The revolving door to Bescot Stadium continued to spin yesterday as Walsall looked set to sign Bristol City's left winger, Grant Smith, on loan until the end of the season.
Although the deal has not yet been finalised, Smith is in the Algarve with the rest of the Bristol City squad and did not return until late yesterday, an agreement is expected to be struck later in the week making the 25-year-old Paul Merson's fourth signing of the transfer window.
Kevin James, Mads Timm and Michael Leary have already joined the League One club and Merson is keen to bring in more.
But the departure lounge has been even more busy than the arrivals suite with leading scorer Matty Fryatt moving to Leicester City, Julian Bennett in the process of returning to his home city with Nottingham Forest and a host of other fringe players either going out on loan or leaving altogether.
Even the coaching staff has been affected with assistant manager Steve Staunton likely to be offered the manager's job with the Republic of Ireland.
Smith has until noon on Friday to register if he is to be available for Saturday's visit from Colchester although he will not be allowed to play in the FA Cup replay with Barnsley next Tuesday.
Fryatt's sale, and the return to Portugal of Jorge Leit?o, has left Merson without a senior striker for this weekend, a situation he will be desperate to alter before January 31.
Meanwhile Fryatt has revealed watching his new club beat Tottenham Hotspur on live television made him eager to sign for the East Midlands club.
Fryatt agreed a three-and-a-half year deal on Monday, and he confirmed that although there had been interest from other clubs he only ever wanted to go to Leicester.
"My agent informed me that Leicester were interested and I came down to the training ground last Thursday," Fryatt said. "I had a look around the stadium and met the coaching staff and my mind was pretty much made up straight away.
"I watched the Tottenham game on the television and the noise inside the bowl sounded fantastic. It was a great game of football and made me even more eager to sign."
Foxes manager Craig Levein welcomed his new recruit, but warned the supporters not to expect too much, too soon.
"I'd like to stress he's not the saviour, he's still a young boy making his way in the game," he said. "But Matty will score goals for us and gives us something different to the other strikers."
