Fleetwood Town poised to announce signing today - but not Blackburn defender Charlie Mulgrew

Joey Barton says that Charlie Mulgrew wants to sign for Fleetwood if a deal can be agreed with BlackburnJoey Barton says that Charlie Mulgrew wants to sign for Fleetwood if a deal can be agreed with Blackburn
Joey Barton says that Charlie Mulgrew wants to sign for Fleetwood if a deal can be agreed with Blackburn
Joey Barton expects Fleetwood Town to welcome a new face into the club ahead of Saturday’s home game against AFC Wimbledon but it won’t be Charlie Mulgrew.
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The Gazette understands Town will announce a new signing today, though will have to wait for Blackburn Rovers defender Mulgrew.

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The former Scotland centre-half, 34, attended Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash with Everton as a guest of Fleetwood. But although the Cod Army have been chasing Mulgrew (above), a deal is not thought to be close.

Speaking after that 5-2 cup exit, head coach Barton said: “I hope we’ll have one in but we won’t have a defender in by Saturday.

“Charlie Mulgrew was in the stadium, so hopefully Blackburn let him go. He wants to come here, so hopefully we can get that done.

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“That’s up to Blackburn. We’d love to do it and they don’t see him as part of their plans but it will come down to the finance. League One and League Two clubs don’t have a lot of it at this moment in time.

“I think the Championship clubs and the Premier League clubs are still not under the financial pressure that League One and League Two clubs are with the salary cap. We’re relying on them seeing common sense and seeing the marketplace that we’re in. If they don’t, then we’ll go another way. It creates opportunities for younger players.”

Mulgrew has a year remaining on his Blackburn deal and Town could only complete the transfer if Rovers settled that contract.

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Barton’s comments were put to Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray by BBC Radio Lancashire and he said: “My last conversation with Joey was that he was going to speak to his owner and then get back to me, and he hasn’t.

“At this moment Charlie is getting on, training hard. He’s got extremely good professionalism to keep training every day with nothing at the end of it.

“To be fair, when I spoke to Joey he was very understanding of our situation.”

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Barton hopes to be busy for the remainder of the transfer window but will be glad to see the back of it.

He added: “I much prefer it when the window is closed because I know the group I’ve got and I can get stuck into working with them.

“The window is full of possibilities but you don’t have a settled group.

“We feel we’re four or five away – I think the last few games have confirmed that. We’ve got to get busy, start executing and getting those players in the building.”