Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill finally got his man as he signed West Bromwich Albion defender Curtis Davies on a season-long loan just hours before the transfer window shut on Friday.
O'Neill has been tracking Davies for several months and was relieved to snap up the England under-21 defender on the last day of transfer trading until January.
Davies has moved to Villa Park with a view to a permanent transfer and is likely to ink a ?10 million (US$20 million) switch when his loan expires at the end of the season.
Villa also captured Togo midfielder Moustapha Salifou for an undisclosed fee from Swiss side FC Wil on a one-year contract.
Elsewhere, it was inevitable that Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp would be involved in a host of deals.
Redknapp signed Glen Johnson from Chelsea for an undisclosed fee after allowing Dejan Stefanovic to join Fulham and Gary O'Neil to move north to Middlesbrough.
Senegal midfielder Papa Bouba Diop headed the other way signing for Pompey from Fulham.
Middlesbrough agreed a ?5 million fee for O'Neil, who was on Teeside for a medical.
Boro boss Gareth Southgate had already completed one signing on Friday. He landed Egypt midfielder Mohamed Shawky from African champions Al Ahly for ?650,000.
Shawky, 25, agreed a three-year contract after impressing Southgate during a trial last week.
Southgate is also giving a trial to former Everton and Newcastle United defender Alessandro Pistone. The Italian is a free agent so could be signed after the transfer window closes.
Middlesbrough's Jamaican international Jason Euell has joined Southampton on a free transfer. Euell signed a two-year contract with the Championship club.
Struggling Derby County signed Scotland striker Kenny Miller from Celtic for an undisclosed fee.
Miller agreed a three-year contract with Billy Davies's side after the Rams had an offer, believed to be approximately ?3 million, accepted by the Scottish champions.
Manchester City striker Bernardo Corradi moved to Serie A side Parma on loan for the rest of the season. The 31-year-old striker, who joined City from Valencia in July last year, scored three times in 29 appearances for the Blues.
Liverpool have added another youngster to their squad as Rafa Benitez signed French midfielder Damien Plessi from Lyon.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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