Transfer Deadline Day Part One: As It Happened

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That's the end of my shift ladies and gentleman. It's been long, and it's been full-on, but it's been fun.

To follow transfer deadline day to its conclusion, I give you my fellow B/R lead writer Mike Cummings. Here's the link.

As a way of saying goodbye, here's a breakdown of the key happenings so far:

- Clint Dempsey has turned down a move to Aston Villa

- Manchester City Have Signed Maicon from Inter and Scott Sinclair of Swansea

- Dimitar Berbatov has joined Fulham from Manchester United

- Rafael van der Vaart has left Spurs for Hamburg

- Spurs have reportedly agreed a fee for Porto midfielder Moutinho

- Charlie Adam has left Liverpool for Stoke

- Jay Spearing has left Liverpool on loan to Bolton

- Andy Carroll has left Liverpool on loan to West Ham

Manchester City have signed Brazilian defender Maicon from Inter Milan, for an undisclosed fee.

City manager Roberto Mancini worked with the 31-year-old fullback in his time at the San Siro, and Maicon clearly left a lasting impression.

Maicon won the Treble with Inter in 2010 and made 235 appearances for the club between 2006 and 2012.

City have also added goalkeeper Richard Wright, who joins as a free agent and will serve as backup to Joe Hart.

Reports suggest they're also close to a deal for Benfica midfielder Javi Garcia (see below for more on that).

Joern Pollex/Getty Images

Here are a selection of the best comments from the thread below, reacting to transfer deadline day so far:

Dennis Vacon: "Liverpool should add Dempsey to the attack and Sturridge, but not on loan, to an actual deal."

Nihad Ovnovic: "Juventus signed Bendtner! Just wtf?! Are they serious!? You've got to be friggin' kidding me!"

Ayban Firid: "If Arsenal signs Dempsey, London might spontaneously explode with all the awesomeness."

Karl Matchett: "Looks like Sturridge to Liverpool, Schurrle to Chelsea. Still think the reds will need 1 further addition in the final third after that."

Gallo Images/Getty Images

As expected, Fulham have completed a deadline day deal for Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov.

Said Berbatov, as per Fulham's official website:

I'm delighted to have signed for Fulham and I look forward to playing under Martin Jol once again.

As soon as I was aware of Fulham's interest my decision to join was an easy one to make. I'm impressed with the set up here and the people have made me feel welcome. There is a close and personal feel around the club and I can't wait to get started.

The Guardian have speculated a fee of £5 million will change hands between the clubs, for a player United signed for £30 million from Spurs in 2008.

Berbatov scored 20 Premier League goals for United in the 2010-11 season, but was unable to hold down a regular starting spot last season and has gradually drifted out of the reckoning at Old Trafford.

Does Fulham's signing of the Bulgarian confirm we should expect Clint Dempsey to be going elsewhere? You'd think so.

Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images

Manchester City are reportedly closing in on a deal for Benfica midfielder Javi Garcia. (Daily Mail)

The Daily Mail say a fee of £24 million has been agreed, but this—from football writer Duncan Castles on Sulia—suggests Benfica may have accepted less.

Pressure from the Spanish defensive midfielder to be allowed to move to the Premier League saw Benfica accept a sum significantly below the player's €30m (£23.8m) buyout clause. 

According to the Telegraph, City have been in talks with Benfica for several days and manager Roberto Mancini has made signing the Spaniard a priority.

Garcia has picked up one cap for the Spanish national team.

Rafael van der Vaart has completed his move from Tottenham to Hamburg.

The German club posted this picture of Van der Vaart wearing the No. 23 shirt on their official Twitter account.

According to the Daily Mail, the fee is £10 million, which represents a £2 million profit for Spurs on the £8 million they paid Real Madrid for the Dutch international on deadline day two years ago.

Van der Vaart spent three successful seasons at Hamburg between 2005 and 2008, so the 29-year-old is all too familiar with life in the Bundesliga.

39 - Rafael Van der Vaart has scored or assisted 39 PL goals for Spurs since 31/08/2010, 11 more than any other Spurs player. Departing.

— Opta Sports (@OptaJoe) August 31, 2012

Photo from Stoke City's website

Stoke have completed a deal for Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam.

The Daily Mail report a fee of £4 million has been agreed for the Scotland international, who was signed by Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool but appears to have been deemed surplus to requirements by new manager Brendan Rodgers.

The 28-year-old Adam failed to impose himself in the Liverpool midfield during 2011-12 season and has opted for a fresh start at the Britannia Stadium.

Said Adam, as per Stoke's official website:

The opportunity to play was getting less and I felt that at my age, I wanted to play every week and hopefully I'll get a chance to here.

David Ramos/Getty Images

Tottenham have agreed a fee of £22 million for Porto midfielder Joao Moutinho, according to Sky Sports.

