There are conflicting reports tonight about whether we will or will not be taking Jimmy Kebe on loan from Crystal Palace until the end of the season.

Kebe is presumably the second of the two Premiership players that the Yorkshire Post claimed were on their way to Leeds yesterday, with the other being Hull’s Cameron Stewart. Both are wingers, but McDermott could well be intending to play both of them and revert to a 4-4-2 formation, after complaining that the squad he inherited was ‘lacking width’. But how close are we to signing the Mali international?

Amongst the sources who think we have the deal in the bag are Sky Sports, who claim Brian McDermott has already reached an agreement with Palace to sign the 29 year-old. The South London Press are slightly more cautious, reporting that we face competition from Leicester and Brighton, but says that we are the most likely destination for Kebe as he has played for McDermott before.

But all of this is refuted by the Croydon Advertiser, who have quoted Crystal Palace co-chairman Steve Parish as saying "He's not going on loan anywhere. There are clubs interested, that's all. Leeds are interested - all the clubs at the top of the Championship are interested. We are not looking to send him out on loan anywhere. We haven't considered whether he's going to go out on loan or if we're going to accept them."

Yet Kebe would seem to be out of favour at Selhurst Park, with Jason Puncheon and Yannick Bolasie the first choice wide players, and Tony Pulis is keen to move a couple of his fringe players on as he tries to re-shape his squad to avoid relegation. Kebe has only started two Premier League games since moving from Reading in the summer, and the last time he appeared for Palace at all was when he came off the bench against West Ham on December 3rd.

So I’m guessing that Kebe will be leaving Selhurst Park before the end of the transfer window, and that Leeds will be his preferred destination. He doesn’t sound like he would be good enough for the Premiership and at 29 he isn’t going to improve, but first Leeds have to get there, and he could probably do a good job for us in the Championship.

OK, so McDermott has already signed one of his old boys in the shape of Noel Hunt, and that transfer has yet to work out, though it’s been hinted that Hunt had some personal problems which were affecting him at the start of the season. We’ll just have to hope that this time the fact that the manager already knows the player’s game will work to our advantage.

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