Chelsea ownership wrangle hampering Baxter deal hope
THE current ownership situation at Chelsea is hampering Hull
City’s hopes of signing goalkeeper Nathan Baxter on a permanent deal, according to Tigers vicechairman Tan Kesler.
The Premier League club are currently in the midst of a takeover after the UK government opted to sanction Roman Abramovich for his alleged links to Vladimir Putin and the ongoing assault on Ukraine.
City want the keeper back at the MKM Stadium next season after an impressive loan spell which saw him pin down the number one shirt either side of Christmas, before injury hampered his progress, with Baxter open to the idea of returning, should he be told he has a slim chance of forcing his way into Thomas Tuchel’s first-team setup.
Kesler, though, says the Tigers are being held up by the ongoing malaise at Chelsea, and are prepared to move to other targets if the situation isn’t resolved quickly.
“With the Chelsea side, we have to be careful,” Kesler told the Mail.
“They’re still going through the takeover process and there’s no decision-maker in the club.
“We have told Nathan and his representatives that we’re interested in taking him back.
“The coach (Shota Arveladze) is very happy, the goalkeeping coach Baz (Barry Richardson) is very happy and the chairman is very happy and I’m happy with his presence during the season.
“We need to wait because of Chelsea, not because of our desire to wait or anything else. We have options, we have such a good team and we have experts in our group identifying the players. We have in-club recruitment giving us scientific reasoning if we should and shouldn’t sign them and in the end, we present this to the coach.
“We do have options and we’d be happy if Nathan (returned). In Nathan and Matt, they came together well and complement each other well. If not, there are options on the table to be discussed. I want to say, the window is not open yet and we’re discussing transfers.
“We need it to be open so we can conclude all these transfers.”