Town boss Mick McCarthy says midfielder Anthony Wordsworth could still go out on loan before Thursday’s deadline, despite a potential switch to Preston North End having fallen through. The Blues manager says that while he’d like to add to his own squad, he doesn't currently plan to make any signings.
Wordsworth’s involvement with the Blues first team has been limited to two brief sub appearances this season and McCarthy is keen for the 24-year-old to go out and play games as long as the deal is right for all parties: "If it works, if it suits, if I’ve got no injuries or suspensions. There’s a possibility of it.”
As TWTD reported last week Preston were one of the sides interested in taking the former Colchester player on loan but McCarthy says that potential move broke down.
"We had an offer from Preston and I thought he was going to go last week,” he said. "But there were a number of reasons why he didn’t.
"One of the reasons I took Stephen Hunt was so I could afford to let Woody out to get some games which he would benefit from.
"Preston wanted him, and I understand this, they wanted him until January but without a break clause. But that would leave me high and dry after December 14th, so I wasn’t prepared to do it.
"But the two clubs didn’t agree terms anyway, so apart from that we were really close to doing it!”
Right-back Elliott Hewitt joined Gillingham on a one-month deal, a move McCarthy says was so the Wales U21 international got first-team matches under his belt: "He did all right at the start of the season but I changed the team because we hadn’t won games despite playing well enough.
"He needs to play five, six, seven games and he’ll be better for it. I actually think he’d gone backwards from being left out of the team, in his performances in the U21s and in training.
"Maybe the fact that he’d been left out had affected him. Now he’s at a club, he’s playing and I think he shone in a victory up at Sheffield United on Saturday. We had a scout there plus another one of my staff.
"The message to him is to get games. He’s scheduled to come back in December with all the games that we’ve got then. He’ll come back if I need him and he’ll be better for it.”
Gillingham play Oldham at home in League One today, while Jack Marriott, who McCarthy revealed yesterday has been offered a new contract, and Woking are at Cambridge in the Skrill Premier.
David October, whose loan at Histon has been extended until January 2nd, will be with the Stutes at Leamington in the Skrill North.
The Town boss says he currently doesn’t have any plans to make any signings before Thursday’s 5pm loan deadline: "Not at the moment, no. I’d like to, just to beef the squad up, but we’ll see.
"It’s a difficulty that because bringing young players in from the Premier League, the first thing they say is that they want them to play because that’s why they’re sending them out.
"Bringing senior players in from other clubs who might be disenchanted, they want to play. Coming here over Christmas, they might [not want to come] if I’m not promising that they’ll play.
"And let me tell you, they’d have to be bloody good players to get in the team, that’s my view. It’s not easy just getting loan players to come and beef the squad up.”