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Keeper Siegrist Linked Again as Harper and Dozzell Deals Near Confirmation
Monday, 14th Jun 2021 08:58

Town are continuing to be linked with a move for Dundee United keeper Benjamin Siegrist, while the deals which will see Rekeem Harper join the Blues and Andre Dozzell move to QPR are close to being announced.

The Blues were first mentioned in connection with 29-year-old Siegrist last month and now, according to the Daily Record, they are weighing up a £350,000 offer for the Swiss keeper.

Terrors head coach Tam Courts admits his club will struggle to keep hold of Siegrist, who has only a year left on his contract.

“We are trying to acquire assets which we can sell in the future or develop assets we can sell,” he said.

“So we understand these players won’t be here for eight, nine, ten seasons. Both of those players [Siegrist and striker Lawrence Shankland] are extremely valuable to the club.

“Benji had had a phenomenal season and I would imagine there will be a lot of interest in him because of that. I would be surprised if there wasn’t interest after the season he had.”

Previous reports have suggested Siegrist is waiting to see whether Celtic, who were first linked with him in January, firm up their interest before deciding on his future.

Siegrist joined the Aston Villa youth set-up when 16 having previously been with hometown club FC Therwil and FC Basel.

While at Villa the 29-year-old spent time on loan at Burton Albion, Cambridge United, Solihull Moors and Wycombe Wanderers.

Having been unable to break into the first team at Villa Park, the 6ft 5in tall keeper, who has been capped by Switzerland at U17, U18, U19 and U21 levels, moved on to Vaduz in Liechtenstein in the summer of 2016 for a fee of £210,000.

After two years in which he won the Liechtenstein Football Cup twice, Siegrist departed for Dundee United, with whom he won the Scottish Championship in 2019/20, where former Blues keeper Neil Alexander is the goalkeeping coach.

Town are expected to sign two senior keepers this summer with David Cornell already having departed and Tomas Holy also been told he can move on.

Free agent former Portsmouth keeper Craig MacGillivray is among their potential targets, while the Blues aren’t moving out a loan move for a talented young keeper with a Premier League side.

We understand Liverpool’s Republic of Ireland international glovesman Caoimhín Kelleher is among those the Blues are eyeing, however, there are conflicting reports regarding the Reds will make the 22-year-old available for loan for the season ahead.

Meanwhile, the Blues will be hoping that their signing of West Brom’s Rekeem Harper will finally be rubber-stamped in the next day or so with the deal having been all but done since early last week.

Harper, who TWTD revealed was set to join the Blues last Wednesday, underwent his Portman Road medical more than a week ago with all bar the formalities relating to the switch completed. We understand the fee is around £500,000 initially but potentially rising towards £1 million. Harper will join on a three-year deal.

Midfielder Andre Dozzell’s move to QPR, also first reported by TWTD, is also likely to be completed in the next couple of days.


Photo: Action Images



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OwainG1992 added 09:04 - Jun 14
If Siegrist and Harper are our next two signings I'll be very happy.
Could both do a job in the championship for certain so would be quite the coup's for us.
16

ImAbeliever added 09:17 - Jun 14
Good, busy week coming up?
2

Len_Brennan added 09:33 - Jun 14
I'd happily take Shankland too if he'd come. He's a finisher who would certainly bang in the goals at League 1 & Championship level.
3

IpswichT62OldBoy added 09:35 - Jun 14
This all seems very methodical and managed, takes a bit of getting used to after the past 5
7

itfcserbia added 09:50 - Jun 14
Yes, get Shankland as well.
COYB
3

SaigonTractor added 09:52 - Jun 14
£350,000 for Siegrist seems like a steal. Hope this is true.
4

