Blues boss Paul Jewell has revealed that ex-FC Köln central defender Kevin Pezzoni has been on trial at Playford Road for the last three days. The Town manager has spent the international week searching for central defensive recruits but confirmed that no one will be joining the club before Saturday’s game at Middlesbrough with former trialist Bilel Mohsni definitely not signing.

Jewell said: “Like always, we’re trying to improve the squad. We know we need another centre-half to come in and provide cover for the two we’ve got.

“We had Bilel Mohsni from Southend, we asked him to stay for another week but he decided against it and has gone back to Paris.

“We’ve had Kevin Pezzoni training with us from Köln for three days this week. It’s an area that we need to improve and we’re aware of that and we haven’t been successful as yet.

“He’s been training with us since Tuesday. He’s a free agent, we’ve had a look at him this week, I’ve spoken to his father and I’ll be speaking to his agent and let him know the decision.”

Frankfurt-born Pezzoni played youth football with RM Walldorf, SV Darmstadt 98 and Eintracht Frankfurt before joining the Blackburn Rovers academy.

The 23-year-old 6ft 5in tall centre-half or midfielder, capped at U19, U20 and U21 levels by Germany, moved to his most recent club in January 2008 but had his contract ripped up recently after he received threats from fans of his own club online, then was attacked at a funfair and threatened at his home.

His former coach Holger Stanislawski admitted that the defender had to move on: "Things have happened that prevented Kevin from playing football at this club."

Speaking earlier this week, Pezzoni was critical of his old club: "I never wanted to cancel my contract. A proposal was put forward to me by the club.

"What else could I have expected? My situation was not going to get any better.

"Who knows if after the next bad game these guys would have suddenly appeared in my apartment rather than just outside it.

"A club is supposed to protect its players and supporters, but this was not the case."

Having had his contract terminated before the transfer window closed, Pezzoni, who has recently been linked with Aston Villa, Middlesbrough and Celtic, could sign and play now.

Jewell says the situation with Mohsni is now at a close with the Shrimpers but not the player willing to allow the Blues to take an extended look, although with no fee having been offered: “Southend agreed he could come and train with us for a week and play for the U21s last week.

“We wanted to see a bit more because we felt he hadn’t been tested and he wasn’t prepared to do that. Southend were, but the lad wasn’t and I think he’s gone back to Paris. That's over now.”

Jewell confirmed that, as we reported earlier in the week, the George Boyd situation is on the back burner while the central defensive additions are resolved: “Barry Fry came on the phone to me last week and asked me about George Boyd because I’d made comments in the press about him.

“I was only answering a question after either George’s agent or the Peterborough end had let it out that there might be a loan situation. There might well be, but it’s not our priority at the moment.”

Town have confirmed that French midfielder Cheick Kourouma’s move will go through although paperwork from Italy is still to be received.

Photo: Action Images

truthhurts added 17:24 - Sep 13 Any suggestions on who to buy then, seeings everyone is a top notch mamager
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irishtim added 17:29 - Sep 13 @truthhurts. We cant buy at the moment. This should have been sorted a while back. Now we r in a position where it seems any peg in a hole will do.
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brian_a_mul added 17:34 - Sep 13 @ PauloJulio Interesting read, thanks for that. High praise indeed for Pezzoni from Benjani. I know alot of ulta groups in many countries can harbour racist and extremist views. i wonder if Kevin Pezzonis support of an African player contributed to the abuse he received from the small group of Koln (Ultra) supporters?? I sincerely hope not.
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blues1 added 17:35 - Sep 13 brockleyblueboy/ sorry but thats rubbish. mohsni should have been signed up by now. what is the point of having him on another weeks trial? jewell says he hasnt been tested against tougher opposition. and who he gonna be tested against this week if he comes back then? answer is no better than he faced last week. he still cant play 1st team football so just gonna be a training game or u21 match again. fact is he did enough in last game to be offered a deal. evryone at u21 game on friday said as much, just pj who doesnt think so. i have kept faith with pj up to now but this has finally broken that faith. its time for him to go. and take his yesterdays men team of coaching staff with him. know thtas just gonna put us back to square 1 for now, but really cant see things improving if he remains in charge.

