Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers says Jason Scotland’s wages may scupper his club’s loan move for their former striker. Yesterday, Blues manager Paul Jewell said the financial package the Swans had offered Town for the 31-year-old was nowhere near what the club would accept.
Rodgers said: "It could be too rich for us in terms of finance. As you can imagine, he left here on a Premier League wage [at Wigan] and then he went to Ipswich on not too dissimilar from that, so we may have to go begging to Ipswich for a bit of support.
"I spoke to Paul Jewell, we had a conversation on Tuesday morning, and our chairman has spoken to them.
"There are not many players who can come in and help us in our situation unless you’ve got a lot of money.
"Jason is a player that hasn’t quite hit it off since he’s left here, but there is no doubt about it, he was one of the most sought-after strikers when he was here. I feel he can probably come in and help us in the last 16 games.”
Jewell hasn’t always enjoyed the smoothest of relationships with Swansea, a protracted move for their Dutch midfielder Ferrie Bodde breaking down during his time as Derby boss.
The new Town manager says he isn't actively looking to move Scotland on but that the player has said he’d like the switch in order to get games and therefore won’t stand in his way: "Jason’s the only one who has intimated to me that he’s not particularly happy, so if he’s not happy and he wants to leave and it’s right for us, then he can go.
"If Fernando Torres can leave Liverpool, Jason Scotland can leave Ipswich, but only if the money’s right.”
Jewell says he’d prefer to get a replacement in before Scotland leaves but that things don’t always go to plan: "That would be the ideal situation, but in football some things aren’t always ideal. But we have a few options as well, so let’s see how it runs.”
Aside from bringing in another player on loan, Town could recall Kevin Lisbie from Millwall at 24 hours’ notice, something which Jewell has previously said he has considered. In order for Pablo Couñago’s season-long loan at Crystal Palace to be curtailed early the two clubs and the player would all have to agree to end the arrangement.