Western Morning News (Saturday)
Taylor expects Randall to remain for rest of season
JOEL Randall is set to miss Exeter City’s clash with Stevenage today, but Matt Taylor expects the winger to still be at the club in February.
The highly-rated winger has been linked with a move away from St James Park, with Charlton Athletic believed to have had two bids, thought to be in the region of £300,000, rejected.
Taylor said that he fully understands why there has been interest in the 21-year-old, but unless a club meets their valuation – believed to be around £1m – then Randall will not be leaving in the current transfer window.
“Joel is still our player and I expect him to be our player at the end of the window,” Taylor said.
“There has been interest but we have a certain valuation for Joel and one that reflects what we has done this season and what he will do in the future as we know he will be a top, top, player but I expect him to be our player unless something very worthwhile comes in.
“How long we can keep him within our ranks will depend on what happens this season and how the season ends, as we expect him to be a high calibre player and if he does leave us, it will be for a
significant amount of money.”
The 21-year-old has netted eight times in 27 games this season and has had a greater contribution and impact on the senior game than Ollie Watkins, now with Aston Villa, had at the last age.
“Joel’s pathway has been similar to Ollie’s,” Taylor said. “He’s been out of loan [at Tiverton Town, Bideford, Weston-Super-Mare and Weymouth], and then once he got the chance he has taken it.
“His stats are better than Ollie’s at this stage which shows just how highly we rate him. I am not going to say he’ll go on to play at the top level like Ollie but he has certainly got the potential to do so, and so the valuation has to be similar to what we got for Ollie.”
The winger is out of this afternoon’s fixture with a hamstring injury, joining Randell Williams, new signing Sam Stubbs and skipper Jake Taylor on the injury list, although the Welshman hopes to be fit enough to be involved for Tuesday’s clash with Morecambe.
With Randall out and with Williams still weeks away from returning as well, City will be missing some of the dynamic attacking talent that have seen them rise to the top of the leading scorers charts.
“That’s three big players unavailable,” Taylor said. “We will have to look at other ways to hurt the opposition if you take away the main attacking threats.
“The next 10-12 games will dictate where we are pushing towards. No-one in the league has pulled away and teams had games called off, so feels like a strange time in the league and anyone who can put a few wins together on the bounce will find themselves moving up the table and we are certainly capable of doing that.”
Boro come to St James Park on the back of a run of just two losses in their last ten, but they have failed to win away from home this season.