Woodgate main mover in market

JONATHON WOODGATE made the biggest move of January’s transfer window on deadline day to complete a torrid month for Leeds.

Woodgate put pen to paper on a £9m transfer to Newcastle to add his name to an impressive list of Elland Road departures.

Lee Bowyer was the first to go, signing for West Ham for £100,000 followed by Olivier Dacourt on loan to Roma and £6m Manchester City new-boy Robbie Fowler as chairman Peter Ridsdale battled against a cash crisis.

The Elland Road club made one foray into purchasing signing Real Madrid left-sided utility player Raul Bravo on loan until the end of the season. The Spanish giants' website reports that the 21-year-old international has agreed to move to Elland Road until June 30.

But Real claim the West Yorkshire club will not have the option to buy the player when the agreement ends.

Bravo enjoys the distinction of having played for his country more than he has for his club this season.

The player was called up by Spain for Inaki Saez's first game in charge a friendly against Hungary last August.

He has been an ever present since then, playing in all five matches of Saez's reign and making the left-back position his own with a series of assured performances.

While Leeds seemingly could not sell players quickly enough during January's transfer window, the opposite was true of Birmingham manager Steve Bruce shelled out over £2.5m to bring Matthew Upson, Jamie Clapham and Stephen Clemence from Arsenal, Ipswich and Tottenham respectively.

But even that was not deemed sufficient strengthening for a fight against relegation with Ferdinand Coly, Christophe Dugarry and Piotr Swierczewski all arriving on loan from French clubs.

Another club to quash predictions of a transfer window damp squib were Manchester City, where manager Kevin Keegan recruited David Sommeil from Bordeaux for £3m and signed Djamel Belmadi on loan from Marseille to add to Fowler's signing.

Across the city, though, all was quiet at Old Trafford where Alex Ferguson kept his head down during the transfer window.

Title rivals Arsenal also appeared happy with their squad as Arsene Wenger only signed Guillaume Warmuz from Lens on short-term contract, as cover for injured reserve goalkeeper Rami Shaaban.

For Southampton, the unexpected carrot of a potential UEFA Cup spot next season persuaded chairman Rupert Lowe to spend £2.5m on Nottingham Forest midfielder David Prutton and £1.5m on Derby defender Danny Higginbotham.

While the chairmen of Chelsea, Liverpool, Fulham, Everton and Charlton were able to put their feet up as the deadline approached, West Ham hurriedly bolstered their squad.

Bowyer arrived at Upton Park in one of the most high-profile moves of the month while Les Ferdinand and Rufus Brevett were drafted in to add experience.