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Wanderers have made a move to snatch striker Chris Maguire from Sheffield Wednesday.
The creative Scottish front man is out of contract at Hillsborough but has stalled on signing the new deal offered to him, which is believed to be on reduced terms.
That has opened a window of opportunity for Neil Lennon, who has been working hard to bolster his attacking ranks this summer and has already snapped up Maguire’s good friend Gary Madine from the Owls.
Lennon came across Maguire in the Scottish Premier League while in charge at Celtic and the youngster – then primarily a winger – was coming through the ranks at Aberdeen.
Maguire can play either side of the attack or through the middle and has a handy scoring record at Wednesday, with 18 goals in the last two campaigns.
A penalty specialist, the 26-year-old scored from the spot against Wanderers at Hillsborough back in January.
He cost Derby County £470,000 in compensation when he signed in 2011 from Aberdeen but despite scoring on his debut, failed to make an impact at Pride Park and was loaned out briefly to Portsmouth before being transfer listed.
Wednesday signed him for around £250,000 four years ago and he has since become a first team fixture, but boardroom and management changes have made negotiations on a new contract all the more difficult.
Maguire was capped several times at Under-21 level by Scotland and once scored a spectacular goal from the half-way line in a match against Iceland.
He also has two senior caps, both in the 2011 Nations Cup tournament against Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Lennon desperately needs some width in his side, with his only two current options still having much to prove to the Wanderers fans.
After a bright start to last season Liam Feeney lost his way after the New Year and struggled under the number of games he was asked to play.
Rob Hall suffered from a lack of opportunities – partly because of the terms of the compensation paid to his former club West Ham, which left Wanderers paying a fee for every game he played at one stage last year.
The former Hammers academy product did not take the chances he was offered, however, and was loaned out to MK Dons, who are keen to arrange a similar deal this season.
Rotherham United have also expressed an interest in taking the young winger – with a reported fee of £450,000 discussed, although the momentum in that deal has dropped off considerably in the last few weeks.
Lennon needs to add more goals to his side after losing top scorer Adam Le Fondre, who returned to Cardiff City, and releasing Craig Davies in the summer.
Including the likes of Chung-Yong Lee, now at Crystal Palace, and Joe Mason, who also returned to Cardiff, a total of 29 goals scored last season are no longer available to the Whites boss.
Added to that, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Emile Heskey are out of contract, and it is hoped negotiations will begin on a new deal once they rejoin the squad next week for pre-season training.
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The creative Scottish front man is out of contract at Hillsborough but has stalled on signing the new deal offered to him, which is believed to be on reduced terms.
That has opened a window of opportunity for Neil Lennon, who has been working hard to bolster his attacking ranks this summer and has already snapped up Maguire’s good friend Gary Madine from the Owls.
Lennon came across Maguire in the Scottish Premier League while in charge at Celtic and the youngster – then primarily a winger – was coming through the ranks at Aberdeen.
Maguire can play either side of the attack or through the middle and has a handy scoring record at Wednesday, with 18 goals in the last two campaigns.
A penalty specialist, the 26-year-old scored from the spot against Wanderers at Hillsborough back in January.
He cost Derby County £470,000 in compensation when he signed in 2011 from Aberdeen but despite scoring on his debut, failed to make an impact at Pride Park and was loaned out briefly to Portsmouth before being transfer listed.
Wednesday signed him for around £250,000 four years ago and he has since become a first team fixture, but boardroom and management changes have made negotiations on a new contract all the more difficult.
Maguire was capped several times at Under-21 level by Scotland and once scored a spectacular goal from the half-way line in a match against Iceland.
He also has two senior caps, both in the 2011 Nations Cup tournament against Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Lennon desperately needs some width in his side, with his only two current options still having much to prove to the Wanderers fans.
After a bright start to last season Liam Feeney lost his way after the New Year and struggled under the number of games he was asked to play.
Rob Hall suffered from a lack of opportunities – partly because of the terms of the compensation paid to his former club West Ham, which left Wanderers paying a fee for every game he played at one stage last year.
The former Hammers academy product did not take the chances he was offered, however, and was loaned out to MK Dons, who are keen to arrange a similar deal this season.
Rotherham United have also expressed an interest in taking the young winger – with a reported fee of £450,000 discussed, although the momentum in that deal has dropped off considerably in the last few weeks.
Lennon needs to add more goals to his side after losing top scorer Adam Le Fondre, who returned to Cardiff City, and releasing Craig Davies in the summer.
Including the likes of Chung-Yong Lee, now at Crystal Palace, and Joe Mason, who also returned to Cardiff, a total of 29 goals scored last season are no longer available to the Whites boss.
Added to that, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Emile Heskey are out of contract, and it is hoped negotiations will begin on a new deal once they rejoin the squad next week for pre-season training.
Source
