Jonathan Woodgate and Jamie O'Hara return to boost Tottenham
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Your support makes all the difference.Tottenham were today celebrating a triple boost after completing the signing of Steven Pienaar and seeing Jonathan Woodgate and Jamie O'Hara make their long-awaited comebacks from injury.
Midfielder Pienaar signed a four-and-a-half-year contract at White Hart Lane last night, hours after Woodgate and O'Hara came through 45 minutes for a Spurs XI at the club's training ground.
Pienaar, 28, joined Tottenham from Everton for a fee believed to be between £2.5million-£3million.
Confirming his destination on his Twitter account, Pienaar said: "To end speculation I am going to Spurs. I've had brilliant years at Everton and it will always be a special place in my heart."
He later added: "I can also confirm I'll be jersey number 40."
Announcing the completion of the transfer on their official website, www.tottenhamhotspur.com, Spurs said in a statement: "We are delighted to announce that we have reached agreement with Everton and Steven Pienaar for the player's transfer to the club."
Pienaar could make his debut in Saturday's Barclays Premier League game at Newcastle providing his work permit comes through in time.
Tottenham beat off competition from Chelsea to land the South Africa star, who failed to agree personal terms with the Barclays Premier League champions.
That does not appear to have been a problem with Spurs, who nevertheless risked missing out on the South Africa star by refusing to meet Everton's asking price.
But the clubs came to an agreement on Monday night, with some reports claiming Tottenham had matched Chelsea's £3million bid for the player and others suggesting a compromise figure of around £2.5million had been reached.
Woodgate and O'Hara, meanwhile, helped a Spurs XI thrash QPR 9-2 yesterday.
Woodgate's career appeared under real threat earlier this season when manager Harry Redknapp revealed he was in the last-chance saloon regarding the treatment of his groin problem.
But the injury-plagued centre-back, who has been out for 14 months, began to show real signs of improvement and took a huge stride forward today by completing 45 minutes, three days short of his 31st birthday.
"Woody was outstanding," said technical co-ordinator Tim Sherwood.
"He's not played for such a long time, but it was as if he'd never been away."
Redknapp was forced to omit Woodgate from his 25-man squad for the first half of the Barclays Premier League season but may decide to include him when he resubmits it when the transfer window closes.
Midfielder O'Hara also played the first half today, having returned from the back injury which has kept him out since the summer.
The 24-year-old's Spurs future is less certain, with O'Hara having spent last season on loan at Portsmouth.
He has repeatedly been linked with a move to West Ham and will struggle to break into a Tottenham side which already boasted an embarrassment of riches in midfield ahead of the arrival of Pienaar.
Striker Robbie Keane is also a reported target for the Hammers, something he yesterday told Sky Sports News he knew nothing about.
"I haven't heard anything at the moment but we will just see what happens," said the 30-year-old, who branded Birmingham's failed £6million move for him a publicity stunt after he failed to agree personal terms with them.
"A deal was never really on the table, so I just think that Birmingham was looking for a bit of publicity really."
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