Boss Mick McCarthy has confirmed that new loan signing Tyrone Barnett will be in the Town squad for tonight’s home game with Nottingham Forest. The Blues manager, who seems likely to include the on-loan Peterborough man from the start, is pleased with the variety of strikers he now has at his disposal.
McCarthy said: "Yes, of course, he’s into the squad. Had it been anybody else other than Peterborough, he would have been in the squad on Saturday.”
Former Crawley man Barnett is with the Blues until January 19th having been transfer-listed by Posh after a post-nightclub incident in Peterborough city centre.
The 27-year-old joins the likes of DJ Campbell, Michael Chopra, Daryl Murphy, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Jason Scotland and youngster Ronan Murray in the Blues squad, while Barnett’s former Peterborough team-mate Paul Taylor is sidelined for the season having undergone foot surgery.
McCarthy is pleased to have decisions to make up front: "It’s great, isn’t it? It’s better than having no options, that’s for sure.
"I thought Michael Chopra did well without having any real chances on Saturday. He worked hard and put a good shift in for an hour.
"If we can get him some chances, if others create them for him, I have no doubt he’ll score because he’s a finisher. I thought he did all right, he did fine in the game.”
Despite that, with Campbell having scored five goals in nine games, Chopra appears likely to be the man making way for Barnett.
Scotland, having been out of the 18 recently, spoke to McCarthy regarding his future last week and was the target of a couple of unnamed but also struggling Championship clubs before Thursday's loan deadline. However, the Blues weren't willing to allow him to move to any of their rivals towards the bottom of the table.