Keane heads north to Celtic as window closes on period of transfer 'inactivity'

ROBBIE KEANE last night made a loan switch to Celtic until the end of the season in the highest profile move of the quietest winter transfer window on record.

The 29-year-old travelled to Scotland after a dramatic late swoop by the Glasgow club to revive their title challenge.

Keane, who had been expected to face former club Leeds United in the FA Cup tomorrow, beat the midnight deadline for transfers to go through north of the border.

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Spurs manager Harry Redknapp said: "It is a good move. Robbie needs to play.

"He is too good a player not to be starting here regularly. He wants to play all the time.

"It has been difficult to guarantee Robbie a starting place at the moment. He is not a happy man when he is not playing regularly."

In England, the window shut seven hours earlier than in Scotland with clubs frantically attempting to push through deals before 5pm.

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However, despite the late flurry of activity, the January 2010 window will be remembered as the one where reality started to bite for the vast majority of chairmen as the lowest amount of cash was spent since the window system was brought in seven years ago.

Belts were tightened to such an extent that the vast majority of deals involved loans and the spending amounted to just 30m compared to the 170m spent by English clubs in January last year when seven players moved for 10m or more.

In contrast, Adam Johnson's 7m switch to Manchester City from Middlesbrough was the most expensive signing this time around as Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United all allowed yesterday's deadline to pass without making further additions.

Elsewhere, Wigan signed highly-rated youngster Victor Moses from cash-strapped Crystal Palace in a deal thought to be worth 2.5m.

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Moses has signed a three-and-a-half-year deal and Bolivia striker Marcelo Moreno comes in on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk.

West Ham bolstered their striking options by signing Benni McCarthy from Blackburn and Roy Hodgson was busy as Fulham brought in Stefano Okaka and Nicky Shorey on loan from Roma and Aston Villa respectively.

He also signed German youngster Christopher Butchmann from Liverpool and allowed Diomansy Kamara, Tony Kallio and Wayne Brown to leave on loan to Celtic, Sheffield United and Bristol Rovers respectively.

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce also had a busy day as Spurs defender Alan Hutton arrived on loan as Daryl Murphy and David Healy left the Stadium of Light to join former manager Roy Keane at Ipswich.

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Burnley boss Brian Laws snapped up Jack Cork on loan from Chelsea and also extended the loan deal of Portsmouth striker David Nugent until the end of the season. Another to leave Fratton Park was Asmir Begovic, the goalkeeper joining Stoke City for 3.25m.

In the Championship, Newcastle off-loaded Geremi to Turkish side Ankaragucu, West Brom signed Feyenoord midfielder Andwele Slory on a free transfer, and Derby took Manchester City's young full-back Javan Vidal on loan.