Premier League clubs have had until 11 pm on Tuesday to get their transfer business done but the windows in Germany and France closed last night.
And one extra day made all the difference. In the Bundesliga and in Ligue 1 there was frantic last hour running around, last gasp deals, last ditch loans, last guff statements as clubs were forced to tie up their loose ends on Monday. In England those loose ends are being tied tonight and one Premier League manager will thank his lucky stars he had an extra day to try and land a player who has suddenly become available or get over the line a deal which fell just short of completion on Monday.
On Monday, as the German and French leagues realised the window was about to slam shut and life would soon return back to normal, with all thoughts back on the pitch as another season of competition dawns, Premier League clubs realised they had 24 more hours to run riot in.
Life will return to normal for them soon too. There will always be tales to tell of what might have happened on transfer deadline day had the player travelled quicker, had the flight landed on time, had the fax machine worked, but come Thursday all thoughts will be back on the pitch as new signings settle in and find out how they coped with the step up/down/to England/to abroad.
There will always be those who got over the line in the dying moments and those who fell just short. Some people travelled through borders on Monday, others were hoping for a phone call on Tuesday from an English club. But tonight as Premier League clubs limp across the line the European transfer market will return to hibernation until at least January as it gears back up for another transfer merry-go-round.
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