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Lambert Pours Cold Water on Double Boro Deal as Blues Close in on Keane Loan
Thursday, 3rd Jan 2019 15:31

Boss Paul Lambert has poured cold water on claims he is set to make a double swoop for Middlesbrough pair Grant Leadbitter, a former Town skipper, and striker Rudy Gestede as the Blues close in on the loan signing of Will Keane from Hull City, who is at the club this afternoon.

A report earlier this afternoon claimed Leadbitter, who was with Town between 2009 and 2012, and Gestede were part of a double Blues move with Jonas Knudsen, a Teessiders target in the summer, potentially going the other way.

Quizzed on the story, Lambert responded: “Well, if somebody’s going to drop a massive nest egg of money in here then you might look at it, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

“Two good players, two experienced guys, been at the top. But as I said before, I’ve spoken to a few lads to see if they would come and clubs. We need a bit of strength, we definitely need a bit of strength in there.”

Gestede is believed to be on wages of around £30,000 a week with Leadbitter similarly likely to be on big money. Is it simply the case that those sums are beyond the Blues?

“Well yes, but that’s the nature of the game,” Lambert added. “You can’t put the club in a position where we’re just going to spend money, you end up in absolute ruins. It can’t happen, you can’t bow to the levels of money, if it can happen, it can’t happen and you move on to the next one.”

We understand owner Marcus Evans is making significant sums available to Lambert for his January business, around half-a-dozen additions of which most will be loans, although there will inevitably be a limit to what he is prepared to spend.

“Marcus has been brilliant with me since I’ve been here, he really has,” Lambert continued. “I’ve got no issues at all. He’s put money in the club before, he’s helped me every way he possibly can with it and we’ll try our best to get the club out of the position it’s in.

“But everybody’s working together and that means a lot, everybody works together as we try and get out of this position.”

Asked about the Keane move, which looks set to be confirmed today or tomorrow, he responded: “I think there are loads of names out there at this minute in time. Hopefully next week we’ll get a few in if things go right.”

Is he frustrated, would he have liked to have had players in ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup tie at Accrington? “No, because I know the way it works, the transfer window. I’m not silly, I know how it actually works and functions.

“Until somebody crosses the door and everything’s done I start to believe it. I don’t hold with this theory of names being thrown left, right and centre. I never really get caught up with that.

“As I said before, if lads come and I know they’re in the building, then that’s a different thing.”

Lambert says Town haven’t really got the time to bed new players in, however, he says those coming in on loan are unlikely to be at full match sharpness having not been involved with their parent clubs.

“No, we don’t but I think especially the loan market, lads aren’t playing at their own clubs for a reason,” he said.

“They’ve probably not got a lot of game time at their parent club and we have to get them up to speed when they do come and you’re hoping that on that period of time they’ll be ready and hit the ground running.”

Meanwhile, he says ex-Derby County and San Jose Earthquakes winger Simon Dawkins, 31, continues to train with Town and is impressing.

“Simon’s been training, he’s doing great,” Lambert said. “He’s been training with us for a while. He had a brilliant time at Derby and I know what he’s like because I had him at Villa.

“He needs a little bit of match fitness, match practice but I gave him the training facilities to see how he does. But he’s done really well.”


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BYRNE_16 added 15:36 - Jan 3
Evans is a business man who holds the purse strings tightly together! All i see is loans, loans everywhere!
2

braveblue added 15:40 - Jan 3
Sounds very familiar. Injury prone loans. No investment. And Evans takes the £5m profit from the summer. This is why we are getting relegated.
5

prebbs007 added 15:43 - Jan 3
So much for the transfer chest that Lambert was apparently promised when he took the job then !!!! We need these type of players and if it's 30k a week for basically 4 months then that's what we need to pay. We need title winning form for the rest of the season to get out of this mire and if Evans doesn't stump up me walking away. Yet again we are going to be let down by our tax dodging owner who now seems universally hated by pretty much all the fanbase. This is without a doubt the darkest ever hour for ITFC. So sad !
-1

Bluebell added 15:45 - Jan 3
Loans won't be a bad thing with uncertainty about next season.

