Having used his charm to bring one Irishman into the Stadium of Light, Keane has let another go as Rory Delap leaves for Stoke.

Following him out are striker Chris Brown, who joins Norwich for £325,000, and Jon Stead, who will be looking to prove himself in the Premiership again at Sheffield United. Another player making the step up to Bramall Lane from the Championship is Leeds United defender Matthew Kilgallon, with midfielder Paul Ifill going the other way, signing for Crystal Palace in a £750,000 deal.

At Upton Park, Alan Curbishley continues his renovation, landing one of his main targets in West Brom midfielder Nigel Quashie for £1.5m. Chris Coleman meanwhile, who sold Luis Boa Morte to Curbishley last week, has found a replacement who is just as versatile in highly-rated young US forward Clint Dempsey, a £3m signing from New England Revolution.

Rafael Benitez, having complained of Liverpool's meagre transfer budget during the week, signed two more untested foreign youngsters as squad back-up, bringing in left-back Emiliano Insua on loan from Boca Juniors - with an option to sign him afer 18 months - and goalkeeper Daniele Padelli from Sampdoria. One of Benitez's former squad players, Djimi Traore, has found himself a new club, joining Portsmouth for £1m after an unhappy six-month spell at Charlton. Alan Pardew immediately found a £500,000 replacement in Manchester City's Ben Thatcher, with French mid"elder Arnold Mvuemba joining Traore at Fratton Park on-loan from Rennes.

At Villa Park, Martin O'Neill hasn't yet had the chance to spend much of Randy Lerner's money, but continued to quietly restructure.

Peter Whittingham has left for Cardiff, with former Manchester United flop Eric Djemba Djemba on his way to Burnley on-loan. Djemba Djemba's former Old Trafford teammate, Phil Bardsley, comes into Villa Park until May.

In Scotland, Alan Thompson's long and successful tenure at Celtic Park has finally come to an end, as he joins Leeds United for an undisclosed fee. On the other side of the Old Firm, Rangers have trimmed their squad, Julien Rodriguez returning to France with Marseille.

Elsewhere on the continent, Roma have signed Nantes's tricky Swedish winger Christian Wilhelmsson on-loan, while Milan look to inject new blood into their ageing back-line with Argentinean defender Leandro Grimi from Racing. Finally, David Beckham isn't the only European heading to revitalise his career in the States, as former Manchester City goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus joins New York Red Bulls on a free from PSV.