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bluey123 added 17:43 - Sep 13 Why the hell are standing by Jewell what kind of fools are you he is totally useless now watch the negative comments you lot cant understand he is taking this once great club down to Div1. The sooner the three musketeers leave this club the better
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lonelyblue added 17:43 - Sep 13 I quite liked Matt Richards. I thought he was really harshly treated and was really brave to keep trying. He wasn't really any good but we've had worse - and we've had a lot of players who were no more effective but got off scott free. As they should, in the sense that booing players is a really shoddy and counter-productive thing to do (2 exceptions I can think of: 1st half away at Brighton in our first year after our last relegation and our 2nd half home to Arsenal in our 1st premiership relegation year, during which the entire defence decided it would be a really good idea to stop running, as I recall. And I am ashamed of booing at one of those, at least ). Oh yeah, defenders. We do have a bit of cover, apparently, in N'Daw. Also, presumably the idea is to sign someone who is at least better than Tommy. And ideally better than Chambers, who might turn out to be crappy crap crap, who knows? Here's a name: Tony Dinning. Just signing players because you need cover is folly. Another side to PJ's problems will probably be the wages thing. If a players wage demands are higher than the club deems affordable, and higher than some of its better players are on, then you can't just sign these fellas because we "need' them. Because apart from the horrible economic equations which none of us are privy to, you are just going to hack off the rest of the squad if someone waltzes in with a nice big fat salary, because the owner decides suddenly to listen to the whiny fans. PS I would love to see Boyd at Town, plus a really good CB. But let's ask Blackpool and Boro fans if they are super-happy with their defence and midfield and strikers and they won't always say yes, regardless of how many signings they make. PS Vincent Kompany might look a bit shaky if he had Loach behind him not giving him any calls, but I remain hopeful that SL will improve in that department.

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TractorCam added 17:46 - Sep 13 Just 23 and 6 foot 5, would be a good addition! Why does it take us so long to get players in though, what are the odds of us bringing in this one?
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truthhurts added 17:49 - Sep 13 Irishtim. I know we can't buy. Just typed in error so to speak. We can, however, loan with an option to buy. Completely agree it should have been dealt with ages ago. Simple fact is there is nothing we can do about it. Just seems moaning is the fashionable thing to do. Lets just get behind the Town yeah!?
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lonelyblue added 17:55 - Sep 13 Another PS. Blimey, look- Mohsni was obviously a bit of a risk and it seems he really does have some quite pronounced problems with his attitude, many of which may have surfaced during his trial. Can anyone tell me definitively that this is not the case? So why is it a bad idea to give it another week to have another look? I am a bit surprised that any supporter can believe that he/she wants to have a decent defence more than the manager does. Anyway it doesn't matter because as I have previously hinted at, Kompany is about to rock the footballing world by terminating his Man C contract so he can fulfill his life's ambition to play for Paul Jewell, in front of Scott Loach. Don't praise me now fans, I'll accept the plaudits when it happens. Next Wednesday.

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suffolkpunchdrunk added 17:55 - Sep 13 Jewell said: “Like always, we're trying to improve the squad. We know we need another centre-half to come in and provide cover for the two we've got." Just the one? and in the meantime we get rid of Delaney! What the hell is going on?
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irishtim added 17:55 - Sep 13 @truthhurts. Have been a big town fan since i was a kid. A while back. I just cant believe we aint got the centre back positions well sorted. As bad as Delaney has been percieved we should have kept him till we had the position well covered. Respect your opinion & i know what its like to make the typing error. Cmon town.
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menacinho added 18:03 - Sep 13 I have been one of PJ's biggest backers, but this is getting annoying now. Mohsni is clearly a pain who we did well to avoid, but if all we have lined up instead is another trialist who we probably won't sign, then it is somewhat disappointing. I will continue to support PJ as I believe we are playing good football going forward under him, but he really needs to get this defence issue sorted out very quickly; having just two recognised centre backs in the entire squad is not acceptable. And PJ, we need more than ONE additional CB too!

