• Portsmouth improve financial situation through sales
• West Ham complete protracted deal for Benni McCarthy
Portsmouth’s short-term financial concerns were eased, if only slightly, last night by the sale of their promising young goalkeeper Asmir Begovic to Stoke City for £3.25m in a move that re-establishes David James as first-choice at Fratton Park.
Begovic completed his move minutes before the passing of the 5pm transfer deadlineafter a day of frantic and occasionally fractious negotiations to provide Pompey, bottom of the Premier League and laden with debts of around £60m, with a timely injection of funds.
“Asmir is someone we have been tracking for some time and we believe that, potentially, he is the best young keeper in the country,” said the Stoke manager, Tony Pulis.
James, who had also been attracting interest from Stoke, will now remain at the club as No1 and may renegotiate his contract to remove a clause that would have seen his deal extended automatically should he play a further 10 games this season. That should ensure that, injuries permitting, he will be playing regularly ahead of the World Cup finals in the summer.
Players and staff at the stricken south coast club have still to be paid wages for January, though the Premier League has earmarked £1.8m from the £6m Portsmouth received from the sale of Younes Kaboul back to Tottenham Hotspur. A further £2.5m of that amount will go directly to Chelsea and Watford as the latest tranche of the money owed on the transfers of Glen Johnson, Mike Williamson and Tommy Smith, with the remainder to be channeled directly to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
The Premier League is aware that a further £12.5m in payments is due before the end of the season to clubs in relation to previous transfers, £4m of which is due to Udinese, Rennes and Lens in mid-March. A payment of £9m which the club’s former owner, Sacha Gaydamak, claimed was due at the end of January has also apparently not been met as yet.
While Portsmouth’s attempts to avoid relegation have been weakened over the transfer window, West Ham United’s desperation to remain in the top flight prompted the club’s new owners, David Gold and David Sullivan, to sanction the arrival of three new strikers before last night’s deadline. Benni McCarthy completed his £2.5m move from Blackburn Rovers on a two-and-a-half-year deal and was joined by the much-travelled Middlesbrough forward Mido, who had his loan deal moved from Cairo’s El Zamalek, and the Brazilian Ilan, who had been released by the French club St Etienne.
Fulham signed the Roma forward Stefano Okaka and Aston Villa’s former England full-back Nicky Shorey on loan deals, with the youngster Christopher Buchtmann moving to Craven Cottage from Liverpool. Roy Hodgson trimmed his squad to make way for the new arrivals by loaning Diomansy Kamara to Celtic, Tony Kallio to Sheffield United and Wayne Brown to Bristol Rovers.
Wolves‘ attempts to add to their ranks were frustrated after a £5m offer for Hull City’s Stephen Hunt was rejected, while the Crystal Palace full-back Nathaniel Clyne declined a move to Molineux.
Wigan Athletic added to their forward ranks by securing the Bolivia forward Marcelo Morena on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk, joining the £2.5m forward Victor Moses at the DW Stadium.
Transfer windowPortsmouthStoke CityWest Ham UnitedFulhamBlackburn RoversPremier LeagueDominic FifieldOwen Gibsonguardian.co.uk
