A Sneaky Look at the Transfer Window Slamming Shut

I make no apologies for the fact that this entry is written from the perspective of a Liverpool fun and thus is largely concerned with the deals that affected the less mighty than they used to be Reds. There are more rounded or insightful looks at the bigger picture elsewhere, there's even a damn list if that floats your boat.

At the end of the day, or at 6pm on 31st August, or maybe a week or so later depending on how long the paperwork takes it struck me as a pretty reasonable transfer window. To be honest I find that you never need massive deals to make it exciting, just plenty of random rumours and sightings and the occasional deal both large and small to provide a suitable climax to the tension.

Starting with the most important points it was a little disappointing on the incoming front for Liverpool. Sometimes the most interesting stories are the just missed out ones, for us they seem to involve Carlton Cole, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Mario Gomez and Ola Toivonen. No cover for young Fernando then. Still did keep hold of Ryan Babel who at one point was in a helicopter destined for West Ham or Tottenham before using a jolly modern rumour rejection device by telling all the kids You'll Never Walk Alone on his twitter page. Hopefully the pace and finishing he demonstrates on very rare occasions will manifest itself a little more often, he's no less consistent or talented then those named above. And the silver lining is Konchesky who is fine as a covering full back, decent in the tackle with decent passing and decent forward running. In this case decent is plenty.

A quick shout out to Mr. Bourne of course, Wolves had already used the window wisely before the World Cup had even kicked off but still snuck Marcus Bent into Molineux on the last day. Feels like a bit of a journeyman who is only really fun when lining up alongside Darren but given that Ebanks-Blake has responded so well to the signing of Fletcher hopefully he'll go even crazier with another striker breathing down his neck. The bad news for Wanderers is that Michael Kightly hasn't made the squad list, the patella tendon is obviously a massive and continuing problem so fingers crossed he sorts himself out so we get the chance to see his pace in the second half of the season.

Continentally speaking AC Milan have laid down an attack minded marker of intent on snatching back Series A from Inter. Ibrahimovic is good enough to make a difference, just not in the big games, while if Robinho rediscovers his Brazilian touch in linking up with Pato and Ronaldinho then all will be right with the Rossoneri.

In the Premiership Birmingham and Stoke are the busy-boy-big winners, each have got a triple whammy of players who should add some extra dimensions. Eidur Gudjohnsen and Alexander Hleb are the pick of each bunch and have the some potential for awesomeness provided they haven't got lazy since their glory days in England. Kudos to Messr Pulis for selling his Potteries vision, it's a tough job and no mistaking. Another tough job is Arsenal No. 1 and it looks like Arsene has made a pretty drastic error in not improving his goalkeeping options. Having recently questioned the skills of Alumnia and been linked with several begloved men it was pretty clear what he needed and wanted. The rumour is that Shay Given was willing to walk to Arsenal which would have been perfect but alas, no offer was forthcoming and Fulham stayed firm over Schwarzer. That may be a detrimental position to take in the long term, it's never good to have a pissed off Aussie in the dressing room, but it's one which will definitely cost the Gunners any chance they had of the title. Prove me wrong Manuel, prove me wrong.

Finally to Harry Redknapp, emphatically not a wheeler dealer but still wheeling and dealing right up to the end on Transfer Deadline Day. The cheekiest story I saw was his offer to swap Robbie Keane for Steven Pienaar and Louis Saha, even the addition of David Bentley wouldn't sway David Moyes. Spurs always seem to be the team with the most buying or selling stories but eventually ended up without many departures or arrivals. However they do win the awards for Last Minute Deal, Most Surprising Transfer and Biggest Bargain. Rafael van der Vaart for £8 million would be awesome if it goes through. I don't particularly like Harry or Tottenham but if Rafe does make it to the Lane it does offer the opportunity to post pictures of the love Sylvie...