Mark Langdon: Avoid the transfer madness and enjoy the actual football

There will be a brief re-opening in the new year but the main part is over. Finito. Done. 

But enough about Tottenham's trophy hopes for another season - the transfer window closed at 11pm last night and God forbid, we might actually start talking about, I don't know, maybe the actual football on the pitch.

I know, what a revolutionary idea! Forget the results, what do we think of Steven Benda's move from Swansea to Fulham? Will he be the second-choice keeper at Craven Cottage, or possibly the third? How about Gylfi Sigurdsson's switch to Lyngby Boldklub? Bold club indeed.

The world almost stopped turning when Donny van de Beek sensationally turned down Lorient - that's the club in Ligue 1 rather than Leyton Orient in League One - although given the Dutchman's performances at Manchester United it is difficult to know where his level is. 

When Van de Beek moved to Manchester from Amsterdam former keeper and Ajax CEO Edwin van der Sar wrote an open letter to United fans which read: "Like you, we pride ourselves on being one of the best at developing talent and giving young players a shot at the highest level. You could say your new star is the embodiment of that pride.

"That's one of the many reasons we don't like to see him leave, but we understand it's time for him to move on. To dream on. And where better to do so than in your theatre. Trust me, I know. Please take good care of our Donny, and help him dream."

Er, was a loan move to Everton part of the dream? Never mind. You can't win them all.

Meanwhile, Divock Origi was involved in the least appealing threeway of all-time as he dramatically flew into the UK to choose between Burnley, Fulham and Nottingham Forest as fans of nearly every Premier League team were screaming for their club to spend some money.

Liverpool supporters were demanding Ryan Gravenberch from Bayern Munich's subs bench. Is he any good? Not sure. Have they seen him play consistently? Of course they haven't. Do they still need him? Of course they do.

There has always been interest in transfers and rumours as my parents' telephone bill will testify from a previous era of premium line calls to Clubcall and Teamtalk, but it is now all-consuming, not helped by the rise of social media hype merchants such as Fabrizio Romano.

Fair play to Romano for making it pay. However, too many people hang on to  every word from him and the other so-called In-The-Knows to the point that it makes you wonder if football is actually getting in the way of the important stuff such as a step-by-step account of Cole Palmer's medical.

So, if you did stay up late last night to watch the final moments of the deadline, anxiously waiting to see whether that right-back your team could not do without had managed to sign in a race against the clock, I hope he is everything you dreamed of from the moment you saw his YouTube compilation of perfect throw-ins and neat sideway passes.

For the rest of us, until January at least, we can concentrate on football.

Here we go indeed.

Premier League predictions

Man City to win and under 4.5 goals v Fulham 4-6

All of Fulham's losses away to the top five last season featured no more than three goals, never mind four, and they should stay competitive enough, even in defeat.

Wolves or draw double chance v Crystal Palace 17-20

Palace have scored twice in three games and rarely appeal at short odds, particularly as Wolves have played well enough at United and Everton.

Shot on target bets - Ben Chilwell 7-4 & Pedro Porro 2-1

Chilwell should have scored for Chelsea against Luton and nearly did against Liverpool from an advanced position on the left. Porro has had four shots in two games for Tottenham and seems to like his new inverted role.

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