Spurs snatch Saha late to beat deadline
● Striker joins from Everton, Nelsen set to follow
● Pavlyuchenko, Pienaar and Bassong let go
● QPR finish spree by signing Fulham’s Zamora
TOTTENHAM pulled off a deadline-beating late swoop for Everton striker Louis Saha last night as clubs shook off their lethargy and whipped up a frenzied finish to the January transfer window.
Saha’s arrival for a nominal fee triggered the £7.5m departure of Spurs misfit Roman Pavlyuchenko to Lokomotiv Moscow, while manager Harry Redknapp also sanctioned the last-minute loan exits of Sebastian Bassong and Steven Pienaar.
Frenchman Saha is expected to be joined at White Hart Lane by defender Ryan Nelsen, whose Blackburn contract was cancelled last night.
Defender Bassong moved to Wolves until the end of the season, while midfielder Pienaar returned to former club Everton, who also completed the signing of £5.5m Rangers striker Nikica Jelavic.
Spurs traded frantically despite the dual distractions of Redknapp’s ongoing tax evasion trial and last night’s match with Wigan, which they won 3-1.
The total spend of top-flight clubs in a quiet window was roughly equal to the £50m Chelsea paid for Fernando Torres alone on the last January deadline day, yet there was an unexpected flurry as 11pm neared.
Across the capital QPR continued their January recruitment spree by luring England striker Bobby Zamora (below) from west London rivals Fulham for £4.5m. Zamora, 31, signed a two-and-a-half year contract to link up again with Mark Hughes, his former manager at Craven Cottage.
His arrival further bolstered Hughes’s misfiring forward line, after the £4m purchase of France striker Djibril Cisse from Lazio earlier yesterday. “The ambition of the club was certainly a drawing factor,” said Zamora, who became QPR’s sixth deal of the window. “It was quite an easy decision to be part of this.”
Fulham wasted no time in replacing Zamora, with Russia international Pavel Pogrebnyak joining from Stuttgart initially on loan.