Marlon Harewood will be big hit – Chris Hughton

Sep 25 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

CHRIS Hughton has dismissed worries about Marlon Harewood’s fitness and frame of mind as he backed the big striker to be an instant hit at St James’s Park.

Once a highly-rated target man, Harewood’s career has stalled in recent seasons and he has been out in the cold at Aston Villa since returning from an unsuccessful spell at Wolves.

But Hughton, who said he has carried out extensive checks on the striker and has been tracking him for months, believes that such fears are unfounded.

The 30-year-old striker will officially join United today after reaching an agreement with the club yesterday and The Journal understands a clause has been written into the deal which allows for an instant recall if he suffers a recurrence of the foot injury.

Harewood will start on the bench at Ipswich tomorrow but Hughton believes he is not far away from staking his claim for a starting place.

“He’s fit and I’ve got no worries about his attitude or anything like that. I’m very confident about Marlon,” he said.

“This is one we’ve been working on for a while because of the type of player that he is and I’m quite sure he’ll see this as a very good challenge. He’s been at some very big clubs and he’s at a good age and he’s a player of experience.

“The timing’s right for us and hopefully the timing’s right for him.”

Hughton added: “Marlon has come in ready to play. He’s had a slight injury towards the end of pre-season but he’s now been training for a long period.

“The important thing for us was to bring in what we felt was a different type of player. Marlon’s strengths is that he’s a strong lad powerfully built and of course he’s got pace.

“He gives us options up front and what we can do with different permutations with Andy Carroll, Nile Ranger, Peter Løvenkrands, who can very much play off the front man. Of course even with Kevin Nolan who has played in an advanced position in some games this season.”