Signing will beef up Boro says boss Gordon Strachan

Nov 6 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

GORDON Strachan has admitted it may be difficult to keep hold of star asset Adam Johnson – as he completed his second signing as Middlesbrough boss.

Strachan has signed 21-year-old Aston Villa man Isaiah Osbourne on a two-month loan to beef up his midfield options, although he will be unavailable this weekend because he is out on bail for conspiracy to rob.

He was one of the players on the wish-list that Strachan was photographed holding before his first Press conference, and is the second player to join him at the Riverside after the loan signing of Marcus Bent.

But it is the future of winger Johnson, being courted by Chelsea, Real Madrid, Everton and Steve Bruce’s Sunderland, that continues to dominate the agenda on Teesside.

Strachan has pledged to do all he can to keep his influential midfielder at Boro but admits it is difficult for him to persuade a player he barely knows to stay at his new club. “How can I tempt him? I’m sure Steve (Gibson) and Keith (Lamb), who have known him for a long time, have done their best. I don’t think I can do any better,” he said.

“I’m only doing my job and it’s very hard for me to sit down with anyone and have a heart to heart with them. I don’t know them that well. When you sit down it’s vital that you known them and they know you. You can then have a conversation and have knowledge of the person, I know Adam the footballer, but not as a person.

“We will have to wait and see what happens in January, see where we are, see how we are playing. Circumstances can change in a couple of months, we are not making any promises to anyone.