With less than a week to go to the transfer deadline James McCarthy might be forgiven for fearing that he will after all be spending the coming year in the Championship following Roberto Martinez’s denial yesterday that he had made any bid for the Republic of Ireland midfielder.
“I think it’s quite easy to understand that James is a player I signed at a young age and I’ve got huge admiration for him,” said the Spaniard when asked about his reported interest yesterday, “so it doesn’t take anyone (much) to create a little bit of a story. But there has been no bid,” the Everton manager said
Martinez, who suggested that he may well yet add another player or two during the window, didn’t actually rule out making a move for the 22 year-old over the coming days and there has been a great deal of speculation that he might do so in the event that Marouane Fellaini leaves for big money but there was certainly no sense from what he said that anything is imminent.
Newcastle have also been linked with McCarthy as were Tottenham earlier in the summer before it became apparent that they were intent on pursuing rather bigger fish but Wigan manager Owen Coyle said again at the weekend that there have not been any bids for a player who is supposed to be valued at almost €18 million.
Coyle acknowledged, however, that moves elsewhere could have implications for the club who, one suspects, might yet prove very willing sellers if an offer anything like that amount actually came in.
Everton have also been linked with Aiden McGeady who Martinez tried to sign for Wigan late in the January window and his wages may be less of a concern for the Merseysiders than they were for the manager’s previous employers but again, there is no evidence so far that a deal will be pursued.
Former Shamrock Rovers left back Enda Stevens has moved from Aston Villa to Notts County on an emergency 28 day loan. The 23-year-old joined the premier League outfit in January of 2012 on a three-year contract and made nine appearances for them.
His debut, against Tranmere in the League Cup was a year ago today and seven of the games he subsequently played were in the Premier league but he did not feature from January on and Lambert had made it fairly clear at the start of the season that the Irishman did not play a big part in his plans for the coming campaign.
Sean St Ledger sat out his club’s League Cup games last night while Anthony Pilikingtomn made afirst appearnce of the season, scoring against Bury but one of Giovanni Trapattoni’s other injury concerns for next week’s games against Sweden, Simon Cox, is expected to start for Nottingham Forest when they take on Millwall in the competition this evening.
The Swedes, meanwhile, have named a strong squad for their trips to Dublin and Kazakhstan with McGeady’s Spartak team mate Kallstrom returning after having been omitted for the friendly win over Norway in which Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored three goals earlier this month.
The PSG striker is included again despite having made a quiet start to the new club campaign, as is Alexander Kacaniklic, who returns from injury. Defender Andreas Granqvist is also in the group of 24 although he is unavailable for the Ireland game due to suspension and midfielder Rasmus Elm is injured.
