Spurs sign £7m Defoe as Zamora joins West Ham
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Your support makes all the difference.On the last day of the transfer window, Jermain Defoe finally gained the move he craved away from West Ham United, joining Tottenham Hotspur in a deal worth £7m plus striker Bobby Zamora moving to Upton Park.
The signing, eight months after Defoe handed in a transfer request, added excitement to a day which was otherwise dominated by loans and free transfers with little money changing hands. Although the England Under-21 international would have preferred a deal taking him to one of the "Big Three" he signed a five-year contract just before the 5pm deadline.
West Ham will receive £6m plus a further £1m based on "specific performance criteria". Defoe, 21, is the latest big name to depart following relegation from the Premiership and will join former team-mate Frédéric Kanouté at White Hart Lane. He has had an unsettled season - being sent off three times. Zamora, 23, who cost Spurs £1.5m last summer but has scored just once, moves in the other direction.
The West Ham manager, Alan Pardew, said: "If you look at this deal in the cold light of day you've got to say it's a good deal for us."
The transfer takes Tottenham's spending to £20m in the past six months although they were prevented by Premier League rules from adding goalkeeper Paul Robinson to their squad. Leeds United had agreed to the £2m sale, with a further £500,000 in the summer, and personal terms had been agreed with the 24-year-old, but a plan to allow him to stay at Elland Road until the end of the season contravened the rule book.
Leaving Leeds, however, was striker Michael Bridges, a £5m buy, who is out-of-contract this June. He joined Newcastle United on loan with defender Steven Caldwell switching to the Premiership's bottom club.
The second biggest cash deal of the day was the sale of Blackburn Rovers defender Martin Taylor for £1.25m to Birmingham City. Blackburn used the money to immediately sign the 20-year-old striker Jonathan Stead from Third Division Huddersfield Town for £1m. He has 18 goals this season and agreed a four-and-a-half year deal.
Middlesbrough, although thwarted in their efforts to sign Leeds' Mark Viduka for £4m, secured the Brazilian midfielder Ricardinho, 27, until the end of the season after he was released from his contract with Sao Paulo. He has 10 caps and was in the 2002 World Cup squad.
Portsmouth took their signings for the month to seven by moving for Leicester City's John Curtis on a free transfer and Newcastle's Lomana LuaLua on a three-month loan deal with a fee of £100,000 being paid. The Democratic Republic of Congo striker, 23, had rejected a move to Leeds.
Bolton Wanderers' were snubbed by Udinese's German striker Carsten Jancker although they did sign Liverpool's promising defender Jon Otsemobor on loan.
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