Cort to join promoted Wolves?

By Luke Edwards, The Journal
May 28 2003

THE JOURNAL REPORTED:

Carl Cort's move from Newcastle United to Wolves is back on the cards after the Molineux club's promotion to the Premiership.

But Wayne Quinn's hopes of a move back to his former club Sheffield United have been plunged into doubt by their 3-0 defeat in Monday's Division One play-off final.

The Blades were comprehensively beaten by Dave Jones' side and the result looks set to have a big impact on the futures of Quinn and Cort.

Sir Bobby Robson turned down a bid from Wolves boss Jones for Cort on transfer deadline day as he had already allowed Michael Chopra to go on loan to Watford.

And Quinn, who has admitted he does not appear to have a future at St James's Park, has been linked with a return to Bramall Lane since a successful loan spell last season.

But, while Jones looks like he will be able to tempt Robson with a £3m-plus bid for Cort with the financial rewards of Premiership status ahead, Blades boss Neil Warnock is simply fighting to stop his star players from being sold this summer.

Sheffield United reached both the FA Cup and Worthington Cup semi-finals this season, but failure to win promotion means the club are still restricted by a tight transfer budget.

Warnock, who has managed the Bramall Lane club within strict financial constraints, has now turned his attention to trying to ensure he keeps his best players, rather than bring anyone in.

He said: "If we can keep the team together we have a right to have high expectations and that is my main priority this summer.

"I just hope we can keep the majority of the players here. We have been to some good places this year and we want more."

That looks like being bad news for Quinn. The 26-year-old has been frozen out of the first team picture by Sir Bobby Robson and has not featured in a game since the Champions League qualifier against Zeljeznicar last August.

A source close to the player said: "There are a few clubs who've expressed an interested in Wayne. Sheffield United are obviously special to him as they are his first club and he enjoyed a successful time there, but they have not got a lot of money to splash around so we will have to see what happens."

Quinn, who has fallen behind Olivier Bernard, Aaron Hughes and Robbie Elliott in the pecking order for his favoured left-back berth, is rated at around £400,000 by Newcastle - half what they paid for him in February 2001.

Cort, who has also been recently linked with a move to Southampton as a makeweight in a deal to bring England international Wayne Bridge to Tyneside, has been told by Robson that he still has a Newcastle future.

The injury-plagued striker was once again severely hampered by a series of knocks and strains last season, but is still well thought of by his manager, who paid Wimbledon £7m for him in the summer of 2000.

However, with Craig Bellamy, Alan Shearer, Shola Ameobi and Lomana LuaLua ahead of him in the pecking order, Wolves know a sizeable bid would have a good chance of landing the former England Under-21 international following just one first-team start last term.

Meanwhile, Portuguese winger Simao Sabrosa has insisted he has had no approach from Newcastle over a possible summer move to St James's Park.

The Benfica star has been repeatedly linked with the Magpies in recent months and been the subject of praise by United manager Sir Bobby Robson in the Portuguese Press.

But, while talk of a firm bid by Newcastle is rife in some quarters, former Barcelona winger Simao has heard absolutely nothing.

He said: "Do I know whether Benfica have received an offer? Already, this subject is becoming repetitive. At this moment, I haven't received any proposal and the only contract I have is a three-year one with Benfica."

* ARSENE Wenger has publicly committed himself to Arsenal for at least the next two seasons following reports that he held a recent meeting with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez in Paris.

According to French sports paper L'Equipe, Wenger met Perez, along with Real's director of sport, Jorge Valdano, and agent Marc Roger, in the departures lounge at Orly airport last Friday afternoon before the party then adjourned to a hotel.

There was no confirmation as to what the alleged meeting was about, although Real have been linked with reported interest in recruiting Wenger in the wake of Vicente del Bosque's failure to reach the European Cup final.

The Arsenal boss said he "met lots of people last Friday" before insisting: "I am still contracted for two years at Arsenal and I will go to the end of this engagement.

"We will see what happens after that but I could even stay at Arsenal."