Since he is under contract until 2009/2010, it is hard to imagine that CAFC would be willing to lay out enough of a transfer fee to convince Walsall to part with the youngster, even with Anthony's transfer request. Moreover, I cannot imagine that Gerrard will think of any place he lands in the Championship as anything but a stepping stone to greater glory in the very near term. Nevertheless, it would be nice just to believe that there might be some effort to procure a promising young center half rather than what seem to be duct tape solutions to a thin back line.
Walsall's leadership may have painted themselves into a corner with their chairman's comments in the Birmingham Mail: "However Anthony is under contract until 2010 and, unless a substantial offer is received from the Championship or Premier League, he won't be sold."
Per Walsall's supporters, interest is presumed to be from Birmingham and Wolves and (my guess) Birmingham is likely to have lit the fire under Gerrard's agents that led to the transfer request.
That said, since Anthony is the first choice center back for the club, they will have to act quickly to try and use any funds raised to obtain a replacement before the window closes.
For 500k it would seem to be worth it, but I fear that the bidding will go past that point quickly. Perhaps not. All reports indicate that he's competent and he'd certainly add to the theme of striving youngsters that have not yet fulfilled their promise.
Walsall's leadership may have painted themselves into a corner with their chairman's comments in the Birmingham Mail: "However Anthony is under contract until 2010 and, unless a substantial offer is received from the Championship or Premier League, he won't be sold."
.............
On the contrary, that sounds like make us a decent offer and he's yours, hardly a ringing chorus of hands off he's not for sale.
Sometimes you have to take a punt on these things. I don't know a thing about this lad, but I was harping on about Scott Brown and Dean Ashton 18 months before their moves to bigger teams. In both cases, I believe, 500k to a million would have secured their services.
On the other hand, Pards said that the wonderful Bailey will be his only cash signing so I can't see it emerging.
I wonder whether the failure to get Primus on a season long deal has been the catalyst for the Board to find some money from somewhere? Primus for three months (assuming he comes) doesn't solve the problem, it merely defers it. The Board are not daft, they will see that we are very thin on the ground in the centre of defence. Getting another quality defender on loan for a season is not going to be easy.
We need another centre-back regardless of whether Primus arrives or not, we still only have two recognised CB's at the club who belong to the club and perhaps if we get abit more money out of the ZZ deal than we first anticipated then some money will be found to strengthen our defence. From what I've heard of him he's in the "promising" category and could be trained up with a view to being a regular starter in the near future.
[cite]Posted By: collegeparkaddick[/cite]Gerrard will still be an option in January, should Cranie and Primus prove not to be the answer or leave for Pompey or other hunting grounds.
I'm impressed, at least, that despite (or, more cynically, because of) putting in a transfer request he apparently put in a good performance in Walsall's 5-2 drubbing of the Shrimpers.
Bailey did the same when he ended up playing for Southend. They seem to really miss him now, like we did when Parker went.
Comments
Per Walsall's supporters, interest is presumed to be from Birmingham and Wolves and (my guess) Birmingham is likely to have lit the fire under Gerrard's agents that led to the transfer request.
That said, since Anthony is the first choice center back for the club, they will have to act quickly to try and use any funds raised to obtain a replacement before the window closes.
For 500k it would seem to be worth it, but I fear that the bidding will go past that point quickly. Perhaps not. All reports indicate that he's competent and he'd certainly add to the theme of striving youngsters that have not yet fulfilled their promise.
.............
On the contrary, that sounds like make us a decent offer and he's yours, hardly a ringing chorus of hands off he's not for sale.
On the other hand, Pards said that the wonderful Bailey will be his only cash signing so I can't see it emerging.
http://www.sportinglife.co.uk/football/transfer_centre/
[url=http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11688_4086834,00.html
]http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11688_4086834,00.html
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I'm impressed, at least, that despite (or, more cynically, because of) putting in a transfer request he apparently put in a good performance in Walsall's 5-2 drubbing of the Shrimpers.
Bailey did the same when he ended up playing for Southend. They seem to really miss him now, like we did when Parker went.
;o)