Rangers still want Murphy

Jan 14 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

QUEEN’S Park Rangers are ready to re-ignite their interest in Sunderland forward Daryl Murphy – but they face competition from a Championship rival for the Republic of Ireland international’s signature.

QPR are hopeful of clinching a loan deal for Murphy’s team-mate Liam Miller before the end of the week but with Rangers retaining serious interest in the striker that may not be the end of business conducted between the two clubs.

Murphy fits into the category of fringe players that boss Ricky Sbragia believes need first-team football to reinvigorate their careers and his availability has alerted several clubs in the second tier.

Rangers are believed to be front-runners at this stage but, having rejected a bid of seven figures for the striker 12 months ago, they will not get Murphy on the cheap. Sunderland’s attempts to drive up his price would be helped by interest from another promotion-chasing club from the Championship.

If he did leave the Stadium of Light, Murphy would be the most high-profile of all of the players allowed to leave the club. Sunderland, in the final few weeks of chief executive Peter Walker’s time at the club, are actively attempting to shift players to lighten the wage bill and are prepared to pay a portion of Miller’s salary to any club willing to take him on loan.

The departure of Miller would follow Ross Wallace’s permanent deal with Preston and the settlement reached to get Graham Kavanagh off the club’s books.

But the club will resist the attempts of Aston Villa to sign Kenwyne Jones, who has moved to the top of Martin O’Neill’s January wish-list with Emile Heskey apparently favouring a move to Liverpool. Villa boss O’Neill is in the market for a target man to supplement his attacking options and Jones, who has scored five goals in six games since returning from injury, was watched by Villa’s chief scout Ian Storey-Moore at Middlesbrough on Saturday. The Villa manager would be prepared to offer around £15m for the striker but it is difficult to see Sbragia sanctioning a move for one of his best players with the club’s Premier League safety still in the balance.

But the club will be braced for a battle to keep hold of Jones in the summer, with the ambitious Trinidad & Tobago forward sure to have noticed the interest that he is attracting.

Sbragia’s other priority will be strengthening his squad and, despite denying a bid for West Ham defender Calum Davenport over the weekend, he is an option being considered by the Sunderland boss. He fits the bill of a British-based defender with Premier League experience and, while Sunderland supporters will hope for a bigger name, it will depend on how long Sbragia is prepared to wait to get his man.

Defence is certainly the priority area for the Sunderland boss, who has also hinted that he is considering recalling Paul McShane from his loan spell at Hull.

But he will not be looking at any players based on the Continent until the summer, because he fears that it will take too long for them to settle.

“I definitely won’t got for a foreigner this time because it takes a little bit of time for them to bed in,” he said. “The time for a foreigner to come in would be the summer. I am looking for a player with Premier League experience.”