In a low key final day of the summer transfer window in England, Portsmouth were the busiest club, perhaps making up for lost time after the delay over Sulaiman al Fahim's takeover, signing Manchester City defender Tal Ben-Haim and Benfica's French midfielder Hassan Yebda, but allowing Croatian playmaker Niko Kranjcar to move to Tottenham.
The 27-year-old Israel centre-back Ben-Haim arrives at Fratton Park on a four-year deal with a point to prove following disappointing spells at Chelsea and City. "I'm very happy to be here at Pompey," he told the club's website. "It's a big challenge because after four games we have no points, but I'm ready." Yebda, 25, has signed on a season-long loan from Benfica. Kranjcar, who last night completed a medical and agreed to a £2million (Dh12m) move to Tottenham, will fill the gap left by his countryman Luka Modric, who broke his leg at the weekend and is out for six weeks.
Elsewhere, Aston Villa signed defender James Collins for around £5m from West Ham. Villa boss Martin O'Neill was desperate to sign experienced defenders after the retirement of skipper Martin Laursen and the sale of Zat Knight to Bolton. Sunderland defender Danny Collins, 29, moved to stoke for £2.75m. The club also sold Grant Leadbitter for up to £2.6m and fellow midfielder Carlos Edwards for up to £1.35m to Championship side Ipswich, managed by their former coach Roy Keane
Bolton have signed Croatian striker Ivan Klasnic from Nantes on a season-long loan. With the transfer window for the rest of Europe closing on Monday night, there were some late moves at some of the bigger clubs. Italy left-back Fabio Grosso joined Juventus from Olympique Lyon on a three-year contract. Juve will pay an initial ?2 million (Dh10.5m) for the 31-year-old, who scored the winning penalty in the final shootout against France when Italy won the 2006 World Cup. The fee could rise to ?3m depending on appearances.
Despite being linked with a host of Premier League clubs, Barcelona's Icelandic striker Eidur Gudjohnsen, 30, agreed to a ?2m move to French club Monaco. Elsehwere, Uefa have banned Arsenal striker Eduardo for two Champions League matches for diving to earn a penalty in a qualifying match against Celtic. Uefa's disciplinary panel made the ruling yesterday after a tele-conference. The panel said the Brazilian-born Croatia forward deceived the referee when he got the penalty decision after a challenge by Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc last Wednesday. Eduardo will miss Arsenal's Group H matches away to Standard Liege and at home to Olympiakos.
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is also in trouble, having been charged with improper conduct following comments made after their opening-weekend defeat to Tottenham, the English Football Association have confirmed. Benitez was furious at Phil Dowd's refusal to award a late penalty for what he perceived to be a foul on Andriy Voronin by Benoit Assou-Ekotto in a game his side lost 2-1. Liverpool had another penalty shout turned down shortly after when Fernando Torres cannoned a shot against Assou-Ekotto's hand. After the game Benitez said: "I think everyone could see there was a penalty, especially to Voronin, it was so clear. You can say that the hand was to the ball or the ball was to the hand, it could be, but the other one was so clear, it was unbelievable. Can you get two penalties at an away ground? No. With this referee, I knew that this was impossible."
* With agencies
