Harry Redknapp's desire to freshen a squad that had slumped to consecutive Premier League defeats was met last night when Tottenham Hotspur completed the deadline-day transfer of Scott Parker from West Ham United while negotiating the exits of several players deemed surplus to their manager's requirements.
Meanwhile, Raul Meireles and Mikel Arteta both swapped Merseyside for London. Meireles, the Portuguese midfielder, joined Chelsea from Liverpool and Spanish playmaker Arteta left Everton for Arsenal, with both deals in the region of £10 million (Dh59.8m).
Parker was allowed to leave West Ham after he formally requested a transfer, waiving his rights to lucrative loyalty bonuses, and Tottenham increased their offer to £5.5 million. The 30-year-old England midfielder joined Emmanuel Adebayor, on loan from Manchester City, and Brad Friedel, a free-agent acquisition from Aston Villa, as Tottenham's principal summer recruits.
Working to reduce the numbers in a squad that was already three men over Premier League limits, Tottenham spent much of the summer window's final day moving players to other clubs.
Alan Hutton, the Scottish right-back, and midfielder Jermaine Jenas joined Aston Villa despite competing interest for Hutton from Fulham.
David Bentley, a £15m signing just three summers previously, was sent to West Ham on a season loan, where he was joined by Arsenal midfielder Henri Lansbury.
Tottenham recouped around £20m with the sales of Wilson Palacios and Peter Crouch to Stoke City.
Crouch had rejected a move to the Britannia Stadium on Tuesday, preferring to discuss alternative offers, with Sunderland amongst his suitors. Stoke manager Tony Pulis, however, told Tottenham he would not buy Palacios unless Crouch came as part of the deal. The England striker was then leaned on by Tottenham to reopen discussions with Stoke and a club record fee of £10m rising to £12m was agreed.
Across north London Arsenal were also experiencing a complicated conclusion to the window. Chastened by Sunday's 8-2 loss to Manchester United, the club has targeted four reinforcements by the end of the window. Park Chu-young arrived from Monaco for an initial £3m and a further £2m if the South Korea striker manages to exempt himself from military service.
For their new left-back, Arsenal took advantage of Fenerbahce's disarray as they await full punishment for match fixing to sign Brazil international Andre Santos for €7.5m (Dh79.6m).
In central defence, Germany captain Per Mertesacker was signed from Werder Bremen for €9m. Having sold both Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri against the hopes of manager Arsene Wenger, central midfield was the most important area to recruit in, however. On Wednesday the club doubled its offer for Arteta to £10m, a bid that was accepted by Everton.
Wenger also took Yossi Benayoun, the Israeli international, on a season loan from Chelsea.
Chelsea had seemed set for a frustrating final day. On Wednesday morning, Redknapp had announced that the west Londoners' key target, Luka Modric, was "one million per cent" staying at White Hart Lane.
Andre Villas-Boas's request to take left-sided Uruguay international Alvaro Pereira from his former employer Porto also ended in frustration.
Porto president Nuno Pinto da Costa stuck to his promise that he would not sell anyone to Chelsea for less than their pre-determined buy-out value, in Pereira's case €30m.
By early evening Pereira was posting about his commitment to Porto's cause on his Facebook page while his agent bemoaned Porto's intransigence.
"Palito [Pereira's nickname] refused to join Chelsea because he wants to stay in Porto because he's happy and his family too and he hopes to win everything again with Porto," read a statement on Pereira's facebook page.
Pereira's agent Alejandro Savichara has a slightly different account, blaming Porto's desire to take revenge on Chelsea for recruiting Villas-Boas from them.
"The deal fell apart, " said Savichara. "Porto went back on their word because, last year they promised to sell Alvaro Pereira if there was an offer over €20m. Chelsea surpassed that value.
"When one side does not want to negotiate, there is not much you can do. I think that FC Porto has used Alvaro to take revenge on Chelsea on the question of Villas-Boas. But Alvaro Pereira has nothing to do with this issue."
However, Villas-Boas did manage to clinch a deal for Meireles, the elegant midfielder, who was suprisingly let go by Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, who made an addition to his squad in signing Craig Bellamy from Manchester City. The Welsh striker is set for a second spell at Anfield having spent two seasons there, leaving in 2007.
In notable moves among a plethora of deals elsewhere, Sunderland secured Nicklas Bendtner on a season loan from Arsenal.
Fulham signed FC Twente forward Bryan Ruiz, the Costa Rica international winger, for £10.6m.
Shaun Wright-Phillips, the Manchester City winger, joined QPR along with Anton Ferdinand, the Sunderland centre-back.
Bolton Wanderers bolstered their attack by signing Liverpool striker David Ngog on a three-year deal for a fee reportedly worth £4m.
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