Deadline Day Round-up

Deadline Day always promises so much, yet delivers so little. There have been some decent moves in the past, like Arshavin to Arsenal, and of course, Robinho to City, but ultimately not much usually happens. Here's a look at who we were supposedly in for, and what went down.

Adam Johnson (signed)
Unveiled on the Official site soon after close, Johnson completed a switch from Middlesbrough for around £7 million. A very decent player, he caused us a few problems in the recent FA Cup tie before going off injured.

This deal goes against the theme of recent City transfers. Rather than sign successful players with Premier League experience (and an inflated price-tag to boot), we have gone after a promising young player from the Championship, a look to the medium-to-long term. Bear in mind that we were also heavily linked to Victor Moses, who has now gone to Wigan, who falls into this same category.

This gives me the impression that there is more influence in transfers from the director of football, Brian Marwood, than there were previously under Hughes.

McDonald Mariga (missed out)
The Big Mac, as he is known (well I hope he is), failed in a bid to attain a work permit. The rules on this as quite clear, although rather ridiculous.

Mariga met the first part of the UK criteria after playing in 75% of Kenya's games in the last two years. But his application was rejected as Kenya are ranked 98th in Fifa's world rankings, outside the top 70 nations.

An appeal was launched on deadline day, but alas, it didn't fall in our favour. How can the league be expected to attract the best players in the world, regardless of their nationality, with these rules in place?

Mariga has since signed for Inter... really disappointed that this move fell through. We really did need the cover in defensive midfield, with Vieira still not fit and both Barry and De Jong pretty much running on empty.

Gago (missed out)
Attempted to sign from Real Madrid in the region of 15 million pounds, however Real didn't accept our offer of a loan with a look to buy. Apparently the Spaniards were holding out for more money, thinking that the deadline in England was midnight, rather than 5pm.

Benjani (a City player — for now)
There's something about Deadline Day and Benjani that doesn't seem to mix. He fell asleep at the airport and missed his flight en route to signing for City from Portsmouth, now despite being linked to Sunderland all day, the paperwork was not filed on time. As it stands, the Offside Smiler is still a City player, but this may change in the next day or so.