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Friend Opts for Town
Friend Opts for Town
Wednesday, 25th Jul 2012 23:58

Doncaster Rovers defender George Friend is understood to have opted to join the Blues ahead of Championship rivals Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest. The 24-year-old central defender or left-back has long been on Paul Jewell’s radar with reports of interest in the former Exeter man first surfacing last summer.

Friend was thought to be close to joining Middlesbrough having been made available for a fee of £250,000 with Nottingham Forest — managed by his old Rovers boss Sean O’Driscoll — also believed to be interested.

While the deal is not yet done, Friend is understood to have decided on a switch to the Blues ahead of his alternatives.

Having become Exeter’s youngest-ever captain and helped the Grecians back into the Football League, the Barnstaple-born defender moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers at the end of the August 2008 transfer window for an initial fee of £350,000.

Loan spells at Millwall, Southend, Scunthorpe and Exeter followed as Friend managed only six starts and two sub appearances in two years with the Midlands club. In the summer of 2010, the 6ft 1in tall defender joined Doncaster on a two-year deal, extending his terms by a further season last year.

Photo: Action Images


Photo: Action Images



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Tractamatt added 00:03 - Jul 26
Goodbye Cresswell
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OnlyOneSirBobby added 00:03 - Jul 26
Awesome!!
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MarkITFC added 00:03 - Jul 26
Would be a great signing ! Even better if we manage to keep hold of Cresswell !

A back 5 of

Loach

Edwards Chambers Friend Cresswell

Great back 5 and would be solid ! Lets try and get this deal done asap before anyone else comes in ! Good to see Players picking us over other teams !
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lonelyblue added 00:04 - Jul 26
Either way, this is a big YES. If he comes.
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hunty21 added 00:05 - Jul 26
this better not be cresswellls replacement hes not even a left back, more like a replacement for delaney but would prefer 4 centre backs on the books
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TractorMan added 00:06 - Jul 26
Friend is a LB or for the last few years a CB - never been a RB Phil! :)
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OnlyOneSirBobby added 00:08 - Jul 26
i don't see this as a replacement for cresswell...if we were to replace cressy it would be an out-and-out left back. In my opinion, I think Friend is more of a left sided CB and if anything it would be a replacement for Delaney, although I think having 4 CBs is necessary for depth.

Loach

Hewitt Chambers Friend Cresswell

...that's a very nice, young back 5 with huge amounts of potential
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hunty21 added 00:12 - Jul 26
twitter source ITK says accepted a bid of 4 million for cresswell not happy about this whatsover
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We_hate_Norwich added 00:13 - Jul 26
Things are picking up.
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TractorBoy666 added 00:14 - Jul 26
Wow, didn't see this coming if i'm honest. Being overlooked by Boro and Nottm Forest with the money they have, this is a big PLUS! We still attract players to this club, which i like to see. Just really do hope Cresswell stays too.
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Tractamatt added 00:15 - Jul 26
Another thought is that we ,Ipswich, are about to do,steal in a grab a player right from under the noses of our competion, what has been done to us over the last few seasons on more than one occasion and that feels very good.COYB
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PJ_Needs_Duncan added 00:23 - Jul 26
What a squad we will have next season...Up the Town
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PhilTWTD added 00:23 - Jul 26
Oops, wrote right-back, meant left-back as per previous stories!
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TennesseeBlue added 00:23 - Jul 26
Bloody hell, we hijacked a deal ? We persuaded someone to come hear over another championship club? Phil, i believe this warrants a t shirt to commemorate such a historic occasion.
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bluearmy78 added 00:25 - Jul 26
I do not want to see Cresswell leave, however if we receive 4 million for him it's a brilliant bit of buisness as we only paid 400k for him!! If he does leave for that I would like the club to use the funds as 8 mil was not put back into the club for new players when we sold Wickham. Friend would be a good acquisition & I don't think that we would have to spend that much to buy him. Can see us stepping up our interest in another centre forward.
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Tractamatt added 00:28 - Jul 26
If we get £4mil Davies next by the end of the week but the sale of cresswell just makes no sense at all with our manager rebuilding a younger squad.
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bluey360 added 00:28 - Jul 26
I'm hearing Cresswell could have played his last game for town at Cambridge real shame he was are best n most consistent player last season but 4m for a player we bought for v little looks great business I believe town would use G.Friend as a left CB not LB yes we have J.Whight but I'd like us 2 sign another LB before we sell Cresswell I'd like 2 wish Cresswell all the best for his career but ultimately I'd rather wake up tomoz n see Cresswell turns down Villa COYB!!
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TractorRoyNo1 added 00:28 - Jul 26
it may well be bye bye cressie but this guy is going to play centre back so probably bye bye delaney
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hunty21 added 00:33 - Jul 26
lack of ambition if cresswell goes dont care about money because we wont get to use much of it thought we moving forward not selling on the first bid cant we just say no
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Taricco_Fan added 00:34 - Jul 26
Welcome, Friend!
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itfc94 added 00:36 - Jul 26
Sources tell me we are also taking Coppinger as part of a joint deal worth 500K.
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Len_Brennan added 00:52 - Jul 26
It's clear Aaron Cresswell is going so, I doubt Friend would be coming in as a third left sided centre half. If the £4m price tag is correct, not only was Cresswell's signing a shrewd bit of business, offering him a new contract midway through the season was a masterstroke in adding value to his worth.
Hard to stand in his way of playing in the Premiership, especially when offered 10 times what we paid only last year. By the end of a season in the Premiership Aaron could see himself pushing for a spot in an England squad. Apart from Baines ...
The longer we delay the sale the better I reckon though. Can't see Derby being happy to drop the price for Davies, or other clubs for any targets, knowing that £4m or so has just been taken into the Town coffers.
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Karlosius added 00:57 - Jul 26
Everyone forgotten about Tommy? Think he'd start over this guy!

Also, seems more like it's paving the way for Damo to go, rather than Cressy
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im_marcacus added 01:00 - Jul 26
Better for Cresswell's development & career to stay with Town, one decent season in the Champs doesn't mean he's good enough for the Prem yet. Saw him away at Brighton and he got smoked by Will Buckley all game... hope he likes sitting on the bench, but more than that I hope he stays put.
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Michael11 added 01:10 - Jul 26
Really good signing this is! Just hope like everyone else he's not coming as a left back to replace Cresswell. I've criticised the board (Clegg & Evans) in the past but this year they've been top class in terms of attracting good players to the club, hope it continues! COYB
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