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BREAKING NEWS: Sky Sources – Wigan to reject improved offer of more than £4m from West Brom for Callum McManaman.
Bloody hell
Wigan’s Marc-Antoine Fortuné is the latest striker to be linked with the Blues.(Ipswich)
According to the Daily Mail, Town and Charlton are keen on 33-year-old Fortuné, who has scored only twice in 19 appearances this season, most recently in early October.
French Guiana-born Fortuné started his career in France with Angoulême, Lille, Rouen (loan) and Stade Brest before moving to Dutch side Utrecht in 2005.
WIGAN Athletic are preparing themselves for a secondary attack from West Brom over Callum McManaman.
Latics turned down the Baggies’ opening offer for the 23-year-old, believed to be in the region of £4million.
But the word from the West Midlands is that new boss Tony Pulis is determined to get his man and will return with an improved bid.
Latics, despite their perilous league position, are in a relatively strong situation regarding McManaman.
Unlike 10 of his colleagues who are out of contract this summer, McManaman has two-and-a-half years remaining on his present deal.
Laticsare believed to value the winger –the man of the match in the 2013 FA Cup final – in the £5-6million bracket.
And although he has struggled to hit form in recent weeks – not helped by a recent three-match ban following his sending-off against Sheffield Wednesday – he remains the club’s joint top-scorer with five goals on account of his fine start to the campaign.
McManaman himself has not publicly expressed a wish to leave the club, but may find a return to the top flight difficult to resist if the two clubs were to agree on a fee.
The situation regarding Shaun Maloney is slightly different.
Maloney is in the last six months of his contract and is already able to speak to other clubs regarding a Bosman move in the summer.
It looked like the Scotland star – who turns 32 on Saturday – was on his way to Leicester last week, only for the move to collapse over personal terms.
American outfit Chicago Fire appear to be the new favourites to secure Maloney’s signature, but they are believed to be reluctant to pay the rumoured £1million fee Latics had agreed with Leicester.
As things stand, they could take Maloney for free when his Latics contract expires on June 30 – but by then he would have missed most of the MLS campaign.
Latics will not, as they did with Roger Espinoza, release Maloney from the last six months of his contract as he remains a key player in their fight against the drop.
At the weekend, he emerged off the bench at half-time and laid on the equaliser for James McClean, before hacking a late effort from Jason Lowe off the Latics line to preserve a point.
It remains to be seen whether the Fire come up with a cash offer to tempt Latics, who would then be able to free up Maloney’s wages for the rest of the season in their bid to bring in new blood.
Malky Mackay is hopeful of drafting in a new signing before the weekend, with a striker top of his wish-list.
A WIGAN Athletic fan who was left fighting for his life after falling down a set of stairs at an away game is making steady progress in hospital.
Fears grew for 67-year-old Colin Hollinshead after his accident at Birmingham City on January 10.
As he was leaving St Andrews just before full-time, he took a nasty fall down the steps to the concourse, banging his head and sustaining three bleeds on the brain.
He was left fighting for his life in Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital with a bolt being placed through his skull to monitor the pressure and swelling.
Over the last week Colin, from Springfield, has made steady progress and on Sunday opened his eyes for the first time. While still very poorly, it shows he is on the right path which has been a huge relief to his family.
His son Martyn told the Evening Post: “He’s still not awake properly but on Sunday he opened his eyes for the first time for about four minutes.
“Then he opened them later on when my girlfriend was there for nearly 20 minutes and he’s been moving all his limbs but he’s not spoken yet.
“I’ve been back since and his eyes have still been open. It’s a huge relief for us all. The bolt has come out as well which is good.
“He’s stable and comfortable at the moment so it’s all good progress, the doctors are very happy. Hopefully we can move him to the hospital up here soon once he’s out of danger.
“He’s on a ventilator at the moment. He’s doing some breathing but not quite enough yet.”
Colin has received countless messages of support from throughout the footballing world.
Martin says they have been a huge comfort to the family during a very difficult week and to top it off, Latics have vowed to cover the family’s travel expenses while they visit him.
“It’s been unbelievable,” he said.
“I’ve been on the Wigan Athletic page on Facebook and the last time I saw it there were about 230 comments and about 400 likes.
“There were things on there from fans of loads of different football clubs too, it’s been amazing and has meant a lot to us as a family.
“I’ve seen such a great side of football.”
A spokesman for Wigan Athletic also offered the club’s best wishes, saying: “Colin is very much in our thoughts and we hope to be able to see him back at the DW Stadium very soon.
“Everyone at the club was shocked to hear what happened and we hope that he makes a swift recovery.”
Money gone missing at Birmingham City
The company that owns Birmingham City FC said it believed a former employee may have “misappropriated” £2.5m.
Birmingham International Holdings said on Monday afternoon that it had reported the matter to the Hong Kong police, who were investigating.
The company said in a statement that the loss “may have a material impact on the operation and financial situation of the group”.
It was also concerned that the matter was apparently missed by auditors.
Shares in the Hong Kong-based company were suspended six weeks ago and will not resume trading until further notice.
Hong Kong-based Birmingham International Holdings said it would consider setting up an investigation committee to examine the suspected misappropriation and determine how to improve its internal controls.
The Championship club stand at 11th on the table and narrowly avoided relegation last season, staying up on goal difference only.
The 2011 League Cup winners were relegated from the Premier League the same year.
‘Shadow director’
The former owner of Birmingham City, Carson Yeung, was convicted of money laundering in his native Hong Kong in March and jailed for six years.He resigned in February 2014 as president of Birmingham City FC, director of Birmingham City plc and director and chairman of Birmingham International Holdings.
Yeung, who has lodged an appeal against his conviction, remains the club’s major shareholder.
Last week, it emerged that Yeung had requested to remove three directors of Birmingham International Holdings and replace them with three of his own nominations.
The company has asked the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to investigate Yeung’s request.
Supporters of Birmingham City have called on the Football League to investigate concerns that the former owner was acting as a “shadow director”.
A Football League spokesman said it had been in “ongoing dialogue with the club in recent months”.
West Bromwich Albion are poised to make second offer for the 23-year-old Wigan winger Callum McManaman after opening bid was predictably rejected.
West Brom manager Tony Pulis has made a £4m bid for Wigan winger Callum McManaman but the 23-year-old, who is also attracting interest from Bournemouth, is valued at £6m by his current side. (Daily Telegraph)
Read more at http://talksport.com/review/transfer-rumours-and-paper-review-monday-january-19-150119132878#ju3HdREeAcFRri0A.99
