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It’s all go on the transfer frontWed 04th Jul 2012 18:04 by Tim Whelan While Leeds fans are left sitting impatiently for confirmation that the takeover is finally going through, Neil Warnock and his rival managers are wasting no time in putting their squads together for the coming season. We can expect to see quite a few players moving into and out of the club in the next few weeks. A few weeks ago it was rumoured that Neil Warnock was on the verge of walking away from Elland Road, but he denied this story when he spoke to Yorkshire Radio today. "It is a great club. It would have been easy for me to leave the club and take on something a little bit different, but it does intrigue me and I am still here, and I am doing the best I can for everyone". It could be that the truth is that he was ready to hand in his notice when he flew to Monaco to meet Bates for a crucial meeting, but was told that the takeover was progressing well, and that he would be getting the funds he needed once the new owners were in place. Having been persuaded to stay on, he’s now working hard to add to his squad. "We've got our targets and we're hoping that in the next couple of weeks we can start bringing more in so we can have a full supplement as soon as we can during pre-season. “ We still seem to be intent on signing as many Portsmouth players as we can, as the south coast club a desperate to slash their wage bill in order to attract a new buyer as they prepare for League One football. They now have only 12 first team players listed on their official website and we’re trying to buy two of them, in the shape of forward Luke Varney and defender David Norris. While at least two of the other Portsmouth players are insisting on being paid in full for the value of their contracts, Varney is prepared to accept a compromise pay-off to enable him to move from Fratton Park. At the same time, a number of players are likely to be heading out of Elland Road, including Andy Lonergan, who is the subject of a bid from Bolton Wanderers. Owen Coyle needs to provide cover for Adam Bogdan after Jussi Jaaskelainen's departure, while Warnock is prepared to sell the keeper after lining up a deal to sign Paddy Kenny from his former club QPR. Presumably this will leave Alex Cairns moving up to be Leeds reserve goalkeeper. Another story suggests that Adam Clayton is going to Huddersfield, with Simon Grayson signing the midfielder for the second time in his career. I was hoping that the new owners would be able to persuade Clayton to stay by offering him an improvement on his existing contract, but we’ve been talking to the Terriers over a possible transfer, and we’re prepared to sell him if they come up with the asking price of £500,000. And Neil Warnock has also told the club's official website that he’s had a few enquiries about some of the fringe players that he is trying to move on. "I'm not surprised really. I think they all could do other clubs a job, but it's just that we're trying to change things and there's always one or casualties. It's no disrespect to them because you want to bring players in. We've had a couple of offers." So watch this space. Let’s hope that it’s not too long before we get the news we’ve been waiting for on the takeover, and that Warnock still has time to sign the players he needs for a promotion challenge.
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