Transfer deadline day 2013: A surprisingly slow day comes to a close

For all his talent and trophies, it’s never been entirely clear what Mario Balotelli brings to a side. He boasts tremendous pace, is a spectacular physical specimen, and can finish with aplomb, but he never really seized any of his multiple chances to prove he could lead the line, and now he leaves abroad in search of a fresh start. At Milan, he will likely replace the unlucky Giampaolo Pazzini, who has three goals in three starts in 2013, as the central striker in Milan’s fluid 4-3-3. Max Allegri is keen for his three attackers to rotate across the pitch, which will suit Balotelli’s preference to drift towards the channels, where Montolivo will attempt to find him with chipped balls in behind.

David Beckham has followed in the footsteps of many once-pacy wingers in making the transition inside to a deep-lying playmaking role, and deployed in the centre of a flat midfield four for LA Galaxy, his job was to provide accurate long diagonals for the wide players to chase.

The only downside for Arsenal in this move is that Monreal is cup tied and will not be eligible for the Champions League knockout stages, leaving the Gunners to pray Gibbs can get fit for their round of 16 tie versus Bayern Munich.

While Arsenal are thrilled to have captured Monreal, Malaga’s decision to sell the left back is curious. The deal will come in well short of his €20 million release clause and Malaga have a battle on their hands in the league and in the Champions League, where they are matched with Porto in the round of 16.

Real Madrid have completed a last-minute signing of the window by securing Sao Paulo youngster Casemiro on loan.

The 20-year-old is widely tipped as a huge talent in Brazil, a creative midfielder with an all-round game who can play in the centre or as a holding player. It’s one for the future for Madrid, but if he fulfils his potential, it could be a huge signing in the long-term.

Reports say Stones has signed a 5 and a half year deal and that Everton have paid somewhere in the region of 3 million, though the club did not disclose the fee in a statement on their website.

Stones made his debut for Barnsley in December 2011 and made 24 appearances for the Tykes. He’s also made two appearnecs for the England Under-19 national team. Stones scored his first career goal against Rochade in a League Cup match in August.

Stones made a brief statement to the club’s website saying,

Anzhi Makhachkala will wrap up a deal for Shakhtar’s Willian, according to manager Mircea Lucescu.

The Shakhtar boss confirmed that the release clause for the player, at €35m, had been met by the super-rich Dagestan outfit and the player would agree terms with the club.

Shea spent Thursday in Stoke, where he trained with his new club before waiting on the result of his appeal. The American could not be granted a work permit initially because he had not appeared in 75% of the United States’ matches, but Stoke could have argued any number of things, from injury keeping Shea from the necessary number of international appearances to his status as one of the Americans’ brightest young players. Whatever they argued, it was successful.

After making a permanent move to Leeds United, he could feature in their next game - which happens to be against fierce rivals Cardiff City.

Beckham’s salary at the club is believed to be around £150,000 per week, so it’s no small figure we’re talking about. Speaking on the matter, Beckham said: “We’ve decided my salary will go towards a local children’s charity in Paris and that’s one of the things we’re very excited and proud to be able to do. I’m not sure it’s been done before but it’s something I’m very passionate about.”

Of course, if you’ll forgive us for getting cynical, it could also be a way for Beckham and the club to pay less tax, which can be offset by charitable donations. But either way, a lot of French kids will be happy.

It’s refreshing to see a side not panicking when threatened with relegation and sticking to their youth revolution, but there’s a reason that sides in trouble spend big to rescue themselves from oblivion. If Villa seriously want to escape the drop zone, they’re almost certainly going to have to do better than this.

Emanuelson signed for Milan in January 2011 and has made 60 appearances for the club, but the 26-year-old has found himself sidelined this season.

The transfer had been heavily-rumoured for much of the window, although there was a brief but surprising twist this morning when Middlesbrough also made a late attempt to sign the Swansea striker, although the move to Sunderland has gone ahead as expected, with Graham pictured holding a Sunderland shirt as the club completes the media formalities.

Danny Graham was Swansea City’s top striker in the 2011-2012 season after he was signed from Watford, although has found himself sidelined this season thanks to the remarkable form of Michu, and Michael Laudrup has decided to cash in.