Linkboy13 added 10:06 - Jun 14
Great signing Harper, but does this mean the interest in Crooks is now dead in the water. The interest in Siegrist has been going on for a while now ,but time is running short ,might be best to look elsewhere. If we can get a big physical presence up front and a dominating centre half before the start of pre season training, things will start to look good. Just hope we can get a home fixture first game of the season.
2

muccletonjoe added 10:07 - Jun 14
Alot of people seem to watch Dundee United and west Brom reserves
6

Mariner1974 added 10:13 - Jun 14
Grass is always indeed Greener @muccletonjoe
0

TimmyH added 10:17 - Jun 14
I wonder if these targets we're looking at are through data analysis?...heard it mentioned briefly at the end of last season but not mentioned at all since, as muccletonjoe mentions above everybody seems to know everything about every player on here what ever league they play in and seem to be generally 99% happy ...but then this was the case when Paul Hurst took over.
4

PositivelyPortman added 10:19 - Jun 14
Muccletonjoe and Mariner1974
These are the same people that were desperate for Jackson, Edwards, Nolan etc to sign for us.
-1

iaintaylorx added 10:37 - Jun 14
Personally don't like the idea of Dozzell going! The guy is 22!! Why are so many people thinking he should be the perfect player already? Has years ahead of him and he has been performing is a horrendous squad for years. I wish the best for him and I'm sure we will regret this.

The other two however, I don't know much about but I've heard they'll be solid signings. COYB!
2

Bluearmy_81 added 10:40 - Jun 14
Mariner, we were a joke in league 1 unable to score a goal in game after game if you remember under Evans? I struggle to think how we could have been much worse so talk of "grass being greener" seems very odd to me. Have some faith in the new owners
6

BettyBlue added 10:47 - Jun 14
From what Cook has already said he intends to replace the whole first team as minimum.

So that's at least 11 new players. Let's see how far he gets with that before the season starts....
-4

JewellintheTown added 10:51 - Jun 14
Don't know much about either keepers (Siegrist or Harper) TBH, so anyone any idea who would wear the number 1 if both signed?
Guessing Liverpool would want their glovesman playing regularly, which might affect willingness to loan out.
Decisions, decisions ...
0

Skip73 added 10:55 - Jun 14
Betty Swollocks, If these players sign, he will be almost half way to signing a new 11 in 2 weeks, so he is getting quite far.
3

BettyBlue added 11:20 - Jun 14
If....
-2

BettyBlue added 11:21 - Jun 14
and he's got a first team of 3.
-3

dirtydingusmagee added 11:33 - Jun 14
JewellintheTown Harper isnt a keeper .
1

Linkboy13 added 12:10 - Jun 14
A lot of people on here would rather see us struggling in Div one, as long as there old favourites were still here.
5

DavefromWatford added 12:34 - Jun 14
If we signed Siegrist , Shankland & Harper i don`t think there would be many complaints but you can`t please everybody.
0

DavefromWatford added 12:42 - Jun 14
Forgive me if i am wrong but i thought terms were agreed before a medical took place. If that is true why hasn`t Harper signed if he has had his medical?
0

KernewekBlue added 12:58 - Jun 14
I don't know anything about these potential targets but, having had to watch our club struggle for breath over the last several seasons, I will trust in the new owners and management structure to do everything in their power to turn this club around and make it a success.

It's important to realise where we sit as a club currently and that the players being targeted will be of League One/Championship level and, hopefully, young enough and good enough to progress together as a team into something more than the sum of their parts. Horses for courses.

As far as Andre Dozzell moving on to QPR goes, I wish him well. He's still a young lad who has a lot to prove to himself and others. After failing to set the world alight at Town, he probably needs a new challenge to help him grow his game.

Good to see that Betty(Budgie)Blue is still posting his/her "glass-half-empty" comments here... always comically entertaining and makes me chuckle. Well done Budgie!
3

arc added 13:10 - Jun 14
I'm sad to see Dozzell go. But do we have any idea of a fee? I hope his would at least cover Harper's.
0

BettyBlue added 15:56 - Jun 14
With 4 goalkeepers...
0


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