Amid hyperbolic expectation, oversaturated media coverage and ridiculously inflated sums of money, the August transfer deadline passed this morning, yielding action from English managers but with underwhelming results.
The action, or in some cases lack thereof, was greatest in North London, where it appears the sulking Spurs midfielder Luka Modric will be staying put after Chelsea’s overtures were rejected by chairman Daniel Levy.
Harry Redknapp has steeled his midfield, bringing in Scott Parker for £6m from West Ham, although Wilson Palacios has gone the other way, joining Stoke City for for £8m.
In a move completed 30 minutes after the deadline passed, it was announced unwanted forward Peter Crouch would also be joining Palacios at the Britannia Stadium, with Spurs receiving £10m for their trouble.
Alan Hutton and the perennially-injured Jermaine Jenas have also joined Palacios and Crouch in the departures lounge, and will join Aston Villa.
After being humiliated 8-2 at Old Trafford days earlier, it is perhaps unsurprising that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was one of the busiest managers at the transfer table.
But after initially being linked with Edin Hazard, Marvin Martin and Yann M’Vila, the less-glamorous signatures of Per Mertesacker, André Santos, Park Chu-Young and the one-year loan deal for Yossi Benayoun leave a little to be desired.
The 11th-hour bid for Everton’s Mikael Arteta will certainly help, but it is doubtful whether the injury-plagued 29-year-old midfielder will the gaps left by Fabregas and Nasri.
Meanwhile, out-of-favour Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner has joined Sunderland on a season-long loan.
Perhaps the most intriguing comings-and-goings of the day were at Anfield, where Craig Bellamy returned from his unhappy spell at Manchester City to sign for another two years.
Joe Cole appears set to be taking the Eurostar to training after signing with French champions Lille on a one-year loan deal, putting an end to a nightmare spell on Merseyside. For now, anyway.
Squad member Raul Meireles bizarrely handed in a transfer request a mere 30 minutes prior to the window closing, and was signed by Chelsea on a four-year deal, a week after their £7m bid was rejected for the Portuguese midfielder.
David Ngog and Christian Poulsen also been shown the exit door by Kenny Daglish, joining Bolton and Evian respectively, in moves that will sadden nobody at Liverpool.
Chelsea have deemed Gael Kakuta, Patrick van Aanholt and Ulises Davila surplus to short-term requirements, loaning them out to Bolton, Wigan and Vitesse Arnhem respectively.
In one of the more shrewd moves of the day, Martin Jol captured Costa Rican striker Bryan Ruiz from Dutch club FC Twente for £10m, holding off interest from Newcastle, while also nabbing former Port striker Orlando Sa on a free transfer.
Tony Pulis has geared his side toward an assault on the top half of the table, signing the aforementioned Palacios and Crouch as well as Birmingham striker Cameron Jerome for £4m.
Despite losing the well-established Mikael Arteta, cash-strapped Everton did manage a coup of their own, bringing in Royston Drenthe from Real Madrid.
It mightn’t be the Raul that they plumped for earlier in the month, but Blackburn did manage to sign Yakubu for £2m while also snaring resolute defender Scott Dann for Birmingham for £6m.
Neil Warnock has moved to strengthen his leaky QPR defence, signing Anton Ferdinand from Sunderland, while former England winger Shaun Wright-Phillips completed a move from Manchester City.
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