Transfer Deadline Day August 2010 - Welsh Players

I was very intrigued to hear that ‘Christian Bale’ was moving to Birmingham. I assumed they meant Gareth which sounded a bit unlikely (although any move that weakens Tottenham Hotspur can only be a good thing) but it turned out they meant former Arsenal man Alexander Hleb. They managed to get him too, despite interest from Liverpool, Tottenham and Benfica.

Mark Hughes was named as a contender to become manager of Aston Villa despite only arriving at Fulham five minutes ago (okay that might be a slight exaggeration). This one didn't happen... although the last time I checked, manager don't have to stick to transfer deadlines.

Swansea City received a bid from Leicester City for Ashley Williams but they told Leicester where to go. Former Swansea manager Paolo Sousa is now at Leicester so it was probably his idea.

Reading striker Gylfi Sigurdsson has made a shock move to the Bundesliga. No he’s not Welsh but striker team-mates Simon Church, Hal Robson-Kanu and Jake Taylor are and Sigurdsson was keeping them out of the team.

Danny Gabbidon was very excited to hear Ryan Babel might be joining him at West Ham. West Ham fans were probably equally excited to hear that Danny is on Twitter and is therefore unlikely to be heading anywhere in the next few hours. Always a worry on transfer deadline day.

Tony Pulis had a go at signing Jermaine Pennant (formerly of Arsenal, Liverpool and Birmingham and I think also Portsmouth) and his Welsh charm worked. Pennant is now an on-loan Stoke City player. For Tony's sake, let’s hope he’s grown up since his Arsenal days.