Fulham are believed to have increased their bid for last season’s top scorer to £10million, and it could be that others who are missing the pre-season tour will also be leaving the club.
At the end of last season Ross McCormack was keen to pledge his loyalty to Leeds United, but when he didn’t fly out to Italy with the rest of the squad it was suggested that he’d handed in a transfer request. Now the Yorkshire Post are reporting that it’s ‘understood’ that Fulham have increased their previous bid to £10 million and that a deal is likely to be completed this week.
Massimo Cellino has previously said that he would prefer to sell the club captain to a Premier League club, but he may have decided that Fulham’s latest bid is too big to turn down. Fulham will benefit from the huge ‘parachute payments’ that relegated clubs receive in their first year outside the Premiership, and Felix Magath wants to sign proven Championship players for his attempt to take them straight back up.
Norwich were also reported to be in the running for McCormack, especially as they have money in the bank from selling another former Leeds skipper to Hull, in the shape of Robert Snodgrass. New Canaries boss Neil Adams told the Eastern Daily Press that McCormack won’t be joining the ex-Leeds contingent at Carrow Road. "There is nothing in that. We have made no offer for McCormack,”
Whilst it would be a shame to see McCormack depart, to be honest I think £10 million is good value, as it was only last season that he came good, and his form was a little bit patchy during his previous three years at the club. So I’d be happy if we sold him for that price, provided the money was re-invested in the team and three or four good players came in.
Of the other senior squad members who didn’t board the plane to Italy, Wooton and Mowatt are injured, but it could be that Paddy Kenny and Marius Zaliukas are missing the tour for other reasons. Kenny is expected to hold talks this week to sort out his future, but seems to be out of favour and could be on his way out of the club.
Kenny has a year left on his contact, as has Zaliukas, but the Lithuanian is another who could be leaving by the start of the new season. He looked a good signing when he first came to the club in October last year, but he had a right ‘mare in the 6 goal thrashing at Hillsborough in January and has hardly featured since.
Cameron Stewart has now signed for Ipswich, after Leeds went back on a previous agreement to sign him this summer once his loan spell had been completed. He struggled when he first came to Leeds, but that might have been because he was a right footed player who had to operate on the left wing to allow Jimmy Kebe to play on the tight. So we might regret that we didn’t take the chance to sign him, but I doubt it.
And finally, Luke Varney has joined Blackburn Rovers on a free transfer after his release by Leeds earlier this summer. He’s another who suffered from being played out of position on the left, as he was always more effective in the centre, but it’s no surprise that the 31 year-old is no longer part of our plans.
We live in hope that we might be able to report on some decent incoming players by the end of August.