O'Connor in Stoke link on last day

Last updated : 31 August 2007 By Tony Scholes
Steve Cotterill hinted yesterday that there could be an incoming transfer, but the main speculation today is that it might be a player going out. We'd all braced ourselves for another offer for Kyle Lafferty from Fulham, but we never bargained for James O'Connor's old club Stoke to come in with an offer for their former midfielder.

Neither club have confirmed anything, but the Stoke press are suggesting that they have made an offer of £175,000 (the same amount as Burnley paid West Brom for him in March 2005). They also said that his agent Gary Mellor had revealed that O'Connor was on the verge of joining Leicester earlier in the week before they sacked Martin Allen.

O'Connor has been out of the starting line up this season, other than for the Carling Cup tie at Grimsby, and being in the last year of his contract it is said he's keen to move on. Stoke are having problems in their midfield and their local press are suggesting that the signing of Jimmy would bring much needed mobility and stamina to their midfield.

But for now, he's still a Claret, for now there's no new signings, and for now we've not heard a whisper from Fulham (and we don't want to). But we'd better not rule anything out, even though Steve Cotterill is now on his way to Colchester. We'd given things up for dead in January only for us to clinch the signing of Steven Caldwell with just a few minutes to go.