvaro Pereira, with the latter’s mooted move effectively scuppered after Porto refused to drop their valuation of €30m.
Spurs were thwarted in their attempts to secure England centre-half Gary Cahill from Bolton while Parker completes a move to White Hart Lane and a quintet of high-profile players departed. Cahill was the subject of two bids from Arsenal last week, both of which were dismissed as derisory by Bolton. Manager Owen Coyle had reluctantly said he would listen to offers for the defender but negotiations failed to end in agreement, with Spurs resistant to meet Bolton’s £13m valuation.
Parker, will play alongside Modric, with Chelsea’s interest in having been deflected. Redknapp and Levy have cleared a number of fringe players from the wage bill. Stoke City, who signed Woodgate earlier in the summer, were the principal beneficiaries, signing Wilson Palacios for £8m and attempting to complete the signing of Peter Crouch for £10m.
Tony Pulis also secured the signing of Cameron Jerome from Birmingham City for £4m.
Jermaine Jenas was due to complete a season-long loan deal to Aston Villa, with Alan Hutton having been granted leave from the Scotland squad to discuss personal terms at Villa Park ahead of a £4m permanent move.
Cole’s loan move to Lille will cost Liverpool more than £3m, after the club agreed to pay 60 per cent of his wages in exchange for a first refusal option on the Belgium midfielder Eden Hazard. The club also sold Christian Poulsen to Evian and re-signed Craig Bellamy, on a free transfer from Manchester City. Liverpool also confirmed Raul Meireles submitted a late transfer request which may well interest Chelsea.
Guardian Service
