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QPR big spenders as Zamora and Cissé join

...while Harry Redknapp is up to his old tricks again with day of movement at Tottenham

Martin Hardy
Wednesday 01 February 2012 01:00 GMT
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Djibril Cissé returns to English football with QPR
Djibril Cissé returns to English football with QPR (AFP/Getty Images)

Bobby Zamora completed his £5m cross-West London switch from Fulham to big-spending Queen's Park Rangers last night and then admitted the club's ambition had persuaded him to move.

The fee for the 31-year-old striker could rise to around £6m with add-ons as Mark Hughes gave a further show of the financial muscle at his new club.

"The ambition of the club was certainly a drawing factor," said Zamora. "I've been lucky enough to speak to Tony Fernandes and Phil Beard has relayed a lot of messages about where this club want to go. For me, it was quite an easy decision to be a part of this. The sky is the limit. We're looking to go forward and to grow and I want to be a part of that."

Rangers' vice-chairman Amit Bhaia personally oversaw the deal to tie up the England striker. The move will improve the £50,000-a-week deal he signed at Craven Cottage last year and he will form a new strike partnership with Djibril Cissé, who completed his own transfer to Loftus Road for £4m. The former Liverpool forward, who arrived from Lazio, signed a two-and-a-half year deal as Rangers backed up their promises to Hughes with big-name signings.

"I'm really pleased with the business we've done," said Hughes. "Bobby is a guy that makes things happen on the pitch, be it scoring goals or creating chances for others. We needed a player of his ilk at the football club and I couldn't be more delighted. He was the difference for us at Fulham last season. He came back from injury and he made such an impact in the second half of the campaign. He's got great power and pace and his technical ability is top class. He's got an excellent left foot."

For Zamora, the transfer ends a difficult period in his Fulham career and a stormy relationship with Martin Jol, who took over at the club in the summer. The player hopes a switch to QPR will significantly improve his chances of re-establishing himself in Fabio Capello's plans ahead of the European Championships this summer. He was even forced to train with the Fulham reserves at one point during the season and attracted interest from several Premier League clubs. Rangers however had the finance up front to fight off competition.

Fulham in turn have raided the Bundesliga to land Stuttgart's Russian striker Pavel Progrebnyak as a direct replacement.

Unlike last year, when Chelsea and Liverpool spent £85m on two players in Andy Carroll and Fernando Torres, there was a clear sense of relative financial calm as the window closed. Indeed the biggest surprise of the day was Tottenham's move for Everton striker Louis Saha. The 33-year-old's contract at Goodison Park was due to run out at the of the season and after Everton completed the £5.5m-signing of Rangers' forward Nikica Jelavic on a four-and-a-half year contract, Saha, 33, was deemed surplus to requirements.

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp wanted back-up striking options with Roman Pavlyuchenko ending an unhappy season at White Hart Lane by agreeing to move to Lokomotiv Moscow for £7.5m.

Bolton moved for the much-fancied Watford forward Marvin Sordell for £3m. The England Under-21 striker had been pulled out of his side's Championship game at Millwall in order to complete the deal. Owen Coyle had been eager to add offensive options to his side, and had been knocked back in bids for Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha and Middlesbrough's Rhys Williams.

Manchester United's young midfielder Ravel Morrison completed his £1m move to West Ham and the Premier League champions replaced the youngster with Swiss Under-20 international Frederic Veseli, who moved from rivals Manchester City.

Chelsea also confirmed the £9m signing of Kevin de Bruyne, although the winger has been loaned back to Genk until the end of the season.

Norwich City have signed the England Under-21 central defender Ryan Bennett from Peterborough for £3.2m.

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