Newcastle's £1m Williamson bid accepted

Jan 22 2010 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

The move for Williamson brings Hughton closer to the four additions he hoped to make in the transfer window, but may not spell the end of his interest in Nottingham Forest’s versatile James Perch.

United’s manager said yesterday that the defender is still in his thinking, despite the club having a £1.75m bid, described as “derisory” by Forest boss Billy Davies, knocked back this week.

“We have in our mind the areas we need to cover and Perch is one in our thinking that can play in a number of positions so that’s something we’ll assess,” he said.

“At the moment he’s a Forest player and if it’s their desire he’ll stay a Forest player so we’ll continue to assess that.”

During a Press conference dominated by transfer speculation, Hughton ruled out a move for Aston Villa defender Curtis Davies and suggested he would not be plundering Arsenal and the Premier League’s big four for young loan players when the transfer window shuts.

With a deal for Williamson close to completion, Hughton will now turn his sights to bringing in a forward to compete with Peter Løvenkrands, Shola Ameobi, Andy Carroll and Nile Ranger. That man still looks to be Marlon Harewood, although the Magpies boss does have other targets.

He emphasised yesterday the need to recruit carefully in the January transfer window and not “panic buy”.

“It’s vitally important that there’s a balance between not panicking and not just brining in players for the sake of it, but we know we have to bring players in to give us enough numbers to cope.

“We’ve coped very well so far but we really haven’t had too many injuries. We can still use the loan system that clubs in our positions have used very well.”