Maddison to extend stay
ABERDEEN boss Derek McInnes expects to keep on-loan Norwich midfielder James Maddison for the rest of the season.
The 20-year-old Cov Kid (above( has made a major impact since arriving at Pittodrie on a six-month switch in the summer. And now McInnes is looking forward to working with the youngster following the winter break after being given the green light to extend his Reds stay by Canaries boss Alex Neil.
He told the Aberdeen Evening Express: “We have had good news – Norwich have confirmed to me that James will be staying. His loan finishes on January 4 and the view from Norwich is that he will extend until the end of the season before then.” Sports Reporter RUSSELL Slade can’t wait to get down to business when the transfer window opens this weekend.
The newly-installed Coventry boss is aiming to bring in a posse of new players as quickly as possible. And he’s stressed that if the Sky Blues do decide to sell one of their Academy players to balance the books he doesn’t want a repeat of the situation that confronted Tony Mowbray 12 months ago when he lost James Maddison in the final hour of business.
City fans are fearful that Ben Stevenson could be snapped up this time round and Slade told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire: “I speak to a lot of managers, coaches, scouts and he gets mentioned in conversation as do one or two of the other young players that we’ve got at the football club and have already had experience in the league.
“Naturally that’s going to be the case – he’s a talented young player – but unless we get a concrete offer it’s speculation.
“Ideally nobody wants to lose anybody in the last hour; unless you’ve got something in place it makes life very difficult and leaves you at a disadvantage . You’re on a low at the end of the window instead of a high despite perhaps signing five other players. We want to create positivity, hopefully we can.
“We’re working behind the scenes to get some support for the group that we already have and I’m sure the players will welcome that as much as I will because it gives us an opportunity to move forward. And hopefully we can get in one or two senior players to help mentor the younger players at the club so they can progress at a quicker rate.
“I hope I can get up and running quickly with one or two signings; that would be the idea but you know what football’s like – sometimes it’s like waiting for a bus. You wait and you wait and then all of a sudden two or three come along at the same time – but we’re going to need more than two or three!”
Slade knows he has to find a replacement for one of his few seasoned professionals, US-bound Chris McCann, and he also has to announce his decisions on the other loan players whose deals expire after tomorrow’s trip to Peterborough. Reports suggest that Burnley’s Daniel Agyei, who has scored five goals in 19 appearances, is set to spend the second half of the season with Championship outfit Brentford.
Andre Wright has been a peripheral figure in recent weeks and could well return to West Brom but with so few defenders on the books Slade can ill afford to lose full-backs Jamie Sterry and Lewis Page at this stage.
“Decisions after the Peterborough game will have to be fairly swift,” he said – something of a major understatement as the Sky Blues take on high-flying Bolton on Monday. “I’ve got ideas but, in all fairness, I haven’t made a complete judgement on one or two.
“We can only go to a certain level in terms of salary but we’ll wheel and deal to the best of our ability – hopefully get the right types because that’s important, the type of player who comes here.
“He’s going to have to roll his sleeves up very high and really want to wear the badge with pride and get us out of the situation we’re in.
“There are not too many rehearsals – we’ve got to get it right sooner rather than later. We’ve got difficult games coming up – Peterborough followed by Bolton, so it’s not as if the task gets any easier.”