Sheffield United’s Matt Lowton is reported to have been the reason for boss Paul Jewell’s trip to watch the Blades in action against Huddersfield on Tuesday, as revealed by TWTD. The Blues are also being linked with a loan move for Manchester City’s Israeli international winger Gai Assulin.

Town have been linked with 22-year-old Lowton since July when Blackpool were also said to be interested. Soon after, the South Yorkshire club were reported to have put a £4 million price tag on the right-back, centre-half or midfielder.

The Blues are said to be targeting the Chesterfield-born player initially on loan but with a view to a permanent deal.

Assulin, who was born in Israel to a Libyan father and a Russian mother, joined Manchester City on a free transfer from Barcelona in August 2010 when some reports rated him at around the £34 million mark.

Israel’s youngest-ever full international, Assulin played youth football in his home country with Hapoel Haifa and Beitar Nes Tubruk before joining the Catalan side’s youth set-up in 2003.

In 2007 the 5ft 10in tall attacking midfielder progressed into the Barcelona B team then run by current first team boss Pep Guardiola.

After a couple of seasons in the B team, one disrupted by a knee injury, Assulin made appearances for the senior side in friendlies and in the Copa del Rey before moving on to City with Arsenal also reported to be interested.

Capped just the one for his country, against Chile in 2008, the 20-year-old is yet to make a first team appearance since moving to England.

A wide midfielder, like a right-back such as Lowton, is very much on boss Jewell's current wish list.

Photo: Action Images

Fixed_It added 22:25 - Sep 14 Would be worth the wait, if true!!!
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broomfield123 added 22:28 - Sep 14 No chance . Pompey or the foxes will get um
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robboo92 added 22:29 - Sep 14 hopefully he can be as good as our last ex Barcelona recruit
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sixtouchfootball added 22:41 - Sep 14 Assulin would be quality!! Not to bothered bout the other as think in that position our supporters would have enough patients to let him settle in. Someone with a bit more experience needed me thinks.
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BlueGoonie added 22:45 - Sep 14 I know some players have dips in their career but this city lad seems to have fallen from grace like no other!! From being worth £34m to not getting a game in 2 years - flipping eck!! Nonetheless it seems like there's talent there and he undoubtedly has a point to prove, so can see why BFP is after him if the link has some foundation. Never seen Lowton play myself but he's obviously highly rated, young and would probably be keen to get back into the champ. No way Sheff U will get anywhere near £4m for him, a loan with a fee plus view to a £1.5m move in Jan is more likely and could be good business for both. Again I find myself delighted with the types of players that BFP is (supposedly) looking at, really feel like he's slowly but surely rebuilding my once great little club.

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Tractorboy24 added 23:02 - Sep 14 Lowton would be a solid but decent signing, much like cresswell on the other side. As for assulin, I don't think barca let him go, I think his head got turned and he left, think he'll have the potential to be a gio type signing.
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TedTurnip added 23:08 - Sep 14 I cant handle it any more...........can we just finish 15th and get this year over with
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robdaful added 23:16 - Sep 14 Would be two good signings but we don't want too many signings.
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Bluetone added 23:24 - Sep 14 I agree robaful just get these two and then Messi on a free and that should be enough.
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HighgateBlue added 23:53 - Sep 14 I really think Jewell needs to start blending the squad together and settling on his first choice XI. Otherwise it's going to be really difficult to know whether to blame the players or the manager for our terrible season! In all seriousness, glad we're targeting a right back, and I suppose a quality winger wouldn't do any harm. We need to start shipping one or two out though.

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dvdkev added 23:56 - Sep 14 lowton would be a really good signing !!
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Jsl_itfc added 00:04 - Sep 15 Please please please sign Gai Assulin; quality player and would stand out in the Championship just as Gio did. Also, our wingers atm are Martin, JET and Carson - it's certainly an area we need to strengthen and a player once valued at £34m has to be a decent idea
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HurleyBurley added 05:50 - Sep 15 I'm quite impressed with Jewell's scouting. I wonder if he can find us a coach who'll get all these players to play well together.
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evansblue added 05:50 - Sep 15 Just the sort of players we should be linked with. We need to ship a few out though to trim the squad; martin, priskin, smith, peters. 40 games still to play in this league so despite the poor start its still a season that can offer so much
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Keaneish added 06:51 - Sep 15 Can we beat Coventry and pick up some points from Boro and the Hammers first please?
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DiamondGezzer added 07:48 - Sep 15 Nice to know that we are being linked with a real right back, no offence to Carlos Edwards who has just gotten on with the job - good man ! Don't know anything about the other guy so can't comment.
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heady added 08:40 - Sep 15 Definitely need another winger as JET and Murphy clearly are not comforable out wide and Carson is very inexperienced. I actually rate Martin as our best winger which is slightly worrying.
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buryblue77 added 09:25 - Sep 15 I think Jewells biggest mistake (although it's one he has had to make) is bringing in so many new players at once. New players often take time to settle in so bringing an almost entirely new team together has to be a difficult job for any manager! However it has needed doing because we had a squad of players here who were just not up to the task and as for Keanes constant rants about players not wanting to come here (which I believe Jewell has also eluded to) Paul has certainly been a whole lot more succesful in transfer dealings than Roy. However I have been very impressed with the names we've brought in (even if some of them have not shone so far) and some of the players he's tried bringing in like Woodgate and Upson even if it was a little ambititous, but unlike the moaners who all said why are we trying to get such players in when we should be looking in lower leagues (these are the same people who in turn would have said why didn't we look to bring in the likes of Woodgate and Upson if we had gone down the lower league recruitment route!) I am happy with the quality of players we're looking at and certainly shows ambition on Jewells behalf, we just need time for them to gel and it'll be a much better final 3 quarters of the season.

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Basil_Smallpiece added 09:26 - Sep 15 Wonder if the Almighty would be prepared to release His son for a short loan spell at PR? He could possibly bring about the miracle the club needs to avoid relegation this season. On second thoughts, it's unlikely. The Good Lord's record in the miracles department is excellent, but even He would be hard pressed to pull that one out of the bag. Wouldn't it be nice to see the back of Paste, the General and the man with the bag over his head?

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tractorboybig added 09:33 - Sep 15 GET A RIGHT BACK BEFORE WE GO DOWN????????????????????????
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KenDubZ added 09:44 - Sep 15 These and Gio onloan please :)
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Vic added 10:09 - Sep 15 Reading Phil's write up something about the guys age doesn't seem to add up. He's only 20 (penultimate paragraph) get played for two clubs in Israel before joining Barca in 2003. That would make him 12 at the time. That history makes him something of a child prodigy. Sounds like it might be fun to see him and JET play together!
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buryblue77 added 10:35 - Sep 15 Vic, kids are picked up by club academies often before the age of 12, so there's nothing out of the ordinary there. However he would have played league football at a very young age just 16 when he made his international debut and would have played league football in Spain for Barcelona B because unlike here the B team or reserve team can play in league football but not in the same league as the main team.

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chripswich added 10:50 - Sep 15 why dont you get the mostly overage, unfit, totally average sh!te youve signed and loaned already to start playing as the potentially mid table team they are capable of (at best)..before you start complicating matters even further. Nobody in that dressing room can be confident of anything (even if they will be playing) if all we are doing is talking of more players all the flippin' time... BAFFOON!

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Marshalls_Mullet added 11:10 - Sep 15 Lowton - Permanent move please. Assulin - No thanks..... 5 loan signings in first XI..... terrible idea, and completely disconnects the fans. Choose a team and stick with it PJ. I remember when Burley was manager and we knew the favoured first XI
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