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Grafite headlines quiet deadline day

Written by Ramaz Mitaishvili
Friday, 31 August 2007
VfL Wolfsburg signed Brazilian midfielder Grafite from French club Le Mans in one of the few high profile moves on transfer deadline day on Friday. The 28-year-old's transfer, for a fee reported at 8 million euros (10.93 million USD) in Germany, took Bundesliga spending to over 200 million euros (273.2 million USD) since last season. The Grafite deal was the only eye-catching move to the Bundesliga on the final day of transfer activity and with a few hours to go before the midnight deadline there was scarcely any more movement elsewhere. Portsmouth were the busiest club on a quiet day in England, They bought defender Glen Johnson from Chelsea for some 4.0 million pounds (8.08 million USD) and sold Serbia defender Dejan Stefanovic to Fulham for one million pounds. The biggest deal of the final day looked like being Curtis Davies's move from West Bromwich Albion to Aston Villa. Davies, 22, joined Villa on a year-long loan deal with the move to be made permanent next year for a fee of up to 10 million pounds (20.20 million USD). In Italy, the Uruguayan Alvaro Recoba signed for Torino on loan from Inter Milan, while striker Bernardo Corradi joined Parma on loan after a difficult spell at Manchester City. The biggest move in Spain involved Atletico Madrid taking Barcelona's Brazilian midfielder Thiago Motta on a one-year deal. Atletico then let Frenchman Peter Luccin move to Real Zaragoza on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee. !