WHEN is a deadline not a deadline? Seemingly, when Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday are involved in trying to beat it.

Jordan Rhodes’ move to Hillsborough, initially on loan but with a £10m agreement in place for a permanent move in the summer, was finally rubber-stamped at around 1pm today, some 14 hours after all January transfers were supposed to have been concluded.


It used to be joked that Keith Lamb’s fax machine was responsible for slowing down Middlesbrough’s transfer dealings – the former chief executive might have gone, but the club’s ability to make a drama out of what should have been a routine piece of business has not disappeared with him. Not, however, that Boro were the only club to blame for cutting things so close. Wednesday had wanted Rhodes all month, yet the deal only went through a matter of minutes before the deadline.

At tea-time yesterday, it had looked as though Rhodes was going to complete a routine switch to Hillsborough. Weeks of to-ing and fro-ing had finally resulted in an agreement, and the striker was given permission to head south for a medical, which he duly passed without trouble.

However, even at that stage, negotiations were becoming fraught, with Wednesday’s insistence that they wanted an initial loan to the end of the season rather than a permanent transfer causing problems. Boro were happy to agree to that, but wanted a cast-iron guarantee that the permanent deal would go through in the summer no matter what happens between now and the end of the campaign.

Having watched Boro’s 1-1 draw with West Brom from a seat next to chairman Steve Gibson, Neil Bausor found himself frantically negotiating with his counterparts in South Yorkshire. Finally, the terms of a deal were settled, but by now the clock was hurtling towards the 11pm deadline.

The forms were submitted, but the Football League were unable to immediately confirm whether everything had been rubber-stamped in time. A hearing was arranged this morning to clarify the situation, and Rhodes’ registration was formally switched to Sheffield Wednesday.

The deal suits everyone. Boro have just about got their money back on a striker who was never a comfortable fit in the eyes of head coach Aitor Karanka. Signed last January to provide a final push towards the Premier League, Rhodes did what was asked of him, with his late brace in a 2-1 win at Bolton proving especially significant. Yet Karanka was always sceptical of his abilities and mindful of his perceived limitations. That he has made just two league starts this season, in a side that has struggled to score goals, says everything about his standing in the eyes of his former boss.

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His track record in the Championship, however, remains second to none, and as they look to force their way into the top-flight, Sheffield Wednesday have got the closest thing to a guaranteed goalscorer in the second tier. Rhodes joins a side sitting seventh in the table; it would be no surprise at all if he helped propel them into a play-off place at least in the next three months.

The biggest winner of all, though, is Rhodes himself. While Gaston Ramirez agitated relentlessly and submitted a formal request in an attempt to force through a move to Leicester City, Rhodes never once complained about his lot.

Despite being shunned and embarrassed, his smile never faded. He continued to train professionally, even when David Nugent was being named in the squad ahead of him. As a result, even the most hard-hearted of Middlesbrough fans would find it hard to wish him anything but the best with Wednesday.

“It’s been six months of not really being able to do what I love to do,” said Rhodes, after training with his new team-mates for the first time yesterday morning. “Hopefully, I can add some competition for places now because there’s a really good group of players down here. I’m looking forward to getting started, and getting to play again.

“I’ve just had to put it in every day in training (at Middlesbrough) and keep myself right for when that chance happened. That chance didn’t happen quite as I would have liked when I was there, but now the chance is in Sheffield Wednesday colours, and I would like to think I’ve kept myself in decent physical condition so hopefully the gap won’t be too big to bridge.”

Rhodes, whose father, Andy, is Wednesday’s goalkeeping coach, is set to make his Owls debut in Friday’s televised trip to Wigan, and is determined to help his new employers go one better than last season, when he watched them lose the play-off final at Wembley.

“I was one of the spectators that day, and it was so sad to see when the players had had such a great season,” he said. “Hopefully, this year it can be one step further, whether that’s by the play-offs or in that top two. Everyone will be trying as hard as they can to get this club to where they deserve to be.”