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Nunn_the_Wiser added 18:07 - Sep 13 Awesome comment boredwiththisnow! One of the most entertaining I've read on here for a while. Arrow up.
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Edmunds5 added 18:08 - Sep 13 @truthhurts none of us are managers, this site is for fans to give opinions, and I will give you a list, some perhaps slightly wide of the mark for various reasons but all pretty realistic I would say. Garry Monk (Swansea) Ignasi Miquel(Arsenal), Scott Wootton (Man Utd), Conor Coady (Liverpool), Rafik Haliche (Fulham), Bongani Khumalo (Spurs), Matt Kilgallon (Sunderland), Dan Seaborne (Southampton), Clint Hill (Qpr), Darnel Situ (Swansea), Kelvin Wilson (Celtic), Shane Duffy (Everton), Tamas Kadar (free agent), Steve Gohouri (free agent), Craig Morgan (free agent), Patrick Kisnorbo (Leeds), Richard Stearman (Wolves), Sean St Ledger (Leicester), Dekel Keinan (Cardiff), George Elekobi (Wolves), Frederic Veseli (Man City) Papa Bouba Diop (free agent)

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truthhurts added 18:09 - Sep 13 Irishtim. If i were a betting man i would suggest delaney was allowed to leave because it was as good as nailed on that a new defender was coming in. Now either said player got injured, his team mate did meaning he had to.cover, or ME pulled the plug? In no way is that an excuse, but is a possible reason
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truthhurts added 18:14 - Sep 13 Edmunds5. Good shortlist you suggested. Personally i would go for lower league players as they have hunger and points to prove. Cresswell prime ezample of that. So too was taylor for peterborough leading us to want to buy. I'm a fan of macguire at sheff utd....
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Edmunds5 added 18:30 - Sep 13 truthhurts. yeah I know where your coming from, younger players seem more enthusiastic where there may be a few from my list who wouldn't give their all. Just think with the situation we're in we probably need some experience as I dont think Chambers is a natural leader and Edwards isn't going to hold a defence together. Maguire was a rock for Sheff Utd last season and possibly could be a target for a move in Jan if we can pay the 1-2 million Sheff U would probably demand, we need someone now though and I dont know if Sheff U would be willing to loan him out.

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Stretchstar added 18:42 - Sep 13 For those doubters and knockers, have you read the highlighted article wrt being attacked, pangs of a club in turmoil, and the supporters turning on a young german star as a scapegoat because they have to find someone, and a lot was expected from him. Get him in i say, would be a brilliant acquisition, and being given a "new career" by us would surely make him want to play his heart out to thank us, and prove his point!!!! COYB

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truthhurts added 18:45 - Sep 13 Edmunds5. Yeah macguire would have to be a jan target i would imagine - if indeed it were to be reality. Getting an experienced loan from the prem is a tough call. Whilst i completely agree they bring experience from a higher level, the fact they are loaned oit indicates they don't play regularly for their side. Therefore fitness an issue. When we had kuqi and jeffers on loan in past years they botj got muscle injuries as a direct result of not having played football for a while, i think anyway

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afrodids added 18:59 - Sep 13 Jewell said: “Like always, we're trying to improve the squad. We know we need another centre-half to come in and provide cover for the two we've got.Surely you mean we need a centre-half to replace the one we have got!
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manualthetisfanclub added 19:02 - Sep 13 Nice mullet,are you in the band Europe or the scorpians!!! .................seriously I'm well bored of this!! Should have sorted this in the summer! Does anyone running this club know what they are doing?
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NoelTheDub added 19:30 - Sep 13 how can you not moan about our club, a cb that was attacked by fans and had threats thats the right cv to have to get a trail at our club . just seen a list of 8 or 10 cbs can we not get 1 or 2 .why do we get guys that have problems they must be cheap buys but when they talk about money theres nothing wrong with them.our club is like a hospital for nutcase cbs and my god we have had some good ones lately.

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meekreech added 19:47 - Sep 13 Truthurts/Irishtim Perhaps Delaney was allowed to leave because he was being disruptive due to not getting games !! It is possible he started to throw hissy-fits and it was starting to disturb the team spirit !! I know from experience that players not feeling appreciated can upset the whole well-being of a team .
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walberswick added 19:53 - Sep 13 looks like it's the end for jewell. he won't hang around long if he can't get any players in. he'll flounce off in the next couple of weekss saying he hasn't had the backing (and this summer he hasn't)
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bluey123 added 19:54 - Sep 13 meekreech you work at PR you seem to know alot of what goes I understand Jewell got rid of Delaney because he thought I think the only disruptive influence is Jewell he has proved throughtout his time at PR his man management skills are awful.
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