Fulham pulled off a coup with one day remaining in the transfer window as Dimitar Berbatov joined from Manchester United for £5m.
Berbatov Thursday takingcompleted a medical at Fulham with Martin Jol also confident of signing Sunderland's Kieran Richardson.
Berbatov had infuriated Fiorentina on Wednesday by deciding against a move after boarding a plane to seal the deal. before the Bulgarian He also turned down Juventus.
While his £5m price represents a bargain for a 31-year-old who cost United a record £30.75m, Berbatov's £110,000-a-week wage demands will compromise Fulham's pay structure, which has a £50,000 ceiling.
Jol said: "For good players you have to pay good money. There were a lot of clubs interested in Dimitar but we were able and capable of getting him. He is finishing his medical and, if everything is good, he will be one of our players."
Moussa Dembélé was sold to Tottenham Hotspur for £15m on Wednesday but Jol said that Fulham's finances were robust enough to have kept the midfielder. "We are a healthy club. We didn't need the Dembélé money," he said. Regarding Richardson he added: "A fee has been agreed and I'm confident it will happen before the deadline. I see him playing as a winger."
Manchester City and Swansea have agreed a £6.2m fee – climbing to a possible £8m – for Scott Sinclair, with City raising eyebrows by signing Richard Wright, the former Arsenal goalkeeper, on a free transfer. While City would not confirm Wright's arrival he was part of the club's official photoshoot.
Adam Johnson, whom Sinclair has replaced at the Eithad Stadium, has criticised the City manager, Roberto Mancini. Johnson, who moved to Sunderland earlier in the week, said: "As soon as I spoke to Martin [O'Neill, the Sunderland manager] he gave me confidence. He's a manager I can have a good relationship with. He made me feel wanted.
" "It's always nice to be praised as well as criticised. You can only take so much criticism and no praise as a player, it doesn't matter who you are. You have to have that balance.
"The last few weeks, I've done a lot of thinking. Leaving the champions was one of the biggest decisions of my life but hopefully coming here will make me a better player. Martin O'Neill doesn't want us to just be a mid-table team – and I want to play week in, week out. Coming here, I know I can enjoy playing football again."
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