Whelan wants off merry-go-round

It wouldn’t have been much help to a stressed-out James McCarthy, I know, but your correspondent never had any doubt his move from Wigan to Everton would go through last Monday.

The player himself, as he admitted during the week, hadn’t known whether he was literally coming or going for much of transfer deadline day, confirmation only finally arriving that the deal was done with just 10 minutes to go to the 11pm deadline.

The earlier uncertainty had also been vividly reflected in Sky’s coverage, ever-excitable presenter Jim White at one point reporting the deal had been resurrected even as the rolling caption below his face was still informing viewers that Wigan had knocked the move on the head.