Birmingham City's rivals braced for another transfer body blow in promotion race
Wycombe Wanderers are facing an uncomfortable final week of the transfer window as former manager Matt Bloomfield pursues a reunion with striker Richard Kone at new club Luton Town. Birmingham City's League One promotion rivals Wycombe have been rather ravaged this month, after a sterling first half of the campaign in which they, along with Blues, have set the pace at the top of the table.
Much of that, on the pitch, was to do with Kone, who has proven to be a real find this term; he has scored 17 goals in 36 appearances in all competitions this season, having broken into the first team environment last term. He scored in the narrow 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa in the EFL Cup earlier this season and has scored regularly since, including a hat-trick against Peterborough United in October.
Kone is challenging for the League One golden boot come the end of the season with Blues pair Jay Stansfield and Alfie May and Posh forward Kwame Poku. It's very much up for grabs after current leading scorer Louie Barry was recalled by parent club Villa and will conclude his season in the Championship.
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Reports suggest that Luton, who nabbed Bloomfield this month as they looked to replace the departed Rob Edwards in the midst of an unforeseen Championship relegation battle, are keen on Kone and are ready to spend big on him, with talk of an offer of £6m being made to the Chairboys. Their interim boss Sam Grace recently confirmed that Kone is 'committed'.
“Dan Rice, the director of football, is in charge of all of that and I think it’s important to say that Rich is committed as well," Grace said. "You want players that want to play for your club, and Richard wants Wycombe to get promoted. He wants to play for Wycombe in the Championship. If he was unhappy, he wouldn’t have been on the bench so I don’t think he’s unsettled. The way he played when we came on doesn’t look like an unsettled player.”
Wycombe have already been hit hard by the January window; key loanees Caleb Taylor and Aaron Morley were both recalled by their respective parent clubs West Bromwich Albion and Bolton Wanderers - that was before they lost the highly rated Bloomfield, who now looks to inflict another body blow on his old employers. Wycombe are second, two points behind Blues having played two games more.
