SEPT 3 — After all the speculation and rumour-mongering, the Premier League transfer deadline passed by in a whirl of frenzied inactivity, concluding the League’s lowest summer spending spree in four years.

If you take out Manchester City’s estimated outlay of £120 million (RM577 million) — around a third of the total investment by all 20 clubs — then it really was a very quiet summer indeed.

On deadline day itself, leading title contenders Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United all stayed out of the market. The abstention of the latter two was no surprise but, considering the lengthy speculation linking Arsenal with a new goalkeeper throughout the summer, it was somewhat unexpected that Arsene Wenger chose not to strengthen in that area.

In particular, some sections of the British media made a big deal of the Gunners’ failure to bid for Manchester City’s now second-choice keeper Shay Given, and Wenger’s on-going faith in the occasionally erratic Manuel Almunia will be heavily criticised if it proves to be misplaced.

With the top three quiet and even Manchester City deciding that enough was finally enough, by far the biggest story to emerge from the deadline day was Tottenham’s capture of Dutch midfielder Rafael Van Der Vaart from Real Madrid, which came so late in the day that it only just managed to beat the 6pm deadline.

Although every signing is a gamble to an extent, this appears to be a very good move for Spurs, especially as it came at a cost of just £8 million (a third of the price Man City had to pay for James Milner).

Van Der Vaart is a highly-talented playmaker, but his stock has fallen somewhat in recent years — he failed to make a major impact at Real Madrid and has been overshadowed by Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben at international level, so he arrives at White Hart Lane with something of a point to prove. And footballers are never better than when they’ve got a point to prove.

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp will be happy. He had been itching to enhance his squad all summer as his team prepares for its first foray into the UEFA Champions’ League, but his directors showed admirable restraint in putting financial sense above unrealistic ambition and in muzzling their manager’s famous desire for endless deals. In the end, it’s worked out best for everyone: Harry’s snared the world-class talent he was after, but has done so at the fraction of the cost that recruiting Luis Fabiano would have entailed.

It does add the pressure, though. Spurs have a tough Champions League group alongside reigning champions Inter Milan, Germans Werder Bremen and Dutch champions FC Twente, and it would be no disgrace if they fell at the first hurdle.

But with the capture of Van Der Vaart, they’ll now be expected to seriously challenge for another top four finish in the Premier League, which will be no easy task considering the strength of Arsenal, Chelsea and Man United and the continuing ascent of Man City. Redknapp is a twitchy character at the best of times — expect his nerves to become even more frayed over the next few months.

The biggest “name” transfer involved a player leaving the Premier League as Robinho finally confirmed his exit from Man City by joining AC Milan. It’s a shame because the Brazilian magician never really settled in English football with neither of his managers at City — Mark Hughes and Roberto Mancini — ever being able to trust his defensive abilities, so we still don’t really know what he’s capable of.

But it should also be noted that Robinho equally flattered to deceive during his earlier spell at Real Madrid, and at this stage of his career it seems that a lack of workrate and commitment could lead to his career becoming a sorry tale of a great talent unfulfilled.

Talking about “defensive abilities” with such a creative player as Robinho might seem incongruous, but a fact of modern football at the highest level is that it’s impossible to be regarded as one of the very best without being prepared to work hard as well.

There is no longer any room for “luxury” performers on the biggest stage: the greatest players in the world over the last few years have all been prepared to marry their natural talent with impeccable workrates — Ronaldo, Messi, Iniesta, Drogba, Zidane, Rooney... they all work just as hard without the ball as when they have possession, and Robinho has never belonged in that group.

So AC Milan have offered Robinho a last chance to succeed in the big time — if he fails at the San Siro, he will no longer attract the interest of the very biggest clubs and will begin to fade away into relative obscurity. Let’s hope he pays heed to the warning.

This weekend, the Premier League takes its first break of the season as the qualifiers for Euro 2012 get under way, with the first set of games taking place this evening.

I’ll be commentating on France’s game against Belarus, so fortunately I’ll be spared the traumas of watching England’s World Cup flops attempt to get their campaign off to a good start against Bulgaria.

With John Terry, Frank Lampard and Peter Crouch injured, Wayne Rooney out of form and Fabio Capello under intense pressure, it’s fair to say that expectations for the national team are at an all-time low.

Our entire hopes seem to be based around the fact that Theo Walcott has delivered a couple of good performances against Blackpool and Blackburn. Oh, the joys of being an England fan!

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.