Keeper Siegrist Linked Again as Harper and Dozzell Deals Near Confirmation Monday, 14th Jun 2021 08:58 Town are continuing to be linked with a move for Dundee United keeper Benjamin Siegrist, while the deals which will see Rekeem Harper join the Blues and Andre Dozzell move to QPR are close to being announced. The Blues were first mentioned in connection with 29-year-old Siegrist last month and now, according to the Daily Record, they are weighing up a £350,000 offer for the Swiss keeper. Terrors head coach Tam Courts admits his club will struggle to keep hold of Siegrist, who has only a year left on his contract. “We are trying to acquire assets which we can sell in the future or develop assets we can sell,” he said. “So we understand these players won’t be here for eight, nine, ten seasons. Both of those players [Siegrist and striker Lawrence Shankland] are extremely valuable to the club. “Benji had had a phenomenal season and I would imagine there will be a lot of interest in him because of that. I would be surprised if there wasn’t interest after the season he had.” Previous reports have suggested Siegrist is waiting to see whether Celtic, who were first linked with him in January, firm up their interest before deciding on his future. Siegrist joined the Aston Villa youth set-up when 16 having previously been with hometown club FC Therwil and FC Basel. While at Villa the 29-year-old spent time on loan at Burton Albion, Cambridge United, Solihull Moors and Wycombe Wanderers. Having been unable to break into the first team at Villa Park, the 6ft 5in tall keeper, who has been capped by Switzerland at U17, U18, U19 and U21 levels, moved on to Vaduz in Liechtenstein in the summer of 2016 for a fee of £210,000. After two years in which he won the Liechtenstein Football Cup twice, Siegrist departed for Dundee United, with whom he won the Scottish Championship in 2019/20, where former Blues keeper Neil Alexander is the goalkeeping coach. Town are expected to sign two senior keepers this summer with David Cornell already having departed and Tomas Holy also been told he can move on. Free agent former Portsmouth keeper Craig MacGillivray is among their potential targets, while the Blues aren’t moving out a loan move for a talented young keeper with a Premier League side. We understand Liverpool’s Republic of Ireland international glovesman CaoimhÃn Kelleher is among those the Blues are eyeing, however, there are conflicting reports regarding the Reds will make the 22-year-old available for loan for the season ahead. Meanwhile, the Blues will be hoping that their signing of West Brom’s Rekeem Harper will finally be rubber-stamped in the next day or so with the deal having been all but done since early last week. Harper, who TWTD revealed was set to join the Blues last Wednesday, underwent his Portman Road medical more than a week ago with all bar the formalities relating to the switch completed. We understand the fee is around £500,000 initially but potentially rising towards £1 million. Harper will join on a three-year deal. Midfielder Andre Dozzell’s move to QPR, also first reported by TWTD, is also likely to be completed in the next couple of days.
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