Amavi’s Not A Bad One To Keep – No McCormack Loan

Manager Steve Bruce has been reflecting on Sevilla’s poor attempt at a transfer for Jordan Amavi and even though one of his remits this year is to balance the books, he’s certainly not against us having Amavi to call on this season if that’s how things remain come the end of the campaign.

With Sevilla claiming that Amavi had failed a medical, disputed by Villa and then the Spanish side being perfectly happy to return for a loan deal for him which we reportedly told them where to stick (polite version) Bruce was speaking with the Birmingham Mail this week and he admitted that Amavi ‘isn’t a bad one’ to be left with come the end of the window.

‘I think it`s plain for everyone to see, my remit is to balance the books. Yes that would have helped, but it didn`t happen. Hey, if I`m stuck with Jordan Amavi it isn`t a bad one. There are one or two you might have to sacrifice to bring in what you want. I never thought I would be selling Nathan Baker but all of a sudden it`s rolled into a transfer in the space of a week. It makes sense for everyone.’

With continuing links about Ross McCormack and Sunderland, with the latest speculation implying that they’d rather a loan spell for the striker the Northern Echo were reporting this weekend that we were flat against a loan spell for him this summer and were instead holding out for at least £8million as we look to balance books and recoup some losses.

Talks between both clubs are said to be ongoing but it’s doubtful Sunderland have the cash given the believed limited budget Simon Grayson has been handed and if the loan deal is a red line for us, this one should cease being news pretty quickly you would think.

They also report that despite interest from Reading, Derby County and Hull City, they won’t go to £8million either.

A further tiny bit of speculation was a Daily Mail report linking us with a move for Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Danny Batth.

Dr Tony Xia has dismissed this one as rumour in a response to a fan.