Wanderers' wantaway striker Michael Ricketts finally achieved his dream to get away from the Reebok when he signed for Middlesbrough just 30 minutes before the midnight transfer deadline.

Sky Sports said on their midnight news bulletin that the deal had been completed after Ricketts had made a late dash up to the North-east to sign for the Riverside club.

It completed a confusing day at the Reebok after Ricketts was still seen after training at Euxton at lunchtime while early morning reports of a renewed bid from Spurs were still stealing all the headlines.

Reports earlier claimed Boro and Wanderers had agreed a "near £4million" fee for the transfer listed striker, who initially appeared to be heading for Spurs - the big city club of his dreams.

Then Wanderers' website said: "Contrary to reports in the media, as of 3:30pm today, we have not had an official bid from Middlesbrough Football Club for Michael Ricketts.

"There are still a few hours to go until the transfer window closes and we will monitor the situation and see if anything progresses."

And at teatime it was revealed by the FA that the January transfer window which was due to close at 5.30pm for cash deals had been extended to midnight, allowing a few more precious hours for deals to be completed.

The three clubs involved in the Ricketts saga were staying tight-lipped but after a morning of frantic activity behind the scenes, Sky Sports reported that Ricketts, who was seen at the Euxton training ground shortly after noon, was heading for Teesside to undergo a medical and complete the formalities of the transfer.

The long-running Ricketts transfer saga was taken to the wire with Spurs reported to have made a £3.5m cash bid, having failed in all previous attempts to persuade Wanderers to accept a player-exchange deal.

Glenn Hoddle had managed to strengthen his financial hand by offloading misfit Ukrainian striker Sergei Rebrov to Turkish club Fenerbahce and midfielder Tim Sherwood to Portsmouth, having previously moved Les Ferdinand to West Ham.

But that appeared to have sparked Middlesbrough into action.

As late as Thursday, Allardyce was saying he had spoken to Boro boss McClaren and had ruled out an official bid.

He did not, at that stage, expect any late movement, commenting: "I would think it's not going to happen."