LIVERPOOL were today closing in on a deal to bring Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones to Anfield on loan until the end of the season.
Reds boss Rafa Benitez has been determined to add a physical presence to his forward line and has been scouring the market for options.
With Fernando Torres facing six weeks out after undergoing successful knee surgery in Barcelona on Saturday, Benitez wants to move quickly and is hoping that a deal will be wrapped up within the next 24 hours.
Talks have been on going with Sunderland over the weekend and Liverpool are keeping their fingers crossed that there will be no late glitches to scupper the move for a player, who has scored six times for the Black Cats in the Premier League this season.
Benitez, typically, is keeping his cards close to his chest and all he would say today when asked about Liverpool’s pursuit of Jones is that the club “are working hard and looking for different options.”
It is understood, though, that Jones is Liverpool’s number one target and the odds are increasing that he will arrive on Merseyside in the near future.
Jones’ future has been the subject of much speculation during the transfer window and only last week, Sunderland boss Steve Bruce declared that any club wishing to sign the Trinidad & Tobago international could start the bidding “at £40m”.
The 25-year-old’s stock has grown considerably during his time on Wearside and he has scored 25 times in 85 appearances since joining Sunderland for £6m in 2007 from Southampton.
There had been talk over the weekend that Jones would move to Anfield with Ryan Babel going in the opposite direction but that is not the case.
Babel has been fined two weeks’ wages for revealing on the social networking website ‘Twitter’ that he had been axed from the squad that faced Stoke on Saturday and was involved in a heated row with Benitez at the club’s Melwood training ground yesterday.
Benitez, not surprisingly, was furious that Babel had gone public on a private matter 24 hours before an important game and hauled Babel into his office before the squad had a warm down to demand an explanation.
The Holland international was subsequently told to concentrate on playing well enough for the first team, rather than worrying about a move away, but he stormed home in a fit of pique.
He returned half an hour later after receiving a phone call from a club official but it will be a huge surprise if he does enough in the next two days to warrant a recall to the squad that will face a crucial test against Tottenham at Anfield on Wednesday night.
A move away from Anfield before the window shuts now looks inevitable and both Besiktas and Galatasary have been linked with Babel, as Liverpool look to cut their losses.
Torres, meanwhile, underwent a successful operation to trim the meniscus in his knee in Barcelona on Saturday.
He was operated on by Dr Ramon Cugat, who consulted him earlier in the season when the Spaniard was nursing a groin problem.
No comments:
Post a Comment