Barnes capture a coup for Wood
Friday 19th February 2010, 11:56AM GMT.
Albion striker Chris Wood believes the club have pulled off a major coup by snapping up former Derby County winger Giles Barnes on a free transfer.
The teenager played alongside Barnes when the new-boy made his debut for the club in the reserves on Wednesday.
Wood reckons the 21-year-old, who was released from Pride Park after a string of injuries, could turn out to be bargain for his new club.
He said: “Giles is a quality player. You can definitely see the talent that, if he can get fit by the end of the season, can hopefully push us on in our promotion path. You can definitely see he has got talent and he is going to be a big star if he can stay fit for the rest of the season.
“It could be a very good signing and, with Jerome Thomas out suspended, hopefully we can get Barnesy fit and he can play a big part for us.
“James Morrison is getting closer now and hopefully he can push on and play a couple of reserve games and then push on into the first team.”
Wood is looking to cement his place in New Zealand’s squad for this summer’s World Cup in South Africa, where the striker hopes to be joined by Hawthorns team-mate and Chile international Gonzalo Jara.
Jara was ruled out of the rest of the Championship season this week with a fractured metatarsal but Wood is confident the utility player can make it to the summer’s finals.
He said: “Gonzalo is a big player in our team and to have him ruled out for the rest of the season is a bad thing and it’s hard to take. He’s got a couple of months to get back for the World Cup, so hopefully the fracture isn’t too bad and we will see.
“If he progresses well he should have a very good chance of making the World Cup.”
UK Sport
Latest Blog — A week is a long time in football
This time last week we were staring down the barrel, third from bottom with a worse record than at the same stage last year, writes Saddlers blogger Mark Jones.
Saddlers Blog
Business Awards
Book a Business Awards table
Join our celebrations of the region's best in business on Thursday March 22 - book your table now
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Express & Star and Shropshire Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases
OUR NEW APP
Get the new E&S app
Download the Express & Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
expressandstar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
Gileo “the new king of Spain” he he
Report abuse
he is injury prone not what we need,we need quality not another sick note
Report abuse
Oh dear Rob, you must have a glass half empty, Its a bit early to be gloomy, lets give the guy a chance and you might just find you have a FULL glass in time.
Report abuse
Looks like shadrags bin let oout agen for the w/e aye boing boing
Report abuse
It’s alright shadrag you wont be getting him he’s too classy for the hoofball you lot [woolfs] play.You can only dream of having a player with his know how at LOW HILL CITY.
~~~~BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JttH.
Report abuse
Shadrag,
You had one “sick note” trialing with you and we nicked him. Jerome Thomas is the name.Let us know when you have some more in,
Thankyou from all at the Hawthornes.
~~~~BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
Report abuse
If we wanted a sick note we would have signed Kightly or Murray from you lot. However, we only have quality at the Albion. Not people who are match shy on the big Derby occasions and get scared when they get tackled a little too hard.
Report abuse
Sorry Rob, I ment Jono, my appologies.
Report abuse