 Wednesday, 19th Jan 2011 19:53 by Clive Whittingham QPR are said to be close to finalising deals for several new players as the January transfer window activity increases across the Championship.
RumoursNot often we start with a rumours section on LFW, it’s not really that kind of site, but the local and national media are awash with stories of several transfers that QPR are said to be in various stages of completing. Former charges Wayne Routledge and Danny Shittu have been tipped to join on six month contracts while West Brom forward Ishmael Miller is also close to signing on loan. West Ham’s out of favour striker Benni McCarthy played, and scored, for the QPR reserves against Tottenham earlier this week in a game which featured another run out for Emmanuel Ledesma. And if all that wasn’t enough The Evening Standard reports tonight that QPR and Millwall are monitoring the situation with Swindon’s Charlie Austin who has handed in a transfer request after being refused permission to speak to Hull City about a move to the KC Stadium. Assistant manager Mick Jones told Sky Sports: "The manager is determined to strengthen his squad during this window. We'll try to get three or four players in this window but we're not panicking, we can still get loans in March. Neil is working very hard, I've never seen him so determined and I'm hopeful something will happen." Shittu would be a popular figure at QPR were he to return. He has most recently been playing in this division on a short term deal with Millwall but freelance journalist David McIntyre stated on his blog this week that the Lions’ attempts to keep him for the rest of the season were “blown out of the water” by the offer he received from QPR. Shittu has endured a frustrating few years since leaving Watford for Bolton – he made just 12 appearances there and returned from a poor World Cup with Nigeria in the summer without a club. He has made ten appearances for Millwall since moving there and the fact that Kenny Jackett wanted him to stay is a positive sign. Ishmael Miller was a £1.6m signing for West Brom from Man City three years ago and fired 16 goals as they won this division at a canter but has since spent 14 months out of the game recovering from a ruptured cruciate ligament and a variety of other niggling injuries besides. The Fulham Chronicle and Express and Star report that West Brom are willing to let the striker, linked with a move to Leicester before they signed Yakubu, join QPR on a temporary basis as they chase Aston Villa’s John Carew who has himself been moved down the pecking order at Villa Park by the surprise arrival of Darren Bent from Sunderland. Keeping up? Wayne Routledge is another being cleared to make way for new arrivals at his Premiership club. Just a year after he left Loftus Road for Newcastle in a £1m deal the former Palace winger is said by The Newcastle Chronicle Sky Sports and various others to be on the cusp of a return to W12 on a six month loan deal with a view to a permanent switch as the Magpies chase Shaun Wright Phillips. The Fulham Chronicle reports that Fitz Hall has been using Twitter to try and persuade his old team mate to return to Loftus Road and The Mirror reports that Rangers will pay the winger’s £21k a week salary to make it happen. Benni McCarthy was one of the hottest talents in the Premiership three years ago when a 24 goal season at Blackburn had Chelsea sniffing around with an offer but two more mediocre seasons at Ewood Park and a disastrous spell at West Ham where he has regularly been criticised for his weight problems have left him scrabbling around for a club this January. The 33-year-old has 83 caps for South Africa in a career that has also taken in spells with Ajax, Porto and Celta Vigo and scored one of QPR’s two goals in the reserve match against Spurs earlier this week. The Times on Saturday and the Daily Mail on Monday have also tipped Rangers to move for 27-year-old Lecce centre half Souleymane Diamoutene who is a Mali international. Lecce are currently managed by our former boss Luigi De Canio and currently sit in the relegation zone of Serie A after promotion from Serie B last season. Diamoutene has made just two starts so far this season. In amongst it all Leon Clarke, who has failed to make any impact whatsoever since a summer move from Sheffield Wednesday, is said by Sky Sports to be interesting several other Championship