Transfer clock ticking for clubs

Barclaycard Premiership strugglers Manchester City and Blackburn both added to their squads over the weekend as the winter transfer window reached its final day.

Clubs across the country were today seeking to pull off late deals as the clock ticked towards the 5pm deadline.

City, who are perched precariously over the relegation pack following a 2-1 defeat at Arsenal yesterday, moved to stiffen their defence with the loan signing of Belgian international Daniel van Buyten from Marseille.

And Rovers, who are level on points with City after a 3-2 home loss against Chelsea, snapped up Norway midfielder Martin Andresen.

The only club separating those two teams from the bottom three, 17th-placed Portsmouth, could be among the big spenders as the window closes after failing with a £1.5m (€2.2m) bid for Newcastle duo Lomano LuaLua and Andy Griffin.

The north-east club have indicated they would be prepared to sell striker LuaLua for the same amount but it remains to be seen if Pompey will make another bid.

Pompey chairman Milan Mandaric said: “We made a £1.5m (€2.2m) offer on Friday night but they said we could only have LuaLua, not Griffin for that fee.”