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Upson Is Not For Sale

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Karren Brady has said that Matthew Upson is not for sale at any price, which kind of flies in the face of everything coming out of the club for the past few months.

Steve Bruce has made no secret of the fact that he wants to keep Upson, whilst at the same time talking up his potential value and admitting that a £10 million bid would probably be enough for the club to take the cash and run, but following West Ham’s second bid of £6 million for the player, Karren Brady has said he’s not for sale and Steve Bruce has pointed to Albion’s Curtis Davies as commanding a fee in excess of £10 million despite not having the experience of Upson.

So is he for sale so the club can cash in, or would it be wiser to say he’s not for sale at anything less than £10 million, at least for now.

West Ham though won’t go away, and have reportedly now offered £2 million rated Tyrone Mears + £6 million as an exchange for Upson. This is also likely to be rebuffed should West Ham make the rumour a reality. They have enough money thanks to their new owner, if they serious want him then they can pay a premium that benefits us over and above his performances for the remainder of the season.

Admittedly it’s a gamble by the club, the closer he comes to the end of his contract the lower his fee will be and we are running the risk that his fee will remain this high come the summer and we can utilise him now and then cash in. Should he fall foul of another injury or see a dip in his form as he recovers we may well be left wishing we’d took the £6 million.

MD Brady said on the subject:

‘Upson is not for sale, end of.’

Curbs has publicly declared his interest though:

‘We will just have to wait and see what happens with Matthew Upson. It is not clear yet.’

Bruce would obviously rather keep him until the summer, but knows he’s off and wants to make it for as much as possible by saying:

‘Yes, we want to keep our players, not sell them. That’s what the aim is.

‘I think we always have to be realistic and understand that when the big clubs come it is very difficult to deny players the chance to move.

‘Like Jermaine Pennant and Liverpool, how could we have stood in his way? Then it’s a footballing issue. But, of course, otherwise we want to build our team around the Gary McSheffreys and Matthew Upsons.

‘We are hoping to get Sebastian Larsson’s transfer done in the next couple of days, so there’s another one we are looking to the future with.

‘What we tried to do at the beginning of the season by moving so many out and bringing the new players is in beginning to bear fruit.

‘We want to go forward with them now, and go forward with them in the Premier League too.’

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