clubs. NewsWhile Benni McCarthy may have got on the scoresheet, the reserve match as a whole earlier this week was not a roaring success with Rangers crashing to a 9-2 defeat. Neil Warnock attended to run the rule over McCarthy, and Spurs’ returning stars Jamie O’Hara and Jonathan Woodgate, and reserve team coach Ronnie Jepson was in upbeat mood after the game. Jepson told the club’s official website: “"It was great for some of our younger lads to play against that calibre of opponent. We were short in defensive areas, which is why we borrowed two Spurs players to play as centre backs. I think they were scared to kick Robbie. On a serious note, it was a great work-out. It was a bit of a mix-and-match because we had a few trialists in, which you tend to in January. It enabled us to have a decent look at them against good opposition. If we were going there to win the game, we wouldn't be using two opposing players as our centre backs. It was good of Spurs to let us have the two of them because it enabled the game to go ahead. It was beneficial for both sides. They were able to give match time to some of their lads, and our younger boys got to see the tempo these players play the game at. Overall, it was a good exercise." Elsewhere Matthew Connolly was pleased the team clocked up a fourteenth clean sheet of the season at Burnley on Saturday as he returned from a two match ban. Connolly told the club’s official website: “I thought as a team we defended very well. We were pleased to take a point but with the chances we had, those are the sort of games where you want to be nicking a goal and winning. I felt very good out there. Kaspars helped me and I thought we defended really well, they didn't have too many chances. Paddy only really had one save to make in the first half, but I thought we won most of our headers, we covered well and it was a good clean sheet. Now we have to build on that in our home games." Loan WatchMikele Leigertwood’s impressive form for Reading earned him a place in the Championship Team of the Week today, reward for his part in a 3-0 win at Doncaster at the weekend. Leigertwood is yet to lose in eight outings for the Royals so far. Young goalkeeper Elvjis Putnins is already making his mark at Boreham Wood, where he has signed on loan until the end of the season. He played in goal in a 2-0 victory against Chelmsford City at the weekend. Neil Warnock has said he is looking to get Antonio German and Romone Rose out on loan again now the hectic Christmas period is over. The pair spent time with Southend and Torquay respectively in the first half of the season. Warnock told the Ealing Gazette: “The best thing to further their careers is to get them regular football and see where that takes them in the scheme of things. It’s not rocket science to figure those not getting regular games by now will need to keep on their toes elsewhere for the time being.” Former R’sClarke Carlisle’s brains know no bounds – the Burnley defender is set to be the first serving professional footballer to appear on the BBC’s Question Time on Thursday evening. The programme, broadcast live from Burnley, will also feature an appearance from omni-present loathsome tit Alastair Campbell, a well know Burnley fan and tosser. Carlisle told the BBC: “I am looking forward to it and I will be sat up there with Mr Campbell, which will be nice. I don't consider myself to be a politics buff by any stretch of the imagination, but with the economic crisis, having a young family and the recent election, my wife and I started to take a keener interest and I just hope I can give a layman's perspective on things." Fresh from his court appearance on speeding charges much travelled injury prone striker Marcus Bent has joined Sheffield United on loan to the end of the season. Bent counts the Blades as one of his 14 previous clubs already and played for new Bramall Lane boss Mickey Adams previously at Brentford and Leicester. The 32-year-old made just five appearances during a similar temporary spell with Wolves in the first half of the season and will now attempt to win a permanent contract with his Birmingham deal expiring in the summer. Championship Shorts- Reading have bolstered their ranks with the signings of Swindon defender Sean Morrison for £250k, and Eastleigh striker Brett Williams for £50,000. Morrison, who came through the ranks at the County Ground, has