Faurlin has been one of the Rs key players in recent years, but he has found first-team opportunities hard to come by under new boss Harry Redknapp and will spend the rest of the season on loan in Serie A, with Palermo also having the option to buy the player.

Faurlin signed for Queens Park Rangers in 2009, helping them to promotion and making 111 appearances for the club, in which he also scored 5 goals. It’s an odd move from the Rs, who need all the help they can get in staying up, but it should be an astute move for Palermo.

Going the other way is a pile of cash plus Steve Morison, who saw plenty of time with Norwich in the 2011/12 season but has found himself with fewer opportunities in the post-Paul-Lambert era. Given that Becchio had handed in a transfer request at Leeds, they’ve done remarkably well to get Morison out of the deal -- he might be worth more than Becchio straight up, and Norwich had most of the leverage here.

PSG are owned by the Qatar Investment Authority and basically have infinity money. It seems highly unlikely that Beckham is taking a serious pay cut to join them. Multiple independent British outlets/journalists are running with this story, so it appears to be quite real and not a hilarious hoax.

Although the Austrian usually plays in midfield, his ability to play in defence as well will help Wigan’s rather leaky backline, and he should also slot nicely into their three-at-the-back system.

Speaking about the deal, Scharner said: “It really is fantastic to be back. Wigan will always have a big place in my heart, so to be asked to come back and help the team now is something really special for me.”

With a buyout clause of £12.5 million and reported wages of £100,000 per week at Anzhi, Samba’s an enormously pricey buy for a team that could easily find itself in the Championship next year. But desperate times call for desperate measures at Loftus Road.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

You can hear the clock ticking ever closer to the transfer deadline and teams all over England panicking as they try to figure out how to strengthen their squad before it is too late. That means chaos, panic, excitement, disappointment and, above all, hilarity for us all.

Kamara is a 28-year-old forward, who has spent all of his professional career in MLS, most recently with Sporting Kanas City. The MLS side will receive their two-third of the “sizable” loan fee in the form of allocation dollars, which they can use to buy down the salar-cap hit of other players.

Kamara was a bit of a late-bloomer, scoring double-digit goals for the first time in 2010. But since then, he’s been among the league’s most consistent scorers, bagging 30 goals and adding 18 assists in that time.

Liverpool announced the Coutinho signing on their official website, and the player said he was happy to complete the deal: “I’m feeling very happy, it’s a very important step in my career and I’m expecting to come here and play good football to give my contribution on the pitch.”

Milan is a slightly surprising destination. Yes, the club have made no secret of the fact that they wanted to bring Balotelli back to Italy, but they’ve also made it clear that there’s little money available. But they found the transfer fee, and the forward has taken a pay cut in favor of a starting role.

Drogba joined Shanghai from Chelsea last season on a free transfer. The Ivorian striker helped lead Chelsea to the Champions League title, scoring the winning penalty kick, before leaving for China. But as soon as Drogba joined Shanghai, there were rumors of him leaving for a variety of reasons. Now he finally has, making the move to Istanbul.

Drogba will be joining a good Galatasaray team, who are currently top the Superlig, leading Besiktas and Fenerbahce by five points. The club already has Burak Yilmaz, Johan Elmander, Milan Baros and league leading scorer Umut Bulut so they are hardly short on forwards. But Bulut is only there on loan and Galatasaray are clearly looking to make a splash -- as evidenced by the Sneijder signing just last week -- as much as they are looking to add a quality player.

Said contract was worked out with Spurs, and we were expecting Holtby to be arriving at White Hart Lane in the offseason, but Daniel Levy and company have thrown the world a curveball by picking him up in January. Tottenham’s official site is confirming that an agreement has been reached with Schalke for the immediate transfer of the 22-year-old, which means they’ll be able to deploy the talented midfielder immediately.

For more on the Holtby deal, check out Cartilage Free Captain, SB Nation’s Tottenham Hotspur blog.

Zaha’s far from the finished product at the moment, but if Ferguson can bring his obvious talent to the fore, this could be a signing that United fans revel in for years to come.