Graham Kavanagh on transfer rumours and dealings
Manager Graham Kavanagh spoke to us about this week’s transfer window rumours.
“It’s a time of year when you take and make all kinds of phone calls,” he said. “Obviously rumours can come out of that but you accept that’s just the way it is.
“With Brad Potts, I had a phone call from an agent, who asked me what value I would place on him, and I basically didn’t give him an answer.
“He then gave me a figure, which wasn’t £350,000 by the way, to see if we would accept that amount to sell him. I told him that Brad Potts was very much part of my plans and that the work we had done with him meant that talking about him was a pointless exercise, unless it was a figure which would benefit the club. The conversation was dead from there as far as I was concerned.
“Brad Potts is improving all the time and he’s doing it in a first team environment. He’s getting more confident and that can only be a good thing for him. As I say, the conversation ended and there was no further contact, either with me or the club.”
“With the Mark Beck rumours, I think he is one who would benefit from a loan move,” he continued. “He has been unfortunate, as have a number of our younger lads, because we don’t have the reserve games at the standard and quality we would like for them.
“That means their development is slowed down because they’re not playing regularly. If we can do with him what other clubs have done with us and their players, then it will give him a platform to get games, build his confidence and grow his experience. That’s something I think will benefit us and him for the following season.”
On the work to bring more players in, he said: “We have one or two loans which are coming to an end and we aren’t sure which way they will go. We’ll be disappointed if we do lose Max [Ehmer] and Tom [Lawrence] because they have been a big part of the team.
“I spoke to Harry Redknapp today [Thursday] about Max and he has a situation where he is trying to get players in before he can give us a definite answer on what we can do. If he can do what he needs to do he will definitely look to try and help us. There are a lot of ifs and buts in that particular situation.”
“It seemed a little bit more certain with Tom but Manchester United are also looking to get a few of their younger lads out,” he added. “That could affect their U21 fixtures so it’s another case where their dealings will dictate what happens with us and Tom going forward.
“Both players are keen to stay but I am working behind what other clubs need to do. That’s the nature of the way we have to do things. We’ve lost Conor Townsend to injury and that is really frustrating because we still have to pay for him. We’re going through some difficult times at the moment but we’re doing what we can.”
“We’re looking to try and get a keeper in to join us but that’s a bit up in the air,” he told us. “There are a number of unresolved factors with the ones we’re looking at so we just have to keep plugging away with those. Not having a game at the weekend means we have more time to sort that one out but there have been a couple of complicated issues to contend with.”
“We have had one or two bits of interest in our players and all I can do is manage it all on a daily basis,” he revealed. “Lots of things crop up but none of it is concrete as yet. I am hopeful that we’ll be able to get one or two out before the window closes.
“I’ve been told that whatever money I generate I’ll be allowed to spend, so it is in my interests to make it happen. I want us to have as good a squad as we can get for the remainder of the season so the work will go on to try to help us to achieve that.”