It was a quiet transfer window but some astute signings could prove the difference between staying up or going down

Sébastien Bassong

Tottenham to Wolves, loan

The Tottenham Hotspur centre-half has gone on loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers and Mick McCarthy’s craving for new blood in the middle of the back four is understandable. The situation is delicate since Roger Johnson is captain and, in theory, mainstay. In practice, his form has been uneven and Wolves are in too much trouble to exercise patience indefinitely. Bassong will be a rival if not a replacement. This area of the side is critical for those at risk since it is unlikely they will save themselves from relegation by embarking on a scoring spree. McCarthy, a pragmatist by nature and circumstance, will see that a little improvement in the back four could bring great dividends.

Gary Cahill

Bolton to Chelsea, £7m

The very notion of Chelsea being worried about the core of the defence is disconcerting at a club who once prided themselves on security. Wear and tear were bound to take their toll of John Terry to a degree and David Luiz, for all his talent, does not always look so accomplished when dealing with the basics. Cahill has a far less prestigious background and no one feted him, even if £7m was a notable fee for a Bolton Wanderers player with only half a season left on his contract. With luck, the absence of expectation will allow him peace to show he can be an effective if low-profile figure at Stamford Bridge.

Papiss Cissé

Freiburg to Newcastle, £10m

It is natural for Papiss Cissé to have been overlooked since the forward’s debut for Newcastle United could only take place once Senegal’s Africa Cup of Nations campaign was at an end, as it now is. The club’s faith must be great since a £10m fee was agreed. The statistics are impressive, particularly when he was averaging better than a goal every two games for Freiburg. That record also attracted attention because the German side are far from being an established force and, at present, are bottom of the Bundesliga. On Tyneside, there will be hope of concerted impact by Cissé and his compatriot Demba Ba, who moved from West Ham to Newcastle last summer.

Nikica Jelavic

Rangers to Everton, £5.5m

There is no mystery about the restrictions that affect Everton. You have to run your eye all the way down the Premier League table to West Brom, in 15th place, before you find a side that have scored fewer than the 23 goals accumulated by David Moyes’ team. The manager, considering the limited budget, is obliged to emphasise organisation over flair. The approach worked well enough for Manchester City to be beaten on Tuesday night, but a natural finisher such as the Croatia international Jelavic could lift some of the strain. For this club and this time, when extravagance is out of fashion, the £5.5m paid to Rangers is a substantial sum. It remains to be seen whether the incisiveness shown in Scotland can be repeated in England.

Ravel Morrison

Manchester United to West Ham, £650,000

One can only admire the self-confidence of Sam Allardyce at West Ham United. He stumped up an initial £650,000 for a player whom Sir Alex Ferguson could not turn into a reliable professional at Manchester United. Morrison was found guilty of witness intimidation and generally seemed ungovernable. His talent is thought to be vast, however, and others may feel that a change of scene will benefit him. Assumptions are hard to make in Morrison’s case, but it is just possible that parting from Old Trafford to drop a division will give him new purpose. He must, at least, wish to prove that he has not squandered his career already. Playing reliably at a lower level could also bring structure to his life.

Bobby Zamora

Fulham to QPR, £6m

The January transfer market is dangerous. With leading players unlikely to be for sale in mid-season, there is even less of a guarantee that newcomers will make a great difference. Bobby Zamora, switching from Fulham to Queens Park Rangers for £6m, does at least not have the burden of expectation put on natural scorers. There will be no spate of goals from him but the 31-year-old will be well worth having in Mark Hughes’s eye because he should link perfectly with the elusive Djibril Cissé, who has arrived from Lazio. That sort of partnership is a cliche but the stereotype is familiar because it has so often worked over the decades.

Transfer windowNewcastle UnitedChelseaQPRWest Ham UnitedEvertonWolverhampton WanderersKevin McCarra
guardian.co.uk

• Terry pleads not guilty as judge sets trial date of 9 July
• Defender denies racially abusing Anton Ferdinand

John Terry will be free to captain England at the summer’s European Championship after his criminal trial over allegations he racially abused the Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League match was set for 9 July.

The Chelsea defender, who did not attend Wednesday’s first hearing into the case at Westminster magistrates’ court, is accused of a racially aggravated public order offence made in an altercation with Ferdinand during his side’s 1-0 defeat at Loftus Road on 23 October. A not guilty plea was entered by his legal counsel, George Carter-Stephenson QC, in the 31-year-old’s absence before the district judge Howard Riddle.

The prosecution had initially hoped the case would be heard in mid-March, but the trial has instead been held over until the summer after the judge considered Terry’s playing commitments for club and country over the course of the next four months. The district judge also took into account a letter submitted to the court by the Chelsea chief executive, Ron Gourlay, in which he had appealed for the trial to be delayed given the defence counsel intend to call a number of Chelsea players and staff as character witnesses.

The club were concerned that their preparations for matches might be disrupted by the case. Chelsea could potentially be involved in the Champions League final on 19 May, with England then due to play two friendly fixtures – against Norway and Belgium on 26 May and 2 June – before departing for Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, a tournament which does not end until 1 July.

The court also took into account Ferdinand’s commitments to QPR over the remainder of the current Premier League campaign, which does not end until 13 May, as well as a holiday he had booked for June and his club’s pre-season tour of Asia, which is scheduled for 16-27 July. Judge Riddle even acknowledged the possibility that the players might then be involved in the Great Britain Olympic men’s football squad in setting the date for trial, with five days initially put aside for the process.

The England manager, Fabio Capello, has stressed that Terry will be considered innocent unless proven guilty and will therefore retain the captaincy of the national side, but has not spoken on the subject since formal charges against Terry were announced. The Football Association’s own independent inquiry into the incident at Loftus Road is currently suspended pending the result of the criminal proceedings. However, the fact that the trial will now take place after Euro 2012 does place Rio Ferdinand, Anton’s older brother and the current England vice-captain, in a potentially awkward position given that he could be selected for the national squad to play alongside Terry with the issue still unresolved.

The Manchester United defender has not commented on the case publicly and missed England’s friendlies against Spain and Sweden in November through injury, but will confront Terry directly at Stamford Bridge on Sunday when the champions play Chelsea in the Premier League. At present, it is anticipated that he will agree to shake Terry’s hand in the pre-match formalities.

If found guilty, Terry could be fined up to £2,500 though the implications for his captaincy of both the England and Chelsea teams, as well as his numerous personal sponsorship deals, would be more serious. “Now that the court has fixed a date for trial, Mr Terry looks forward to the opportunity to clear his name,” read a statement released by his legal team, Grosvenor Law. “Mr Terry has consistently and resolutely maintained that his well-publicised remarks were made in the belief that he was being accused of racist abuse by Mr Ferdinand.

“Mr Terry was shocked and disgusted by that accusation at the time. Mr Terry denies making any racist statement, and will establish in court that he is not guilty of such offence. Mr Terry has never racially abused another player in his entire career.” The Chelsea manager, André Villas-Boas, suggested on Saturday that he would consider giving Terry some time off if necessary over the months ahead in order to clear his name.

John TerryChelseaQPRDominic Fifield
guardian.co.uk

All the best moments from Tuesday night’s games as the Premier League’s top four all took to the field

Steven Bloor