Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Baggies to launch summer winger hunt
Thursday 23rd February 2012, 12:31PM GMT.
Albion will step up their search for a winger in the summer after Dan Ashworth revealed they were one signing short of a perfect January.
The Baggies recruited defender Liam Ridgewell and Keith Andrews in the transfer window as well as signing young midfielder Scott Allan from Dundee United.
And Ashworth – who also revealed the beat-the-deadline signing of Andrews was completed on speaker-phone from the player’s car – revealed they wanted to fill one more slot in the squad.
The sporting and technical director did not name the position the Baggies were unable to fill but they are known to have been keen to sign a wideman, having pulled the plug on a loan deal for Zenit St Petersburg star Szabolcs Huszti.
“There was one particular position we would have wanted to fill for various reasons including injuries,” said Ashworth.
“But we were again in a situation where, unless the right deal came up, we didn’t need to panic because we’ve got some good players at this club.
“We’ve got plenty of options and players who can play in various position so nobody was screaming ‘we must fill this position’ and that priority now moves to the summer and we will see what’s available then.”
Ashworth was delighted, however, to finally land Ridgewell after missing out last summer. And he revealed how the club won their race against time to sign Andrews on a free transfer from Blackburn.
“Fortunately Keith was in Blackburn which is only an hour and a half up the motorway, we agreed with Blackburn with four hours to go, the personal terms were done with the player and the agent on speaker-phone in the car on the way down,” said Ashworth.
“By the time he got here it was pretty-much agreed so he just had to whizz through a medical, sign the paperwork and it was done.
“But we had been admirers of Keith for a long time. I saw him a number of times playing for Ireland and Roy was very close to signing him for Fulham.
“He was a player we knew a lot about and as soon as he became available it was a no-brainer.”
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