attracted scouts from across the country to see him this season after a series of commanding performances at centre half. - Cardiff have signed highly rated Arsenal youngster Jay Emmanuel Thomas on loan for the rest of the season. Thomas, who enjoyed a loan spell with Doncaster at the end of last season, takes Cardiff’s current tally of loan players to six – five can be named in a matchday squad. - Watford have signed Aston Villa’s 19 year old Austrian striker Andreas Weimann on loan until the end of the season. - Swansea are being linked with a move for former midfielder Leon Britton who left in the summer after eight years in South Wales but has failed to settle at Sheffield United. - Doncaster have signed former Leeds trainee Paul Keegan on a six month deal from Irish side Bohemians after he impressed on trial. - Kilmarnock striker Conor Sammon has turned down a £450k move to Scunthorpe United after the clubs agreed terms for the Irish Under 21 international. Manager Ian Baraclough said: “He liked everything about the club but didn't feel it was the right time for him to be moving on.” - New Ipswich boss Paul Jewell has recalled winger Lee Martin back early from his season long loan deal with Charlton, and hopes to do the same with striker Kevin Lisbie who is currently with Millwall. - Derby’s hopes of taking Martyn Waghorn on loan from Leicester were dealt a blow on Tuesday night when a injury to Darius Vassell pressed the former Sunderland man into action against Man City in the FA Cup. Manager Sven Goran Eriksson said: “As long as Darius is injured we will not let Martyn go anywhere - on loan, to sell or whatever. First of all I want to see Darius fit and he might be fit on Saturday.” - Hull’s Nolberto Solano says he may postpone his retirement again by another season. He said: “Probably one more season and that's it. I am very happy and glad to be here, and we will have to see what happens." Transfer WindowChampionship deals done so far: Aaron McLean, Peterborough to Hull, £1.3m Matty Fryatt, Leicester to Hull, £1.2m James Chester, Man Utd to Hull, £300k Michael Morrison, Leicester to Sheff Wed, £250k Sean Morrison, Swindon to Reading, £250k Jon Parkin, Preston to Cardiff, £100k Brett Williams, Eastleigh to Reading, £50k Sol Bamba, Hibs to Leicester, undisclosed Seamus Connely, Galway to Sheffield United, undisclosed Jermaine Easter, MK Dons to Palace, undisclosed Abdisalam Ibrahim, Man City to Scunthorpe, undisclosed Liam Lawrence, Stoke to Portsmouth, undisclosed Alex Marrow, Blackburn to Palace, undisclosed Josh McQuoid, Bournemouth to Millwall, undisclosed Andy O’Brien, Bolton to Leeds, undisclosed Paul Reid, Colchester to Scunthorpe, undisclosed Matt Ritchie, Portsmouth to Swindon, undisclosed Theo Robinson, Huddersfield to Millwall, undisclosed Marc Tierney, Colchester to Norwich, undisclosed Marcus Tudgay, Sheff Wed to Forest, undisclosed Tommy Smith, Portsmouth to QPR, undisclosed Miguel Comminges, Cardiff to Southend, free Steffen Iverson, Rosenborg to Palace, free Paul Keegan, Bohemians to Doncaster, free Lubo Michalik, Leeds to Carlisle, free Eddie Nolan, Preston to Scunthorpe, free Zac Thompson, Everton to Leeds, free Petter Vaagan Moen, Brann to QPR, free John Akinde, Bristol City to Dagenham, loan Marcus Bent, Birmingham to Sheff Utd, loan Cian Bolger, Leicester to Bristol Rovers, loan Liam Cooper, Hull to Carlisle, loan Mark Cullen, Hull to Bradford, loan Ritchie De Lait, Man Utd to Portsmouth, loan Liam Dickinson, Barnsley to Rochdale, loan Nathan Ellington, Skoda Xanthi to Preston, loan Corry Evans, Man Utd to Hull, loan Ben Gordon, Chelsea to Scunthorpe, loan Brad Guzan, Villa to Hull, loan Ben Hamer, Reading to Exeter, loan Oli Johnson, Norwich to Yeovil, loan Julian Kelly, Reading to Lincoln, loan Kevin Kilbane, Hull to Huddersfield, loan Matt Kilgallon, Sunderland to Doncaster, loan Marc Laird, Millwall to Brentford, loan Shane Lowry, Villa to Sheff Utd, loan Vito Mannone, Arsenal to Hull, loan Joe Mattock, West Brom to Sheff Utd, loan George McCartney, Sunderland to Leeds, loan Ben Mee, Man City to Leicester, loan Danny Philliskirk, Chelsea to Sheff Utd, loan Rowan Vine, QPR to Mk Dons, loan Andreas Weimann, Villa to Watford, loan Callum Wilson, Coventry to Kettering, loan Yakubu, Everton to Leicester, loan Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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