Transfer Deadline Day Round-Up: Big Four sit this one out but Harry raids his former club once again

Premier League / Mike Norman / 01 September 2009 / Leave a comment

It's been a day of puffing out his cheeks for 'Happy' Harry Redknapp, but it all came good in the end with the signing of Croatian midfielder Nico Kranjcar

In what has been a relatively quiet transfer deadline day, roving reporter Mike Norman has been on the go since six this morning with his team of spies. Why Mike? You should have just watched Sky Sports News.

"Paul Hart was attempting to sign everyone under the age of 40 who had both a working left leg and a working right leg… though rumour had it that the left one didn’t have to be working that good as it would still be better than the one owned by Nadir Belhadj!"

When a man of my age wakes at six in the morning, full of excitement, and with a huge smile on his face, it can only mean one of two things. Either I've just woke up beside my best mate's glamorous (but somewhat drunk) mother, or, as it was in this case, it was the morning of transfer deadline day.

The end of the transfer window always excites me, but this time I was a little more excited than usual because Betfair had asked me to report on who had signed who, and how the Premier League markets were being affected.

So you'll be pleased to know that I left no stone unturned in my quest to find out what was happening today. Armed with four mobile phones, a landline, and all the media channels you could ever wish for I was confident that I wouldn't miss a trick. What's more, I'd sent six of my top spies to the major footballing cities in England with one simple instruction - spot as much talent as you possibly can.

Sky Sports News (SSN) was my first port of call however, and at seven in the morning they were reporting that Harry Redknapp was still clearing his desk at Portsmouth - this time he'd gone back to collect Niko Kranjcar.

In fact it was Spurs and Pompey who seemed to be at the heart of all the transfer talk in the morning - Redknapp trying to flog his Bentley (David that was) whilst on the south coast, Paul Hart was attempting to sign everyone under the age of 40 who had both a working left leg and a working right leg... though rumour had it that the left one didn't have to be working that good as it would still be better than the one owned by Nadir Belhadj!

At around 10:30 a.m. I received my first text of the day. It was from Bozzer, my man in Scunthorpe (I'd actually sent him to the KC Stadium in Hull but for some reason he'd stopped at a KFC in Scunny). It wasn't exactly the headline making news I was hoping for, but Boz was reporting that David Beckham had asked his LA Galaxy physio if he could teach him some yoga. The physio was happy to oblige but informed Beckham that he needed to be very flexible to do such exercise, to which Beckham replied, "I'm very flexible... but I can't do Tuesdays or Thursdays".

Anyway, back to some transfer news. At around lunchtime SSN were reporting that the world's tallest man, Stefan Maierhofer, had signed for Wolves, and Michael Turner had finalised his move to Sunderland, whilst Aston Villa were 'very' close to the double capture of Man City's Richard Dunne and West Ham's James Collins.

In the Top 6 Finish market, Villa's odds (which were as high as [5.5] just seven days ago) were now down to [3.35].

Meanwhile, back on the south coast Pompey had wrapped up the permanent signing of Tel Ben Haim from Man City, and the season-long loan of midfielder Hassan Yebda, though I'm not quite sure where he is loaned from - possible the kebab shop opposite Fratton Park. Portsmouth remain at [1.96] to be relegated, and as the [4.3] favourites to finish Rock Bottom of the Premier League.

With an hour to go before the transfer window closed my house phone rang, to which I could hardly contain my excitement. You see, only two people have my house number - one is my mother (but she's deaf) and the other is my top spy who I'd sent to Manchester. Could this be the major transfer scoop I'd been waiting all day for? Fat chance. My Manchester man was calling to ask for the rest of the day off as he'd just seen some fit birds enter the nearby pub. Not quite the talent I was hoping for him to spot!

At around four o'clock the BBC reported Croatian striker Ivan Klasnic had joined Bolton on a season-long loan from Nantes - so expect him to have a broken leg by the end of the month then - whilst on that south bloody coast Portsmouth confirmed the signing of centre-back Mike Williamson from Watford for a fee of around £3m

Elsewhere, Danny Collins joined Stoke from Sunderland for £2.75m, but it wasn't until the transfer window was virtually closed that the biggest deals of the day were confirmed.

Everton had splashed just over £6m of their Joleon Lescott cash on Dutch centre-back Johnny Heitenga - strengthening their position at [3.4] in the Top 6 Finish market - and 'Happy Harry' had indeed successfully raided his former club Portsmouth, bringing the talented midfielder Nico Kranjcar to Tottenham for an undisclosed fee. Spurs are available to back at [3.15] in the Winner w/o Big 4 market.

And finally you Villa fans... you'll be pleased to know that those Dunne and Collins deals were also completed (Dunne's will be ratified on Wednesday). Right, I'm off to my best mate's house now... to hopefully get his mother drunk. Goodnight.

Tags: Aston Villa, David Beckham, Harry Redknapp, Johnny Heitenga, Michael Turner, Nico Kranjcar, Paul Hart, Portsmouth, Premier League, Premier League Betting, Sunderland, Tottenham