JOE's Transfer Tracker

It didn’t quite match the madness of this time last year, but there were still a few last-gasp signings to get excited about. Here’s the lowdown on deadline day.

When you reflect on two of the worst deals in football history that occurred last January, perhaps it’s no surprise that this year’s transfer deadline day proved to be such a damp squib compared to twelve months ago.

If a combined £85 million buys you a hell of a lot of hair but precious few goals, then maybe Premier League chairmen are right keep their money in their pockets until the summer.

But while there was no Torres and Carroll-style late dealings (surely you realised that’s who we were on about above), there was a small bit of last minute bargaining to get excited about.

Perhaps most surprisingly, it was Everton that look to have done the best business during the transfer window, with yesterday's £5.5 million signing of Nikica Jelavic later bolstered with a loan return for Steven Pienaar from Spurs. The duo join two recent acquisitions, Darron Gibson and Landon Donovan, both of whom are already paying dividends.

As for Jelavic, his was probably the most exciting striker signing on a day in which Pavel Pogrebnyak joined Fulham - with a nod towards Kit Kat Chunky, Fulham will be all white with Pogrebnyak in the side. Come to think of it, they're generally all white no matter who plays. Apart from those black shorts, of course.

QPR double-whammy

Moving swiftly on, the man big Pavel replaces at Craven Cottage is Bobby Zamora, who was one of two striker arrivals at Loftus Road on deadline day, where he will link up with Djibril Cisse.

As for Croatian international Jelavic, the player has an excellent record in the SPL but Toffees fans should be warned that for every Henrik Larsson and Steven Fletcher that do well in England, there’s also a David Goodwillie.

The biggest transfer fee of yesterday is for now at least, the most inconsequential. Kevin De Bruyne of Belgian side Genk joined Chelsea yesterday in a £6.5 million, held aloft a Blues jersey and then immediately went back to Genk to complete a loan spell at the club for the rest of the season. The 20-year-old joined Chelsea's growing gaggle of Belgian youngsters (including Romelu Lukaku and goalkeeper Thiabaut Courtois) that will hopefully play for the first team someday.

As for Tottenham Hotspur, the ongoing trial of Harry Redknapp and the side's victory last night over Wigan meant that we were spared the customary Sky Sports News sight of Harry Redknapp rolling down his car window every 10 minutes for a chat.

The Spurs boss made a few slightly odd signings, however, as 34-year-old Ryan Nelsen and 33-year-old Louis Saha joined the club, while Sebastien Bassong packed his bags for Wolves, the aforementioned Pienaar returned to Everton and Roman Pavlyuchenko joined Lokomotiv Moscow, who were later comically mispronounced by 'Arry as "Locomotion Moscow".

Spurs were also rebuffed in their attempts to sign Juventus winger Milos Krasic, as the Serbian international surprisingly turned down a loan offer.

Last seen refusing to shake a hand in Stamford Bridge about two years ago, Wayne Bridge decided to resume doing what he actually gets paid for and signed for Sunderland on loan so he has other things to do on a Saturday apart from a Saturday (the lucky sucker is going out with Frankie Sandford don’t you know).

His club Manchester City were uncharacteristically quiet for yesterday's deadline day, though Roma veteran midfielder David Pizarro joined on loan to link up with his former Inter Milan boss Roberto Mancini on loan.

Bridge wasn’t the only man brought in by Martin O’Neill to strengthen the Black Cats’ defence. He also brought in Sorti, Sotiro, Kryiako … the big Greek guy with the ponytail who used to play for Liverpool, on loan from Wolfsburg.

Irish acquisitions

Closer to home, our own Keith Andrews was the subject of a last-gasp bid from West Brom, where he will join an Irish contingent already represented by Long and Cox.

With the Euros within sight, hopefully all three can play in tandem as the season progresses, giving Andrews the chance to erect an understanding with what could be a very penetrative Long/Cox partnership. Another Irish international, Leon Best, turned down the chance to join Celtic on a loan deal. Can he find his way to break up the likely all-Senegalese Newcastler partnership of Demba Ba and Papiss Demba Cisse? We doubt it.

Finally, Manchester United and Arsenal put their faith in youth, while the Red Devils signing 19-year-old Swiss centre-back Frederic Veseli from Manchester City in the least controversial cross-Manchester signing ever, while Arsenal paid a reasonable £400,000 for the services of Borussia Dortmund youngster Thomas Eisfeld.

The biggest youth signing, however, may come back to haunt Sir Alex Ferguson, as the club finally parted ways with the hugely talented but troubled Ravel Morrison, who drops down a division for Sam Allardyce's West Ham.

Oh, and Carlos Tevez stayed put, meaning that we're stuck listening to endless rumours surrounding the Argentine's future for at least another four months. Hurrah for that, then.