Grayson: "Furious" and "fuming" say the Mail.Yesterday, Goal.com claimed that 26 year old Toon hitman target, Jermaine Beckford, had “exclusively” revealed to them that:
“I’m off to Newcastle United.”
Beckford, 26, whose profile has soared since jabbing in an FA Cup goal to knock the mighty Manchester United out of the FA Cup, has allegedly been the subject of much horsetrading as Leeds United chairman, Ken Bates, seeks to raise as much money as he possibly can for the soon out of contract assassin, with Newcastle United seeming to be his most ardent suitors. Bates and Leeds will also have to divvy out a significant proportion of the agreed fee to Beckford’s previous club, Isthsmian League colossus, Wealdstone FC.
The situation has also been complicated, and the profile of the story raised further by Beckford announcing he had handed in a transfer request, with the Daily Mail helpfully using two of their favourite words, “furious” and “fuming” to describe Grayson’s state of mind on both indiscretions. (more…)
Beckford: Hitman on hold, apparently.Interesting news from the Daily Mirror today reports that Chris Hughton’s most wanted, Jermaine Beckford, is to put a proposed £2 million move to Newcastle United on hold until after Leeds United’s FA Cup match against Manchester United. The less than reliable newspaper also mentions that a deal is not far from being concluded for one of the hottest propeties outside of the Premier League, but the player wants to test his skills against the Red Devils before he moves on.
That’s fair enough, but if the report is true then I would hope whoever is negotiating the deal from our end won’t sign on that dotted line until we’re sure he hasn’t picked up any post-match injuries. Given some of our past transfer dealings, then that’s quite a valid concern!
There is also the chance of bring Marlon Harewood back on an extension of his loan. The main stumbling block could be the £250,000 loan fee that Aston Villa want from us. Bear in mind however, that Harewood is out of contract at the end of the season so for that £250,000 we would effectively get a player who has scored 1 goal every 3 games during his time with us and has Premier League experience. Hughton said about Harewood’s possible return:
“I’ve spoken to all the necessary parties, and we’ve got to look at the options we’ve got, weigh them up, and make decisions on the back of that.”(more…)
