Wigan Athletic manager Steve Bruce is resigned to losing England International Emile Heskey in the January transfer window, despite the former Liverpool striker stating on Friday that he wished to stay at the Latics, with Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United both reportedly ready to make moves for the target-man in January.
Bruce has admitted that if an offer came in for £10million for the 30-year-old then he would have a decision to make on allowing Heskey to leave the JJB Stadium, with Bruce also claiming that offers for the England forward during the summer fell well short of that valuation.
“If somebody's going to offer us £10million, for instance, in January, then I've got a decision to make,” Bruce said.
“That certainly wasn't the case in the summer, so there wasn't a decision to make.
“There's got to be a buyer and it's got to be an offer big enough to take away an England centre-forward in the middle of the season.
However, Heskey’s current deal at Wigan runs out next summer, with the player able to move anywhere as a free agent then. Bruce added however, that as long as Heskey keeps producing then he would offer the striker a deal tomorrow.
“It's a big, big decision to make on behalf of the club, but one that you have to consider if it happens.
“With the Bosman ruling, he's quite within his rights to say 'I've got ten months left, I'm going to see what develops
“As long as he keeps producing as he is doing for us, then I'll offer him a deal tomorrow and he knows that.
“But he's entitled to keep his options open and see where the club is at the end of the season.”
Spurs and Newcastle could test the resolve of Bruce in January however, by offering somewhere in the region of £3million for Heskey, which could tempt the Wigan board into selling, rather than let Heskey leave for nothing next summer.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment