Hammer blow for Barnsley as Vaz Te beats transfer deadline

The Portuguese moved to Upton Park for an undisclosed fee despite Barnsley making a “substantial” offer to keep him.

Barnsley general manager Don Rowing said it would have been “counter-productive” for Vaz Te to remain at the club.

“We had no option in the end but to sell,” he said. “Ricardo expressed a desire to leave once he knew West Ham were interested.

“Although we made him a substantial offer to stay, he wanted to play for a club that he thinks will be playing Premiership football next season.

“We are happy with the fee, which is undisclosed, but we are not happy to lose Ricardo. We were backed into a corner by his agent. We couldn’t say ‘no’ because he was out of contract in the summer and staying could have been counter productive if his mind was set on moving.”

Barnsley did complete permanent deals yesterday for Leyton Orient midfielder Stephen Dawson and Exeter City full-back Scott Golbourne.

The Oakwell dealings were just part of a handful involving Yorkshire clubs on a quiet transfer deadline day, which reflected the picture nationwide.

Only £40m has been spent during January, in contrast to £225m last year.

Leeds United managed to fend off interest from Blackburn Rovers over Robert Snodgrass and strengthened by taking England Under-21 defender Adam Smith on loan from Tottenham Hotspur until the end of the season.

Sheffield United bolstered their attacking options by bringing in Brighton and Hove Albion’s Will Hoskins, the former Rotherham United striker, on loan but lost out on Blackpool’s Billy Clarke, who joined big-spending League Two side Crawley Town.

Huddersfield Town managed to keep hold of 29-goal forward Jordan Rhodes, but winger Donal McDermott left for Bournemouth for an undisclosed fee. The Terriers beat off competition from Ipswich Town to sign 19-year-old Falkirk defender Murray Wallace on loan.

Doncaster Rovers plugged the hole left by the sale of Billy Sharp to Southampton by bringing in Frenchman Fabien Robert from Lorient.

Sheffield Wednesday missed out on Ben Marshall, the winger who spent five months on loan at Hillsborough, after he moved to Leicester City from Stoke City.

Leeds United manager Simon Grayson said he was “delighted” to gain the services of Smith, who has spent the first half of the season at Milton Keynes Dons. “Adam is a player we have been monitoring for a few months,” he said. “He has done very, very well and we are delighted we could get his services.”

Elsewhere, Fulham agreed terms with Stuttgart for Pavel Pogrebnyak to replace England striker Bobby Zamora, who switched to Queens Park Rangers for £4m.

QPR also paid a similar amount for Lazio’s Djibril Cisse, Chelsea sealed the signing of Kevin De Bruyne for £6.7m and Wayne Bridge joined Sunderland on loan.

Transfer latest: Page 23