Wage Bill Still Stands Too High

Last updated : 02 February 2010 By Andy Beill

The transfer window closed at 5pm yesterday until the end of the season, with no further signings following Amr Zaki into the club.

Daniel Cousin joined Larissa, currently in the relegation zone of the Super League in Greece.

Péter Halmosi rejoined hometown club Szombathelyi Haladás, where he started his career. They were knocked out in the 2nd Round of the Europa League this season and are now 5th from bottom in Hungary's top flight.

Both deals are loans until the end of the season, and City are believed to still be paying their wages in part.

Wolves came back in for Stephen Hunt with a £5m offer which was rejected, falling short of City's £7m asking price.

City already announced that Bryan Hughes and Tony Warner had left the club by mutual consent. Both were under contract until the end of the season but accepted settlements to leave now.

33-year-old midfielder Hughes, who publicly revealed a falling out with manager Phil Brown some time ago, had only made 1 Premier League start since helping the club to promotion, and his last appearance was in the FA Cup in March. He has since played 3 games on loan at Derby this season, and is now free to join a new club.

35-year-old goalkeeper Warner was signed after City's promotion but made only 2 appearances - cup wins against Millwall and Southend. He picked up a League One winner's medal after a loan spell at Leicester last season.

Will Atkinson extended his loan spell at Rochdale until the end of March, while Nicky Featherstone rejoined Grimsby on loan.

Earlier in the month Nathan Doyle made his loan spell at Barnsley permanent.

In all it shed little from the club's £700,000 per week wage bill, with the added expense of Zaki. However, the squad was not weakened by losing any key players, with chairman Adam Pearson saying that the club took "the decision to make staying in the Premier League the priority", with bigger cutbacks to take place at the end of the season.

Further deals are possible in a week's time when the transfer window reopens for teams outside of the Premier League to make loan signings. Caleb Folan, Kevin Kilbane and Dean Marney are targets for Championship clubs according to reports.