SWINDON Town are lining up loan moves for three Tottenham Hotspur youngsters, the Advertiser understands.
Midfielder Dean Parrett and winger Cristian Ceballos are believed to be the Robins’ two main targets and could arrive at the County Ground in time for the trip to Brentford tomorrow, with the Football League expected to lift the transfer embargo currently hanging over the club early this week.
A third, unidentified player – understood to be a midfielder – is also on the radar as manager Kevin MacDonald considers how best to add to his squad as he prepares for the final 10 games of the campaign, with automatic promotion still very much in sight.
The new Town board’s links to Tottenham are strong. The head of youth development at White Hart Lane, Tim Sherwood, has been a guest at the County Ground this season, while Spurs’ striking coach Les Ferdinand is believed to have applied for the manager’s position in SN1.
Now the powers-that-be at Swindon look set to build on that relationship, with three players lined up for a potential switch to Wiltshire.
Parrett, 21, has spent time on loan at Yeovil and Charlton and Aldershot and would add competition for places in the middle of midfield. Former Barcelona wide man Ceballos swapped the Nou Camp for north London in the summer of 2011 but has yet to make his first-team debut for Tottenham.
The club hope to have the embargo removed today, as they continue to mop up unpaid fees.
An instalment of £20,000 due to Shrewsbury as part of the transfer of James Collins has been paid, while other outstanding amounts – one of which is believed to be due to Norwich for the services of Chris Martin – will soon be resolved.
The Swindon board have had to ring-fence around £1.2million in a fund to convince the Football League that they are fit to practise.
General manager Steve Murrall told the Advertiser: “We had an agreement with the Football League that we would bring in certain trenches of money in order for the embargo to be lifted. That’s in progress.”
Murrall also explained why former assistant manager Fabrizio Piccareta and coaches Domenico Doardo and Claudio Donatelli had not yet been paid their February wages.
Piccareta went to the BBC on Thursday to complain about the situation, but Murrall said that it was down to the Italian to return documentation regarding the terms of his departure from the County Ground before the final settlement could be reached.
“The actual situation is Fabrizio and the other guys came into the office on February 26. I asked Fabrizio to sign a document which he took a copy of away in order to translate,” he said. “That document needs signing before Fabrizio can be paid.
“As soon as I receive that back he will be paid immediately. That documentation is just a general closing of his contract that any business would do to protect themselves going forward.”
With regards to Donatelli and Doardo, Murrall said: “All of their equipment was not paid until March 1, so they would not have been paid in February.”