Kenwyne reiterates future is with Cats

Jul 28 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

And in some respects it is. Bruce does not want any of his players to operate without competition for places. However, although he is still looking for two new forwards to sign before the close of the transfer window at the end of next month, he has no intention of losing the Trinidad and Tobago striker.

“I have said to the board that if we are as ambitious as we say we are, and we are, we need four centre-forwards,” said Bruce, who is still hoping to agree a fee with Tottenham Hotspur for Darren Bent and with Bordeaux for Marouane Chamakh this week.

“If we are wanting to make strides forward, like we intend to, ideally you would like two players for every position. If you can get 23 of them at the same level, the better it is for the strength of the squad.

“Kenwyne Jones missed the first week of pre-season with a bit of soreness around his groin, but he has benefited from the two games in Amsterdam. He didn’t get a pre-season last year because of a bad knee injury and he will definitely benefit from getting one this season.

“We got 60 minutes out of him against Benfica and we have got another 70 minutes out of him against Atlético Madrid. When he plays like he did in Amsterdam on Sunday, he can be a real handful.

“The whole stadium rose to their feet to applaud his display (when he went off). It was a typical English type of centre-forward, even though he is obviously West Indian.”

Having failed to hit it off with Djibril Cissé last term, Jones is keen to find out who his strike partner will be for the new campaign, although he does nothing to betray a personal preference as he acknowledged the decision had nothing to do with him.

He said: “Whoever is to come in will come in regardless. The more bodies and talent we have, it’s only going to be good news for the team as a whole. I’ll have a new strike partner, but it isn’t up to me who that person is. I’ll find out when everybody else does.”