Sakiri signing in doubt

08 June 2003

If you believe the report in Sunday's Mercury, he has signed for us. Possibly. To be honest, it's a little vague.

Apparently, even though he is out of contract, we still have to pay a fee of £60,000 - or rather, we pay it to him and he uses it to buy his registration back from CSK Sofia, in Bulgaria, who he's currently, or rather was, signed to. The report seems to say we actually signed him last week, but we're not parading him in front of the fans until (a) we've sorted out his work permit, and, presumably, (b) we've got some opportunity such as a game to parade him at.

It all sounds a bit hit and miss to us. While awaiting confirmation from more credible sources, we spotted a report on PlanetFootball which contains the following quotes from Sakiri himself:

"I haven't signed anything with West Brom. I would rather wait until after the game with Turkey as there may be a few scouts watching me."

The report goes on to say that Alavaes and Osasuna, in Spain, and Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce, in Turkey, are believed to be interested and will be watching him. Well, it wouldn't be an Albion signing if it didn't go through several weeks of "will he - won't he" reports before he makes up his mind...

Meanwhile, it seems that Derek McInnes is going to move to Dundee United, and has already had talks with them. McInnes has been rumoured to be unhappy at Albion under Megson, despite a prolonged run in the first team. How much of a fee will be payable for a player of his age is uncertain, but it's not likely to be more than a few hundred grand, if that. Rumours also persist about Koumas wanting to leave, although no news of interest from any clubs has yet surfaced. With eight players already released, Sakiri in, McInnes and Koumas out and Marshall transfer listed we'd be ten players down on last season - can anyone really see that many coming in over the summer?

Previous Stories:

  29 May 2003:  Peace cops for £1.3 million

  12 May 2003:  SuperBob goes sweet

  24 April 2003:  Pre-season fixtures

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