Leeds have completed a loan deal for Everton’s promising midfield player Ross Barkley, but Neil Warnock has admitted that he’s having a frustrating time of it in this transfer window so far.

Barkley is 19 and scored four goals during 13 games while on loan at Sheffield Wednesday earlier this season, and has signed a deal which runs until February 12. Hopefully there will then be an option to extend this until the end of the season if it turns out he’s any good, but I doubt there’s any chance of being able to sign him permanently.

Warnock told the Yorkshire Post “Ross had four other clubs after him so I’m delighted to get him. He’s got a great attitude and I have no doubt he will end up being a top player. The deal works well for both parties as he will gain great experience here and he is a great addition to our squad.” I thought we had enough midfield players already and needed to strengthen in other areas, but Barkley could go straight into the squad for tomorrow’s game at Barnsley.

It’s good to see that Leeds have made a new signing, though of course he is yet another loan player, a practice we were hoping to see the back of with the departure of Ken Bates. Neil Warnock is still working hard to bring in a few more permanent signings this month, but he has been knocked back with quite a few enquiries, and he met Shaun Harvey this afternoon to discuss their next move.

Warnock said “The agents are saying ‘he’s available, he’ll cost you this’ yet when I go and speak to the managers, none of them are available.  I’ve already spoken about seven or eight players on my buthe clubs won’t let any of them go. That shows you how difficult it’s going to be”. Those pesky agents, eh. Forever trying to engineer transfers that they can take a nice cut from by unsettling their players and persuading them they want to move.

Warnock must be used to agents by now after all his years in the game, and as he says “You have agents ringing you all the time but you really have to go to the top and ask the managers”. And on his meeting with Harvey to decide where they go from here, “We’ve got to come up with people who are available or who we can get with a transfer fee. The meeting was planned a week ago and we’re trying to push on with our targets now and see if we can get some over the line.”

According to Sky Sports, one of his targets is Habib Habibou, who sounds a bit like something Fred Flintsone would say. Apart from that he’s a 25-year-old striker who has scored six goals from 13 games so far this season for his club Zulte Waregem, after missing most of last season through injury. He was born in the Central African Republic-born and has previously had trial stints with West Ham and Brighton, though we face competition for his signature from QPR.

One other signing we have completed this week was Michael Tonge, who signed a two-and-a-half year deal after we paid a nominal, undisclosed fee to Stoke. Warnock said “He’s good on the ball and he gives us options down the left-hand side too. From his performances I think people can see why I signed him in the first place and why I wanted to bring him back.” And as well as that he’s available for tomorrow’s game at Barnsley.

Photo: Action Images

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