Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Cox poised to sign for the Baggies
Wednesday 8th July 2009, 11:29AM BST.
Albion were today poised to unveil £2m striker Simon Cox as their first signing of the summer.
The Baggies were tying up the loose ends of the 22-year-old’s transfer from Swindon today and were hoping to announce the completion of the deal some time today.
Cox is believed to have completed his medical and spoken to new head coach Roberto Di Matteo and the small print of his contract was bring completed today.
See also: Cox’s career to date.
The former Reading trainee hit 31 goals for a struggling Robins side last season in League One, alerting interest from a host of Championship clubs. Leicester had an offer turned down by Swindon and Albion also beat off reported late interest from former boss Tony Mowbray, now in charge at Celtic, to land the player.
He should be paraded in Baggies colours in the next 24 hours and could figure in the opening pre-season friendly at Histon on Saturday before joining his new team mates on their week-long trip to Slovenia, which includes two more matches.
He will give Di Matteo an extra striking option with Ishmael Miller heading back to full fitness, Luke Moore hoping to relaunch his Hawthorns career under the Italian, Roman Bednar looking for a second chance after his suspension and Craig Beattie keen to make an impact.
The Baggies will then turn their attentions to wrapping up the signing of former loanee Youssouf Mulumbu from Paris Saint Germain with the deal close to completion.
Reports in the French media claiming the holding midfielder has already signed for the Baggies are premature, but Hawthorns officials are now confident they can iron out the minor issues that were holding up the move.
Albion have played down reports in Spain claiming they were in the running to sign out-of-contract Real Sociedad left-back Xabi Castillo.
The Spanish media said the Baggies had joined former managers Mowbray and Gary Megson, of Bolton, in expressing an interest in the 23-year-old, but those stories are said to be wide of the mark.
Meanwhile, former Baggies full-back Carl Hoefkens is set to sign for Antwerp-based club Lierse, according to reports in Belgium.
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Great signing, who are going to be our regular 2 starters?
Miller & Cox???
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(1) Woopee doo we now have two….strikers I mean. Lets hope the two mentioned by Ellen are our two main strikers, they could form a great team, just as long as Ish remembers he has a mate.
Good luck to Simon Cox great signing
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If he`s good at holding the ball up and bringing
his team mates into play then I`d start him
up front on his own with Valero playing just
behind.
If not then a Luke Moore/Simon Cox partnership
would be good.
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1 and 2
Lets not forget Roman Bednar, 15 goals in 22 Championship games to date.
I don’t condone what he’s done, but I think we’d be silly to think he’s the only one!!
Also, for all that his actions were contrary to how a role model should be, his application and desire every time he has pulled on an Albion shirt in the past are something every kid should aspire to, and for that (and sadly, the fact we probably need him) I think he should be given another chance.
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whats happened to mesenguez? are we not signing him now? id like to see luke moore have a run in the side he looked very sharp against everton last season, and their defence is far superior to anything in the championship.
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seen cox play a few times very good player but would be better playing with bednar i think miller would be to selfish. I think miller is a player u bring on with 30mins to in
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What Warren said – holding footballers up as role models is just stupid, since they’re mostly spoilt brats who’ve got too much money and adulation too young. Bednar made one foolish move off the park but has always looked up for it in the stripes and that’s good enough for me.
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its all done and dusted,its now on official site..simon cox is ours……great signing…..this kid knows where the net is,beat a late bid from celtic for him aswell,,lovely jubbly,ooooooooooooooh yes..GOING UP THE DI MATTEO WAY,,IN STYLE OF COURSE,,OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH YES..
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What kind of striker is Cox? Little nippy bloke? Fox in the box? Hold the ball up back to goal player? Any good in the air? We need someone to meet some of Brunts crosses next year
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He’s signed on the dotted line
Strikes me as a young Kevin Phillips – a natural born goal scorer
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Seems like a good deal to me at 1.5MM rising to 1.9MM based on performances. He’s the right age too. Well done JP, DA and RDM. The Swindon fans seem to think he’ll make the transition easily enough to the Championship. Look forward to him banging the goals in next season.
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good signing for you boys… but airing on the side of caution Freddy Eastwood banged em in in league 1 but struggled in the championship!! Think this lad is better than Eastwood by a long stretch
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Im a swindon fan and your welcome to him only had one good real season,he aint worth 500k let alone 2 million.He wont be able to cope in the championship as he has no pace mark my words a very poor signing for you lot
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Posts 12 & 13
The two sides of the WW fans.
12 Bojangles, a Wolf, always nice to him on the boards.
13 jon, a dingle posing as a Swindon fan.
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13- He’s only been playing for Swindon for just over a season, so “only one good real season” sounds like good going!!
Sounds like a dingle on a wind-up, most Swindon fans on forums seem to be full of adoration for him.
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sad news about the pink star,i remember if we lost to the wolves i wouldent buy it,i,ll never forget that one saturday nite when i had nowt to read,aye boing boing get ya pink
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12 months to late, better l8te than never, lets hope hes upto scratch, we need a flying start in the championship, other wise w’ell be outside playoffs chasin. come on you baggies.
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Apparently looking at Daniel Fox from Cov to replace Robbo
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so where are the new signing peace? look at all the other teams they got 5 new player we have 1 sums it up for the baggies.
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19- ???????????
Err…we’ve had no manager in case you haven’t noticed!!
Peace can do no right in some people’s eyes!!
BRING BACK TREVOR SUMMERS AND JOHN SILK…..THE GLORY DAYS!!
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19 – are you a wind up dingle ???
Which clubs have all signed 5 players ??
Newcastle aint, and Middlesbro aint…. so who do you mean ??
Albion have one of, if not the best squads in the division – we don’t need 5 new players unless others leave. If robbo goes and we keep Cech then I would be happy with that.
We have lost a forward and signed one – what part of this is confusing you ???
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19- you must think were still in the prem,bad news chap missed out by 3 points.
With the team we’ve still got at the mo we don’t really need many,hope cech stays,just keep the faith.when mobs left wish i had’nt renewed my season ticket,but feeling happier now..come on you baggies.well done JP.
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