Sullivan on deadline day

David Sullivan has confirmed that central defenders were the name of the game throughout deadline day.

And he has explained – as mentioned here in an earlier blog – that was simply as a result of what happened at Liverpool over the weekend.

Commenting on yesterday’s activity the co chairman said: “Our desire to try to bring in new faces was heightened by what happened at Anfield on Saturday, with all three central defenders suffering injuries.

“We prioritised that position and targeted two experienced Premier League defenders but could not reach an agreement with them over the length of their deals. ”

Those players – as reported here and elsewhere – were Tottenham’s Younes Koubal and Everton’s Sylvain Distin with Sullivan indicating he was close to signing a rising central defender – believed to be Senegal defender Kara Mbodji.

He said:” That deal fell through at the eleventh hour as his club would not have had time to replace him. We do rate the player so it could be that we look to resurrect our interest again at the end of the season.

He explained that the club had also made it clear to West Brom Carlton Cole would only join them if a suitable replacement was found – a situation that found Emmanuel Adebayor very much on the radar..

He told www.whufc.com “We thought we had one experienced Premier League striker lined up, only for his Club to pull out of the deal at the last minute. I think we take the reasons they gave as a backhanded compliment, with our improvements on the field and our increased success off it meaning we are now viewed as rivals that shouldn’t be dealt with!

And he confirmed Claretandhugh’s earlier story there had been a possibility  of Mauro Zarate returning from a QPR loan, with Matt Jarvis going ‎the other way in search of more first-team football, but that deal was ruled out by the Premier League once it seemed set to go through.