Town boss Paul Jewell says he is hopeful of completing the signing of Leicester central defender Sean St Ledger today. The deal is likely to be on the basis of an initial loan with a view to a permanent deal in the summer.
Jewell says that long-time target St Ledger was hesitating over the move last night having agreed personal terms before receiving reassurance from Blues owner Marcus Evans: "We tried to get him in the summer when Leicester were blowing everyone out of the water.
"Everything’s agreed between the two clubs. I spoke to his agent when I was on the way to Arsenal last night and he said ‘Everything’s fine, but the only thing is, and I don’t want to be funny, he’s just concerned that you’re going to lose your job’.
"When I was on the phone to him, Marcus was also ringing me. I said that Marcus has only ever given me positive pointers and when I’d put the phone down, I took Marcus’s call, told him about the conversation and Marcus said he’d ring him up and put him right, and Marcus put him right.
"I spoke to Sean St Ledger after that and he said ‘I hope you don’t think I was being rude, I went to Middlesbrough and the manager lost his job, went to Leicester and the same thing happened’. I said ‘You know what Sean, maybe I shouldn’t be thinking about signing you!”
He says the Blues are now expecting a call confirming that the Ireland international wants to join, although they are aware that there are other clubs also interested: "We’re just waiting him on getting back to us, he’s got one or two other irons in the fire, but hopefully we’ll get a positive answer from him today, if not we move on. But hopefully we’ll get something done there.”
Jewell says it’s unlikely the deal will be done in time for the 27-year-old to play at Birmingham tomorrow: "We’d like to but I think there’s a 12 o’clock deadline today, so we’re not sure.”
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