Town boss Paul Jewell says he expects Doncaster striker Billy Sharp to leave the South Yorkshire club in January due to a clause in his contract at the Keepmoat Stadium. The Blues manager had a £2.3 million offer for the ex-Sheffield United man turned down in the summer and confirmed recent reports claiming he’s still keen to bring the 25-year-old to Portman Road.
Jewell says Sharp, who was applauded by Town fans after scoring at Portman Road this weekend, is likely to be on the move come the reopening of the transfer window: "Doncaster will have to accept an offer because Billy Sharp has got a clause in his contract. If a club meets that valuation, they have to give him permission to speak.
"We’d like to have him here. There’s no hiding from the fact we tried to get him in the summer because he’s a quality Championship player — he might even be Premier League standard.”
After Doncaster rebuffed Town's offer for the one-time Scunthorpe frontman, along with a further £300,000 for midfielder James Coppinger, Sharp, who has another 18 months left on his Rovers deal, turned down a move to Southampton, the Saints having had a £3.25 million bid accepted by the South Yorkshiremen.
Jewell, who has spoken to club owner Marcus Evans about a new move for Sharp, says he expects Southampton, who are managed by the player's former Scunthorpe boss Nigel Adkins, to renew their interest in January. But even with the Saints currently at top of the Championship, he believes the Blues are in with a chance: "I know Billy was interested in coming here in the summer, so we’ll see what happens.”
Speaking after Saturday’s game at Portman Road, Doncaster boss Dean Saunders was keen to keep Sharp but conceded that he could be sold: "I don’t want to lose goalscorers.
"When you’re at the bottom of the league you don’t want to lose them. I’m sure they’re queuing up for Billy but I don’t want lose him, I want him to be in my team.
"But if somebody comes along and offers us a ridiculous amount of money, the club would probably have to say yes.
"But I don’t want to lose him, I want him to play for me because if you keep your best players, you get three points.”
Meanwhile, Jewell has revealed that midfielder Colin Healy came to see him on Monday, unhappy that he was the man subbed during the first half of Saturday's defeat to Doncaster: "He’s come into my office and voiced his dissent, which he’s entitled to do.
"I said after the game that I could have brought any of my midfielders off at that stage and Colin thinks it was an easy decision for it to be him."
Speaking on Saturday, Jewell said he could understand the Irishman's disappointment and why he walked straight down the tunnel after he was replaced.
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