The man who approved Craig Davies’s move to Albion reckons the Welsh international striker could be a successful Championship player in two years.

But Oldham Athletic managing director Simon Corney is confident the Latics have done good business over the sale of the 22-year-old to the Seagulls in one of a host of deals done late in the transfer window by League One clubs.

It was, as ever, a busy window in terms of the number of players changing hands. In fact it was even busier than the list of transfers illustrates, as players returning to their parent clubs after loans are not included as moves.

A look through the deals highlights Jim McNulty’s £150,000 as the biggest fee, or at least the biggest disclosed fee, paid in the division.

It also suggests Albion have done more than any of their divisional rivals to improve their squad since the turn of the year.

Davies moved to Sussex for an undisclosed fee and it could yet prove to be an inspired signing.

Speaking on Oldham’s official club website, Corney said: “It was on the cards for a while that Craig, if the right opportunity came along, would leave the club.

“I think he felt frustrated by the opportunities he was getting and I think there were times when the manager didn’t feel he was doing what he wanted him to do.

“Craig is a good player in my opinion. If he was playing in the Championship in a year or two it wouldn’t surprise me.

“Craig can do whatever he wants. He can either be out of football in five years or he can play at the top of the Championship.

“He has got pace, height and strength.

“If he can just keep his mental focus, anything can happen.”

Corney claimed Davies’s fee remained undisclosed at Dick Knight’s request, though he admitted it was not a huge amount.

He said: “The reason why the fee is undisclosed is because the Brighton chairman, who I know very well, asked us a favour.

“They are near the bottom, they are a club with a lot of money.

“They are spending about £40 million on building a new stadium and they daren’t go down.

“Therefore they are spending whatever it takes to stay in this division.

“They have been bidding for players. They bought Jim McNulty for example for £150,000 and I know they put in an offer for Neil Kilkenny and one or two others, and they didn’t want other clubs to know what they were spending on players because they (the other clubs) would then hold them (Albion) to ransom. I respected that.

“Eventually we will tell people what the fee is.

“There’s nothing sinister to it. It’s not massive money anyway.

“It frees up a bit of wages for a player who was not really playing and the manager didn’t fancy perhaps as much as he did a year ago. It just made good business sense.”

Davies and fellow striker Chris O’Grady, who played against Albion in December, were allowed to leave Oldham partly because of one of the most eyecatching deals and one of the most talked-about non-deals of the month in the third tier.

Dean Windass set the ball rolling in early January by going from the wilderness at Hull City to the starting line-up at Boundary Park.

That made a few headlines and was probably seen by many as a precursor to the anticipated sale of Lee Hughes, most probably to Doncaster, in what would have been League One’s biggest money transfer of the winter. However £400,000-rated Hughes stayed put.

Corney said: “It was common knowledge, I think probably via his agent, that he had a buy out clause of £400,000.

“We had one very serious enquiry which we all know was Doncaster.

“They tried to get him for under £400,000, we stuck to our guns. I think people thought we were going to try and give him away but that was never going to be the case.”

So Hughes stays and the other most prominent non-mover in the division, with respect to the likes of Matty Fryatt at Leicester or some of the talented players at MK Dons, has to be gifted young Leeds midfielder Fabian Delph.

Leeds boss Simon Grayson insisted after his side’s recent win at Withdean that there was no need for Delph to move on this winter and so it proved.

The Elland Road outfit were delighted to bring back local boy Richard Naylor from Ipswich after an initial loan.

Their one-month loan of Lee Trundle from Bristol City looks like being extended by the same period again and expect them to make further moves.

They missed the deadline by 14 minutes in an attempt to take Derby striker Liam Dickinson but he could yet go when the loan window opens next week.

Yes, there is more of this to come!