• 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.

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• 32-year-old arrives at Upton Park for an undisclosed fee
• Relief for Zola after Gudjohnsen deal fell through

West Ham United have today completed the signing of Benni McCarthy from Blackburn Rovers for an undisclosed fee.

The South African striker has signed an 18-month deal at Upton Park after passing a medical and being granted a work permit.

McCarthy has scored four goals in 16 appearances for Blackburn this season but has spent most of the campaign on the bench.

The 32-year-old’s arrival will be a source of relief for the West Ham manager, Gianfranco Zola, after he missed out on Eidur Gudjohnsen. The Icelandic striker, a former team-mate of Zola’s at Chelsea, had agreed to join West Ham on loan from Monaco, and passed a medical there, before changing his mind and signing for Tottenham Hotspur instead.

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• Stephen McManus joins Middlesbrough on loan from Celtic
• Martin Taylor leaves Birmingham for Watford
• Burnley complete signing of Danny Fox

Benni McCarthy’s move to West Ham has been delayed by work permit issues but is expected to go through over the weekend, according to the Blackburn manager, Sam Allardyce.

The clubs have agreed a fee for the South Africa striker but there has been a hold-up over McCarthy’s permit which is due to expire when his Blackburn contract runs out in 18 months. It means McCarthy will not be available to play for the Hammers when Blackburn travel to Upton Park tomorrow.

“It’s close to him finally becoming a West Ham player,” said Allardyce. “It’s a work permit situation – that’s the only hiccup and that should be resolved by Sunday.”

Middlesbrough have completed the loan signing of Celtic’s Stephen McManus, according to the Scottish club’s manager Tony Mowbray. The Celtic captain will join up with his former Parkhead manager Gordon Strachan at the Riverside until the end of the season. “The ink on the contract is drying as we speak,” said Mowbray.

McManus is one of two departures from Glasgow today, with the left-back Danny Fox also joining Burnley for an undisclosed fee. The signing of the 23-year-old continues a busy few days in the transfer market for the new Clarets manager Brian Laws, who earlier this week signed the defender Leon Cort and the goalkeeper Nicky Weaver. Fox, a former England Under-21 international, has agreed a three-and-a-half-year deal at Turf Moor.

Watford have signed Martin Taylor on a free transfer from Birmingham. The 30-year-old central defender spent six years at St Andrew’s having signed from Blackburn in January 2004. He has signed a contract with Watford through to 2012, with his deal at Birmingham due to expire this summer. The centre-back made 117 appearances for Blues, scoring three goals.

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