Moutinho played under Spurs manager Andre-Villas Boas at Porto, so the diminutive Portuguese international will know exactly what he's signing up for at White Hart Lane—should the deal go ahead on transfer deadline day.

The 25-year-old Moutinho has won 48 caps for Portugal and was a mainstay in the team that reached the semifinals of Euro 2012.

After selling Luka Modric to Real Madrid, Spurs have already signed Moussa Dembele from Fulham as midfield replacement. A deal for Moutinho would surely represent some very good business.

Sell Modric for £33m & sign Dembele & Moutinho for £34m (£12m + reported £22m). Levy is some sort of genius!#TranferDeadlineDay

— Busby MUFC (@BusbyMUFC) August 31, 2012

DONE DEAL! Sunderland have signed defender Danny Rose on a season-long loan deal from Tottenham.

The 22-year-old announced himself on the scene with the screamer he scored for Spurs against Arsenal on his Premier League debut.

Rose was part of Great Britain's squad at the Olympics this summer, but has clearly decided his best chance of playing regular first-team football lies away from White Hart Lane this season.

Danny Rose lost possession every 5.1 minutes last season in the Premier League.

— Spurs Stat Man (@SpursStatMan) August 31, 2012

Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images

Sky Sports News are going heavy on the possibility of Tottenham signing Porto midfielder Joao Moutinho on transfer deadline day.

But Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas is not holding out much hope. Said AVB, as per the Independent:

It's an impossible deal for the club. You have to bear in mind that this is a player with a 40million euro release clause. This volume of money is out of Tottenham's possibility.

Bearing in mind that this is a key player for club and country, you wouldn't say that you would get him at half the price and half the price is already bigger than Tottenham's record fee.

Is AVB bluffing? CNN Sport's Pedro Pinto has reason to believe he is:

A source close to FC Porto just told me the transfer of Moutinho to Spurs should be announced in the next 24 hours. Will keep you posted.

— Pedro Pinto (@pedrocnn) August 29, 2012

Courtesy of Man City's official site

DONE DEAL! Manchester City have completed a deal to sign Swansea winger Scott Sinclair.

Said Sinclair, as per City's official website:

I'm just glad everything is settled and that I'm now a City player. There were times when I thought it might not happen so I'm relieved that I'm here and I can't wait to get started.

Playing alongside some of the best players in the world is exciting for me and when you see two Champions League fixtures against Real Madrid on the horizon, it brings it all home.

The 23-year-old Sinclair, who was part of Great Britain's team at the Olympics and has represented England at Under-21 level, is thought to have cost City an initial fee of £6.2 million (Telegraph).

Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images

DONE DEAL! Bolton have confirmed a loan deal for 23-year-old Liverpool midfielder Jay Spearing.

Here's Bolton manager Owen Coyle on the deal, as per the club's official site:

Clive Mason/Getty Images

BBC reporter Ben Smith has ruled out the possibility of Clint Dempsey joining Aston Villa.

As mentioned earlier, Villa agreed a fee with Fulham for Dempsey, but the U.S. international is seemingly not interested in making what looked very much like a lateral move for him.

All of which turns attention back to a possible move to Liverpool. There's also been the suggestion, from Times football writer Gary Jacob, that Arsenal might be tempted to make a late move.

Will Wenger do Dempsey @bensmithbbc Just monitoring, but a midfielder that scores.. Park likely to leave #AFC on loan

— Gary Jacob (@garyjacob) August 31, 2012

Claudio Villa/Getty Images

Sydney FC appear to have sealed a sensational deal for Juventus legend Alessandro Del Piero. (Sydney Morning Herald)

The 37-year-old Del Piero left Juve at the end of last season, having spent 19 years in Turin and made himself an institution for the Old Lady.

Del Piero played over 500 times for Juventus and scored over 200 goals in their colors.

His signing for Sydney represents arguably the highest profile deal in Australian football history.

According to FootballAustralia.com, Sydney FC chief executive Tony Pignata will be arriving in Italy this weekend to finalize the terms of the deal—thought to be worth $2 million for an initial six-month term.

@sydneyfc Chairman Scott Barlow is proud to announce that Del Piero has agreed to finalise details with the Sky Bluesfootballaustralia.com.au/sydneyfc/news-…

— Sydney FC (@SydneyFC) August 31, 2012

From Milan's official website

This, as per AC Milan's official website:

Nigel De Jong, much to the satisfaction of the Milan faithful, is now one of our players. Milan is now ready for the 2012/2013 season. With 61 appearances for the Dutch national side, De Jong, a member of the side that finished second to Spain in South Africa, is an established international.

The 27-year-old De Jong leave Manchester City after four seasons at the club, and having earned a Premier League winners medal in the 2011-12 campaign.

The Dutch international began his career at Ajax, before moving to Hamburg. His move to Milan takes him to a fourth European league.