These late, expensive moves helped define the day that is now either the best or worst of the football season, depending on your taste.
Maraoune Fellaini to Manchester United (September 2013)
When David Moyes was chosen to take over Manchester United manager, there was genuine speculation that the outgoing Sir Alex Ferguson had sealed a parting gift for the new manager: Cristiano Ronaldo.
That, obviously, turned out to be nonsense, although Moyes and fellow newbie Ed Woodward were determined to land a big name.
Gareth Bale’s desire to move to Real Madrid meant a world-record bid for the then-Tottenham player came to nothing, as did moves for Cesc Fabregas, Daniele De Rossi and Thiago Alcantara.
By deadline day, United’s comedy double act were just desperate to land any name, never mind a big one. And shortly before the window shut, they completed their first deal of the summer: Fellaini, signed from Moyes’ old club Everton, for £27.5m.
That amount was just £500k more than United offered for both Fellaini and Leighton Baines earlier in the summer, while the Belgian had previously been available for £4m less due to a widely-known buy-out clause that had since expired.
Those factors, plus the suspicion that Fellaini wasn’t quite United standard, made the transfer a PR disaster, and one from which Moyes never recovered.
Mesut Ozil to Arsenal (September 2013)
Arsenal’s comically-doomed £40m-plus-£1 bid for Luis Suarez meant Arsene Wenger woke up on deadline day without the world-class forward he craved.
Fortunately for the Gunners, Spurs’ sale of Bale to Real Madrid meant Ozil was surplus to requirements at the Bernabeu and, therefore, an attainable target for Wenger – providing he was prepared to splash the cash.
The Frenchman had never previously spent more than £18m on a player – the underwhelming Jose Antonio Reyes in 2004 – but sanctioned a £42.5m move for the star he hoped would turn Arsenal into title contenders once again.
That, as we know now, did not happen, with Ozil becoming the club’s go-to scapegoat, but re-watching that day’s Sky Sports News footage, where loads of Arsenal fans turned up to the Emirates and greeted his arrival with wild celebrations, reveals how huge the signing was at the time.
Those images also represent the peak of the station’s deadline-day coverage, which became a parody of itself soon after (not helped by ‘supporters’ who realised they could become Twitter famous if they interrupted reporters’ live pieces to camera with sex toys and lewd comments).
Fernando Torres to Chelsea (January 2011)
Chelsea would never have paid £50m for Torres had they known the player they were getting would be nothing like the one who’d scored for fun for Liverpool and Spain.
Torres had always been susceptible to injury at Anfield, but the then-26-year-old’s decision to rush back from knee surgery in order to play at the 2010 World Cup, where he pulled his hamstring in the final, robbed him of his pace and power.
Indeed, the Spaniard reached double figures in league goals only once more in his career, having never failed to do so in the previous eight seasons.
It was genuinely sad to see Torres, who between 2007 and 2010 was probably the best No. 9 in the world, reduced to a figure of fun during his time at Stamford Bridge – a reality that was unthinkable when Chelsea made him the fourth-most expensive player ever.
The transfer also sparked a memorable deadline-day frenzy elsewhere, with Liverpool spending big on Andy Carroll and a little-known Ajax striker named Luis Suarez.
Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester United (September 2008)
The most enjoyable transfer deadline-day signing of all time, purely because of the story.
Berbatov was always expected to move to Old Trafford, but Daniel Levy’s hardball stance meant negotiations were taken to the window’s last day.
Early in the day, Sky Sports News reported that Spurs had accepted a bid from a Manchester club – City, who had just been pumped full of Abu Dhabi cash, rather than United.
Nowadays, it is taken for granted how the two Manchester clubs compete for the same calibre of player, but at the time it was unprecedented.
The prospect of missing out on his No. 1 target to the club he would later dub their ‘noisy neighbours’ caused Sir Alex Ferguson to take matters into his own hands.
With Berbatov on his way to speak to City, Ferguson drove in his car and personally met the player at Manchester airport – despite not having Spurs’ permission to do so (a move that displayed either his remarkable sense of entitlement, or the lengths he would go in order to win, depending on your views of the man).
Spurs threatened to report United, but their hijacking of the player – plus his overwhelming desire to join them – meant they finally agreed to do business.
Sky’s grainy, late-night images of Berbatov, Ferguson and Gill at Old Trafford, attempting to seal the deal, only added to the sense of intrigue and excitement.
Robinho to Manchester City (September 2008)
City missed out on Berbatov, but their supporters weren’t fussed after the club landed an even bigger marquee signing: the Brazilian forward Robinho, for £32.5m from Real Madrid.
Again, City spending huge sums of money on world-renowned stars is nothing new today, but at the time it was remarkable. Think Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain, only more shocking.
The club had spent money on new players that summer – including Pablo Zabaleta and Vincent Kompany – but their recruitment went into overdrive after Sheikh Mansour completed his takeover of the club on deadline day.
Desperate to make a statement, the new regime launched bids for a myriad of world-class players, including Berbatov, David Villa and Mario Gomez, but to no avail.
Then news broke that they had landed the biggest name of all: Robinho.
The Brazilian had been linked to Chelsea all summer – the Blues had even mistakenly made his name available to be printed onto the club’s new strip – while there were also amusing, albeit unsubstantiated, rumours that the player himself thought he was joining United.
City fans couldn’t care less, though, and rushed to the Etihad to serenade the Sky Sports cameras with impromptu renditions of ‘We’ve got Robinho!’.
It was thrilling, organic entertainment, and the transfer that made the concept of deadline day a thing.
Despite Sky’s best efforts, nothing since has ever come close to topping it.
