Monday, August 31, 2009

Live - Transfer deadline day

TRANSFER UPDATES - window closes at 1700 BST

To get involved text us your views & comments on 81111. (Not all contributions can be used)

By Jonathan Stevenson

0807: Rumours are coming out of Wales that Cardiff's inspirational midfielder Joe Ledley is being chased by Wolves. Ledley's a veteran of deadline day speculation, wasn't it Stoke last time?

From CC, via text on 81111: "It's like Notts County have activated the cheat code on Football Manager, giving them loads of cash for Prem players. When I say cash, I of course mean the challenge of taking part in such an exciting project."

0800: Deadline day countdown: Nine hours to go.

0754: Seems to me that Sunderland boss Steve Bruce is putting together a tidy little squad at the Stadium of Light, especially after the big-money signing of Hull defender Michael Turner yesterday, for a deal that could apparently rise to £12m. Not a bad sum, as Hull only paid £350,000 for Turner in 2006. Not gonna keep them up though, is it?

0751: If I had a pound for every Lionel Messi sighting so far today...

0748: The deadline slammed shut in Spain's La Liga last night, by the way, with Ukraine defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy sealing his £22m move to Barcelona and the Catalan club selling Eidur Gudjohnsen to Monaco for about £1.8m. Real Madrid did not buy Franck Ribery from Bayern Munich, if any Chelsea/Manchester United fans are interested.

0744: There may, of course, be an hilarious leftfield option for Club of the Day today, and I'm not talking about Spurs, Man City, or even Newcastle. No, there is an outfit that has been linked with no lesser names than Benjani, Kanu, Freddie Ljungberg and Christian Vieri, once the world's most expensive footballer. Step forward Sven-Goran Eriksson's Notts County.

Text in your views on 81111
From Jim, via text on 81111: "If Paul Hart's reading here's my advice for today: sign Benjani before breakfast, then unhook the phones and lock Kranjcar and James in a cupboard until 1701. Job done!"

0735: Oh no, it's started already. "Which centre-back are Forest gonna buy today, Stevo?" asks John from London. If deadline days of yore are anything to go by Johnny, I'm betting they won't.

0732: Reckon there'll be any crazy deadline day deals today? How about Arsenal making a cheeky £12m bid for Manchester United's, er, combative midfielder Darren Fletcher? More unlikely than Robinho to Man City this time last year?!

0728: ...who, despite lying a lofty second in the league, have been linked with all sorts of players once again. They really are a deadline day dream. Coming in, allegedly, are David James, Niko Kranjcar and Martin Petrov, and going out is David Bentley. If the rumours are right and Man City are offering them £10m+Petrov for Bentley, that is a magnificent piece of business down at The Lane.

0723: Slightly disappointed with how much business was going on yesterday, if I'm honest. Michael Turner to Sunderland, Diego Arismendi to Stoke, Tal Ben Haim to Portsmouth, Manuel da Costa to West Ham, Stefan Maierhofer and Segundo Castillo to Wolves... Don't they know it's deadline day today? Thank heavens for Tottenham...

Text in your views on 81111
From Anon, via text on 81111: "My nan just texted me to say she is serving James Collins a full English at the B&B she runs in Aston."

0715: So, an early plea. The 606 boards don't open until 0900, so you'll have to whack texts over until then. The magic number is 81111, and I'd be disappointed if it wasn't anything other than red-hot all day long. I don't care whether you're at Heathrow or not, get yourself in the deadline day mixer.

0710: If you've just rolled out of bed, you're feeling a little tender and you need your appetite to be whet, look no further than Tuesday's gossip column, bringing you all the could-bes, would-bes and should-bes. It's expanding as I type these very words, too.

0706: For the next 12 hours or so, we're going to bring you every spit and cough of transfer activity on deadline day. It is absolutely imperative that, in order to keep us sane, you get yourselves involved in this, the most glorious of all days to be a football fan.

0700: Happy transfer deadline day. I don't really need to say any more than that, do I?


ะพ 8:59 PM

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