If they are good we try to sign them in the summer, if not we can get rid. Better than offering contracts and finding out the players are as bad as most of the ones that Hurst signed!
16

MooseJuice added 15:46 - Jan 3
I for one would be quite happy if Evans didn't release the funds to bring Leadbitter back here. We already have enough players who can't take corners.
16

jdtractor96 added 16:02 - Jan 3
Am I correct in thinking we are allowed 4 loanees in the matchday squad? Pennington, Chalobah, Elder and Keane would fulfill that (all of which you'd expect to be included IF fit). Presumably any other signings would be permanent ones? Call me pessimistic but that surely rules out Gestede and Leadbitter - why would they join?!
0

JimJamITFC added 16:07 - Jan 3
I was excited about seeing Keane joining the squad, but that has been soured now thanks to it being confirmed as a loan deal. We need people in the squad to pledge a future here not a part-time job. 😩
2

Suffolkboy added 16:19 - Jan 3
PL continues to impress : it's decision time and he shows every sign of being just as professional in that process as in each and every aspect of his tenure at ITFC so far !
The media and supporters thrive on speculation and rumour but I do believe there'll be judicious , well judged additions which , as PL has said , and we all can see ,will add strength and balance to the squad .
It's no good crying over spilt milk ,he needs to mop it up ,clear the floor and set out our table for a better future : let's all give him our utmost support ,and appreciate what a good job he's doing !
If JK goes it'll obviously be against what PL would have wished ,but his predecessor is to blame for near total ignorance , knowledge and competence at Chamionship level , and had no feeling for man management and Club warmth ( we made a terrible mistake ,) and we must respect every player's right and need to look to his and his family's future .
Onwards and to brighter things !COYB
5

dirtydingusmagee added 16:31 - Jan 3
BYRNE16, looking at the ''here and now'' situation , loans are not a bad thing, we cant expect players of any real worth to make a permanent move to a club who look doomed to relegation.Those sort of deals will made when we know what league we are playing in next season . Its not great but thats how it is .
11

smithy0981 added 16:51 - Jan 3
Come on did people really take the £10m war chest seriously. We all know Evans will not spend the money on wages for a couple of experienced players not a chance. We are down now and we need to think about building a squad capable of competing in league one to come straight back up
2

cbITFC added 17:08 - Jan 3
so no money then is what you are saying PL
-1

1RWR added 17:17 - Jan 3
Sorry, but loans are the way to go!
Get some quality in, get us out of this muddle then look at buying next year, it's not rocket science.
If we stay up, loans can go back. If we go down, loans can still go back. Win-win situation.
Let's get out of this mess then start talking about buying players for next season.
5

planetblue_2011 added 17:21 - Jan 3
Oh dear it can't get any worse. If we go down we go down us fans have been brilliant we can't shout scream or do anything anymore, what is the point. Face facts our so called rich owner is sending us down to div 1 football next season. We have not got a chance of staying up. He does not have a clue about football. Lambert will prob walk end of season anyway. We have been steering towards this mess for 3 or 4 seasons, it was always gonna happen. You can't sell your best players & not reinvest it's obvious to us but not Marcus Evans he can't see bloody it. We need to rebuild big time for next season & hope are league 1 team of players can get us up. Accrington will be our first league one test on sat👍🏻
1

jas0999 added 17:28 - Jan 3
Well, it's all well and good saying Evans is making ‘significant' funds available. But what his significant actually means in comparison to other championship clubs significant is very debateable I suspect.
1

smithy0981 added 17:30 - Jan 3
I agree with getting loans in to try and keep us up this season but Evans will simply not spend the money to get the quality that we need in. It will be the same as always wait until end of jan and see what we can pick up. I'm sorry people but we are all but down let's get some additions in with the vision of competing in league one to come straight back up
0

jas0999 added 17:31 - Jan 3
... also there is no point having more than five loans because they can't all play. If we need six additions and already have four loans (counting the chap from Hull), that means we need four more players and just one loan spot. Surely that means three permanent additions?
0

ITFCsince73 added 17:57 - Jan 3
Let's not be mistaken. Evans is one of the richest persons in the country.
If he wanted to go all out to turn this misery around, he could, without effecting his huge wealth.
Yes he has huge wealth...borderline billionaire.
Well know soon enough which route he wants to take.
But please PL don't say money isn't there. That's just not the case.
Agree the commitment isn't there from our multi millionaire owner.
Which is a tad frustrating for us loyal, totally committed supporters.
-4

The_Great_Cornholio added 13:19 - Jan 4
ITFCsince73, I clicked an up arrow when I meant down. As other posters have said on many occasions, Evan's net worth has very little bearing on how much cash he's got sat in the bank to spend of ITFC (sadly).
0

ITFCsince73 added 20:09 - Jan 5
No your quite right The Great Cornholio.
But he has the means to make a large investment this window, I don't mean drawing the money out his savings account. But drawing the funds from his many businesses and enterprises.
He's worth 100,s of millions, because that's what he,s worth.
0


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